NAICS Codes by Industry

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Industrial Patterns reference editions describe defined US peer sets, each built from six-digit NAICS codes. This page lists every code in every peer set, the subsegment it belongs to, and the segment it sits in.

Three industries are currently covered: US Building Materials (46 codes, 47 in the Atlas), US HVAC & Plumbing (3 codes), and US Specialty Trade Contractors (18 codes). Together they describe the built environment from the materials that go into a building, through the trades that install them, to the channels that supply both.

Within an industry the peer set is identical across the Operating Benchmarks (annual), Industry Structure Reference (census-anchored), and Add-On Density Atlas (annual) modules. A reader purchasing across modules sees the same firms, establishments, and codes from complementary angles — operating performance, structural condition, and geographic distribution — by construction.

The peer sets do not overlap. NAICS 238 (specialty trade contractors) contains 238220, plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors. That code is the contractor side of the HVAC & Plumbing peer set, so it is excluded from the Specialty Trade Contractors peer set. No firm is counted in two industries.

Sources publishing on the prior NAICS vintage are mapped to the 2022 spine through a frozen crosswalk verified code by code.

Manufacturing and merchant-wholesale activities that produce or distribute the physical inputs to a building. Full industry overview: The US Building Materials Industry.

The peer set isolates US manufacturing and merchant-wholesale activities that produce or distribute physical building materials — the inputs to a building. It deliberately excludes three adjacent activities. Construction firms (NAICS 23) are a different buyer set with different operating dynamics. Retail (NAICS 444, building-material retailers such as home centers) is too diverse for meaningful intra-segment comparison. Mining adjacency (NAICS 21231) is excluded for substantially different operating dynamics than manufacturing or distribution.

Merchant wholesale of construction materials — the channel through which lumber, brick, roofing, other construction materials, and metal and mineral products reach builders and contractors.

• 423310 — Lumber, plywood, millwork, and wood panel merchant wholesalers
• 423320 — Brick, stone, and related construction material merchant wholesalers
• 423330 — Roofing, siding, and insulation material merchant wholesalers
• 423390 — Other construction material merchant wholesalers
• 423510 — Metal service centers and other metal merchant wholesalers
• 423520 — Coal and other mineral and ore merchant wholesalers  (Atlas only)

The 423520 code is included in the Add-On Density Atlas peer set but not in the Operating Benchmarks or Industry Structure Reference peer sets. CBP publishes 423520 with sufficient county detail to map honestly at the geographic level the Atlas works at, where the firm-level operating data underlying the other two modules does not separately distinguish it from the broader 4235 subsector.

Cement, ready-mix concrete, clay and glass products, lime and gypsum, and other nonmetallic mineral building products — the heaviest, most freight-bound and therefore most locally-served of the building-materials trades.

• 327110 — Pottery, ceramics, and plumbing fixture manufacturing
• 327120 — Clay building material and refractories manufacturing
• 327211 — Flat glass manufacturing
• 327212 — Other pressed and blown glass and glassware manufacturing
• 327213 — Glass container manufacturing
• 327215 — Glass product manufacturing made of purchased glass
• 327310 — Cement manufacturing
• 327320 — Ready-mix concrete manufacturing
• 327331 — Concrete block and brick manufacturing
• 327332 — Concrete pipe manufacturing
• 327390 — Other concrete product manufacturing
• 327410 — Lime manufacturing
• 327420 — Gypsum product manufacturing
• 327910 — Abrasive product manufacturing
• 327991 — Cut stone and stone product manufacturing
• 327992 — Ground or treated mineral and earth manufacturing
• 327993 — Mineral wool manufacturing
• 327999 — All other miscellaneous nonmetallic mineral product manufacturing

Sawmills, veneer and plywood, millwork, and engineered and other wood building products. Spans primary processing (sawmills, veneer) through secondary value-added (millwork, engineered products, containers).

• 321113 — Sawmills
• 321114 — Wood preservation
• 321211 — Hardwood veneer and plywood manufacturing
• 321212 — Softwood veneer and plywood manufacturing
• 321213 — Engineered wood member (except truss) manufacturing
• 321214 — Truss manufacturing
• 321219 — Reconstituted wood product manufacturing
• 321911 — Wood window and door manufacturing
• 321912 — Cut stock, resawing lumber, and planing
• 321918 — Other millwork (including flooring)
• 321920 — Wood container and pallet manufacturing
• 321991 — Manufactured home (mobile home) manufacturing
• 321992 — Prefabricated wood building manufacturing
• 321999 — All other miscellaneous wood product manufacturing

Architectural and structural metal fabrication, sheet-metal and plate work, and hardware — the metal building-products trades.

