US Industry Codes: Industry Codes

Various US federal, state and local agencies collect information about business operations. The current system used to classify business establishments is NAICS and the older system was SIC codes. Statistical data is collected, analyzed, and published to inform the citizen of the state of the U.S. business economy.

All of the electronic resources referred to in this LibGuide use either SIC or NAICS codes to describe industries.

SIC (Standard Industrial Classification) codes were used in the United States from the early 1930s until 1997.

NAICS (North American Industry Classification System) codes are conformed across the US, Canada and Mexico. They were adopted in 1997 and are constantly under revision.

In addition to SIC and NAICS codes, the UN and the EU have their own proprietary codes.