What is the NAICS and how is it used?
The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the federal governments standard industry classification system that groups establishments into industries based on the activities in which they are primarily engaged. The United States, Canada, and Mexico developed the system to provide comparable statistics across the three countries. It is a comprehensive system covering the entire field of economic activities, both productive and nonproductive. There are 20 sectors in the NAICS, and 1,179 detailed industries in the NAICS for the United States. The NAICS/United States is used by the U.S. statistical agencies to facilitate the collection, tabulation, presentation, and analysis of data relating to business establishments. It provides uniformity and comparability in the presentation of statistical data describing the U.S. economy. The Census Bureau has adapted the NAICS to create the industry categories used in the Census Classification Indexes.