• 332311 — Prefabricated metal building and component manufacturing
• 332312 — Fabricated structural metal manufacturing
• 332313 — Plate work manufacturing
• 332321 — Metal window and door manufacturing
• 332322 — Sheet metal work manufacturing
• 332323 — Ornamental and architectural metal work manufacturing
• 332510 — Hardware manufacturing

Polystyrene and urethane foam building products — the smallest of the five segments by count. The Operating Benchmarks and Industry Structure Reference peer set includes one of the two codes (326150); the Add-On Density Atlas peer set includes both.

• 326140 — Polystyrene foam product manufacturing  (Atlas only)
• 326150 — Urethane and other foam product (except polystyrene) manufacturing

The services-and-distribution complex that installs, maintains, and supplies the equipment moving air, heat, and water through buildings: the contractor trade that performs the work, and the two merchant-wholesale channels that supply it. Full industry overview: The US HVAC & Plumbing Industry.

The peer set is deliberately narrow. It excludes HVAC equipment manufacturing (a supplier industry with different dynamics), household appliance repair (household-skewed, a contamination risk), and refrigeration equipment wholesale (NAICS 423740, operationally distinct). The three codes are the complete complex; nothing is added by judgment.

Contractor

• 238220 — Plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors

Distribution

• 423720 — Plumbing and heating equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers (hydronics)
• 423730 — Warm air heating and air-conditioning equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers

The contractor and distribution sides are reported separately throughout. They are different business models — payroll runs about 27 cents of every output dollar on the contractor side against 6–8 cents in distribution — and dollar outputs are never summed across them.

The trades that perform defined-scope construction work — foundations and structure, building exterior, electrical and other building equipment, interior finishing, and site preparation — generally as subcontractors to general contractors or directly for owners. Full industry overview: The US Specialty Trade Contractors Industry.

Scope: NAICS 238 excluding 238220. Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors are the contractor side of the HVAC & Plumbing peer set and are excluded here so the two peer sets never overlap. The remaining 18 codes are the complete subsector.

Seven codes are designated core — the largest, most fragmented and most geographically dispersed trades, which carry maps in the Add-On Density Atlas. The rest fill out the subsector in tables. Four codes are "other/all other" categories: they are heterogeneous by construction and are reported for completeness but never used as headline figures.

Foundation, structure, and building exterior (NAICS 2381 — 8 codes)

• 238110 — Poured concrete foundation and structure contractors (core)
• 238120 — Structural steel and precast concrete contractors
• 238130 — Framing contractors
• 238140 — Masonry contractors (core)
• 238150 — Glass and glazing contractors
• 238160 — Roofing contractors (core)
• 238170 — Siding contractors
• 238190 — Other foundation, structure, and building exterior contractors (other)

Building equipment, excluding HVAC and plumbing (NAICS 2382 — 2 codes)

• 238210 — Electrical contractors and other wiring installation contractors (core)
• 238290 — Other building equipment contractors (other)

Building finishing (NAICS 2383 — 6 codes)

• 238310 — Drywall and insulation contractors
• 238320 — Painting and wall covering contractors (core)
• 238330 — Flooring contractors
• 238340 — Tile and terrazzo contractors
• 238350 — Finish carpentry contractors (core)
• 238390 — Other building finishing contractors (other)

Other specialty trade (NAICS 2389 — 2 codes)

• 238910 — Site preparation contractors (core)
• 238990 — All other specialty trade contractors (other)

Landscaping services (NAICS 561730) is sometimes grouped with the trades commercially. It sits in a different NAICS subsector and carries a large consumer maintenance tail that establishment counts cannot separate from design-and-install work, so it is excluded from this peer set.

The Operating Benchmarks module reports the distribution of operating outcomes across a peer set on four metric families: margin behavior, labor elasticity, capital efficiency, and overhead. The Industry Structure Reference reports structural condition across up to ten dimensions: population, size structure, multi-unit structure, revenue class, concentration, entry and exit, geography, organizational form, labor composition, and the nonemployer tail. The Add-On Density Atlas maps where the establishment universe of each code sits across the United States, with a trailing five-year drift layer.

Each module's methodology is documented on the methodology page and in the appendix of every edition. Codes suppressed by the source at fine granularity are shown as suppressed, never imputed.

Further reading: glossary of terms · source list · edition catalog · methodology

Industry overviews: Building Materials · HVAC & Plumbing · Specialty Trade Contractors