In brief:
- NAICS code lookups find the industry classifier numbers for companies that have been standardized across the US, Canada, and Mexico.
- NAICS lookups are commonly used to help identify potential risks with a company based on the industry it’s in (e.g. high rate of crime, dangerous activities, shaky economic performance, or image/regulatory issues).
- Some common methods of looking up a NAICS code include matching it to a company name, translating it from a related SIC code, searching by industry keyword(s), using a drill-down table to construct a specific NAICS code, or contacting the US Census Bureau.
The three nations that make up North America — the United States, Canada, and Mexico — have tightly-intertwined economies. That’s why, in 1997, the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system was by-and-large replaced by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS): to better sort companies across the continent by their types of economic activities.
Knowing the NAICS codes of other companies can be useful information when forming or maintaining business-to-business (B2B) relationships. By analyzing a company’s industry, you can look for risk signals in the company’s operations, or the state of the industry itself. With that in mind, this guide explains how to look up NAICS codes for other companies.
We first talk a bit more about what a NAICS code search is, and why you would want to perform one as a business.
A NAICS code lookup is the process of matching a company in the United States, Canada, or Mexico with its North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code. This code standardizes how companies are classified based on economic activity across the US, Canada, and Mexico.
A NAICS lookup, in the context of B2B relationships, is usually done for risk assessment purposes. Here are some examples to illustrate:
- Financial Institutions & Fintechs: Is a company part of an industry that’s known for criminal activity? What is the risk that the company could use financial instruments to funnel money into the hands of criminals?
- Lenders: Does a company asking for a loan work in a financially-risky industry, or one going through tough economic times? What is the risk the company might default on a loan as a result?
- Insurers: Does a company wanting a policy operate in an industry where the risk of property loss or injury is high? How likely is it that the company will file claims frequently, and/or for high values?
- Marketplaces: Because of the industry it’s in, would a company wanting to be part of a marketplace be prohibited for any reason? That is, would it be a risk to the marketplace because of its legality, image, or need for extra regulatory requirements?
These are just some of the factors that need to be considered when businesses try to balance growth & profitability with mitigating the risk of fraud, money laundering, regulatory non-compliance, and other threats in B2B relationships. Read more about how to effectively manage Know Your Business (KYB) regulations at any scale with our e-book below.
When it comes to where to find a NAICS code for a company, there are a number of ways to go about it. For the sake of efficiency, we’ve ordered the following list of methods from what we feel are the most reliable to those that are less efficient.
1. NAICS code lookup by company name
Since similar companies can have the same (or at least similar) NAICS codes, the most efficient way to find NAICS codes for particular companies is to match them with companies’ exact names. You can do this by inquiring at a company itself, or manually searching and browsing records about a company from an online single-search NAICS code lookup tool.
A more efficient option, however, is to use a dedicated business verification solution like Middesk, which can also classify businesses by industry.
All you need is a company’s name, address, and (optionally) its website URL. Use our Industry Classification product, and you’ll get a report on the company’s NAICS code and other classification codes. You can even use our API to search for the NAICS codes of multiple companies at once.
See our article on how to look up a NAICS code by company name for more details on the process.
2. Use the SIC to NAICS Crosswalk (if you already have SIC)
If you’ve already found a company’s Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code, you can use certain tools — such as this one from the NAICS Association, or this one on SICCode.com — to convert the SIC code to a NAICS code. Some will only give you the NAICS code(s) related to the specific SIC code you enter, while others will give you a full conversion table.
Note that there may be multiple NAICS codes that could be associated with a single SIC code. So you’ll have to make an educated guess as to which one belongs to a particular company.
3. Search by industry keyword
Say you can’t perform an SIC or NAICS code search for a company by its name, but you have a general idea of what that company does. In that case, the US Census Bureau has a NAICS search system you can use to filter NAICS codes by industry-related keywords. Again, however, this is at best an educated guess at what the company’s NAICS code might be based on its business activities.
4. Use the NAICS Industry Drill-Down Table
The NAICS Association has a drill-down table that allows you to iteratively choose more specific versions of NAICS codes. This allows you to find prominent companies that have a particular NAICS code.
You start with the first two digits of a NAICS code, which denote the economic sector the company is in. Then you can filter by the next two digits, which denote economic subsector and industry group. Finally, you can choose a specific NAICS code by its last two digits, which represent the NAICS industry classifier and the national industry classifier.
Unfortunately, this only shows a few companies that are major players within a particular industry. If the company you’re looking for isn’t as well-known, you may have to search for its NAICS code another way.
5. Contact the Census Bureau
The US Census Bureau is a great resource for how to find a NAICS code, as well as information on NAICS codes in general. That’s because companies are required to report their NAICS codes when they respond to the Bureau’s surveys. Accordingly, you may be able to find out what a company’s NAICS code is by contacting the Bureau’s NAICS branch directly by phone at 888-756-2427, or by e-mail at [email protected].
Similarly to when asking a company directly, though, you may be met with suspicion as to why another business wants to know a company’s NAICS code. You will have to explain in very specific terms why you need this information, which can be a time-consuming process. Also be aware that the Bureau may only have a company’s NAICS code as reported on the most recent census; it may have changed in the meantime.
Businesses can have tens or even hundreds of companies they need to process at once. Manually searching for NAICS codes one-by-one isn’t efficient, especially when (potential) client companies are waiting for onboarding or reviews to finish before moving ahead with a B2B relationship.
You should look for an industry classification solution that can automate NAICS codes lookups through methods such as:
- Machine learning: Gather information from many reliable sources at the same time to return a NAICS code quickly.
- Custom rulesets: Set risk scores and limits to sort and filter screened companies by whether or not your business is comfortable working with them.
Middesk’s Business Verification API can completely automate NAICS business code lookups and other tedious KYB tasks. Find NAICS codes and other business verification information you need for onboarding and due diligence in minutes, instead of spending hours collecting this information manually.
A NAICS code lookup solution made simple, with Middesk
If you need to verify businesses quickly, efficiently, and without error, you need a business verification system that can handle tasks like a NAICS code search automatically. Here’s what Middesk can offer:
- Proactively maintain KYB compliance: Automatically retrieve a businesses industry to quickly assess their risk profile, and flag high-risk industries at the top of your funnel.
- Free analysts’ time from manual classification: Identify businesses in high-risk industries that you shouldn’t work with using automated lookups, instead of having your risk team search for this information by hand.
- We classify businesses into 300+ industry groups defined by NAICS, equivalent SIC, and MCC codes: Automatically retrieve classification information on a business with just a name, address, and URL; including a URL will also return a screenshot, status, created date, and phone number.
Middesk’s Industry Classification product can find NAICS and other industry classification codes for onboarding risk assessment or ongoing due diligence.
See for yourself by booking a demo today.
