Published only once every five years, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is an indispensable volume of official industry codes used by businesses, libraries, and other establishments and individuals to complete tax returns, grant requests, and fill out other forms and to improve analyses and comparisons of different industries.

NAICS officially replaced the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system in 1997. It provides a consistent system of economic analysis across the three NAFTA nations—Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

NAICS is used by U.S. statistical agencies to facilitate the collection, tabulation, presentation, and dissemination of data relating to establishments and to provide uniformity and comparability in the presentation of statistical data describing the U.S. economy. These statistics are used by all kinds of businesses, government agencies, policy analysts, academics and researchers, and the general public.

NAICS is a comprehensive system covering all economic activities. The 2022 edition of NAICS supersedes the 2017 edition. The 2022 edition includes new and emerging industries, title changes, and clarification of industry definitions. Revisions for 2022 were made to account for our rapidly changing economies.