View exampleSIC Codes and Ranges
Standard Industry Codes (also known as Business Type codes) are number codes developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce. SIC Codes categorize businesses by their primary business description. This classification was developed to facilitate uniformity and comparability of businesses for statistical data collection and analysis by government agencies and private organizations.
SIC codes represent all industry classifications and are structured by a 2, 4, 6, 8 number hierarchy.
Examples of the industry classifications: agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting and trapping, mining, construction and so on.
You can read the SIC Codes hierarchy the following way:
| Number of digits |
Description |
Example |
|
2 |
Major industry groups |
22—Textile mill products |
|
4 |
Specific industries within the major groups |
2211—Broadwoven fabric mills, cotton |
|
6 |
Sub-industries within the specific industries |
221101—Sheets, bedding and table cloths: cotton |
|
8 |
Lines of business within the sub-industries |
22110103—Bedspreads, cotton |
Use the 8-digit codes for the most refined search, and the 2-digit codes for the most general search. You can also define your target location using SIC code ranges.
Note that Franchise codes are specialized versions of SIC codes, so SIC and Franchise codes may overlap if you combine them in one search. Making both selections does not duplicate records; however, if you omit SIC codes, make sure that you are not omitting a Franchise code that you want to be included in the search. For more information, see Franchises, Omit SIC Codes.
The Primary SIC code is the first SIC code in the list of all SIC codes for each company. It typically reflects the company's main line of business.
The Secondary SIC code is any SIC code listed for a company, other than the first. Secondary SIC codes reflect additional industries in which the company participates, but are not considered the company's main line of business.
Companies can list up to five secondary SIC codes.
For example, a car dealership that also does auto repair might list "55119901 Automobiles, new and used" as its Primary SIC code and might list "75380000 General automotive repair shops" as a Secondary SIC code.
1 On the Business Type tab, click SIC Code.
2 In the text boxes provided, enter the 2-, 4-, 6- and 8-digit SIC codes. If you do not know them, use Lookup.
3 (Optional) To limit your search to only businesses with the specified SIC codes as their Primary codes, select the corresponding check-box. For more information, see Primary and Secondary SIC Codes.
To clear the text boxes of all entries, click Clear All.
1 On the Business Type tab, click SIC Range.
2 Specify the SIC ranges you want to include in the search. For each SIC range, enter the start code in the From field and the end code in the corresponding To field. The start and end entries for the SIC range must match in length, that is, be both 2-digit or both 4-digit and so on. The end entry must be greater than or equal to the start entry. If you do not know them, use Lookup.
3 (Optional) To limit your search to only businesses with the specified SIC codes as their Primary codes, select the corresponding check-box. For more information, see Primary and Secondary SIC Codes.
To clear the text boxes of all entries, click Clear All.
There are the following lookup options available for this business selection:
• Lookup by Keyword. When you enter full or partial name of the industry, or full or partial SIC code, the complete list of industry names and SIC codes containing the keyword combination appears. View example
• Lookup by the Business Type Code Tree. When you click View Business Type Code Tree, the complete list of all industries and the business types under them appears. View example
• Lookup by Phone Number. When you enter full 10-digit phone number in the corresponding field, the complete list of industry names and SIC codes the telephone number is assigned to appears. View example
To look up the SIC codes and ranges follow the steps:
1 On the SIC Codes or SIC Ranges page, click Look Up.
2 Do one of the following:
• If you want to look up by keyword, enter full or partial name of the industry, or full or partial SIC code in the Search Criteria field and click Search.
• If you want to look up by business type code tree, click View Business Type Code Tree.
• If you want to look up by phone number, enter full 10-digit phone number in the corresponding field and click Search.
3 Select the SIC codes you want to include in the count by selecting the appropriate boxes.
Use the plus signs to expand the results, and minus signs to minimize them.
4 Click Add Selected Codes or Add Selected SIC.
To clear the text boxes of all entries, click Clear All.
Use the Omit feature to exclude one or several SIC codes from your search. Note that if you have not made any SIC code selection and choose to omit certain SIC codes, the system assumes that you want to include all SIC codes except those specified in the omissions table.
1 On the SIC Codes page, click Omit.
2 On the Business type codes to omit page, specify SIC codes you want to exclude from the search. If you do not know them, use Lookup. For more information, see SIC Codes and Ranges Lookup.
To clear the text boxes of all entries, click Clear All.
Use the Omit feature to exclude one or several SIC codes from your search. Note that if you have not made any SIC code selection and choose to omit certain SIC codes, the system will assume you want to include all SIC codes except those specified in the omissions table.
1 On the SIC Codes page, click Omit.
2 On the Business type codes to omit page, specify SIC codes you want to exclude from the search. If you do not know them, use Lookup. For more information, see SIC Codes and Ranges Lookup.
To clear the text boxes of all entries, click Clear All.
