NAICS - North American Industry Classification Code

Another way to find information about a business field is to find its industry code. NAICS is the terminology used by the government to classify and standardize businesses so federal agencies can gather meaningful statistical data related to the US business economy. NAICS was adopted in 1997 to replace the Standard Classification System, another standard you may encounter.

Tip: Think strategically. If your keywords don't return a NAICS code, click on the 2022 NAICS search to find your code.

• Start with a very general category your industry might fit within and then drill down to specific industries within that industry category. 
• In the illustration below, I selected code 81 for Other Services when I didn't see cleaning or laundering on the list.
• Once in the Other Services list, I found #812 Personal and Laundry Services and below that the subcategory #812320, Drycleaning and Laundry Services..
• The description indicates that this code includes wedding gown cleaning services.

(Click on images to enlarge)

Find Useful Terminology Online

You can use Google or another search engine to explore the terms applied to your business venture.

To start, type in your idea. Browse the results list to "mine" for terms, but don't open any of the links.

For example, if I am interested in starting a business that cleans wedding dresses, I might type "cleaning wedding dresses" into the search bar.

Most of my search results are business advertisements. I can research these company names to learn about the industry:

• Bridal Kare International
• Margaret's Bridal Services
• Corry's Fine Dry Cleaning

I also see a few new key words:

• dry cleaning
• wedding dress cleaning
• wedding gowns
• gown
• wedding gown preservation

Company names and these key words are the terms I will start with when I search for industry information.