Guides: Business: NAICS codes

Industry Classification: NAICS codes (North American Industry Classification System)

NAICS Canada Manual
First look up the NAICS Canada code (used mainly by Stats Canada).
Browse NAICS by sector or use the keyword search to identify relevant industries.
A "Step-by-step" demo of how to look up NAICS codes is available.

Identify the industry that your startup company would operate in. Use a standard industry classification code such as NAICS.

NAICS: North American Industry Classification System

It was developed jointly by Canada, the US, and Mexico and divides the economy into:

- 20 sectors (2-digit codes)
- 102 subsectors (3-digit codes)
- 323 industry groups (4-digit codes)
- 711 industries (5-digit codes)
- 922 Canadian industries (6-digit codes).

NAICS codes are comparable across Canada, the US, and Mexico at the 5 digit code level. Note: unique national industries will have a 6 digit code.

North American Industry Classification System
As some databases use the US version of the NAICS manual, it is also helpful to be able to cross-reference your NAICS code there, as the numbers can be slightly different. Because the US economy is larger than the Canadian, they have a more comprehensive classification system.
Search NAICS Codes by Industry
You can use the keyword search to identify relevant codes, or browse NAICS by Sector.

Identify Competitors by NAICS code

You can identify competitors using a variety of business or company directories, databases, and web sites. You can often identify competitors within the same industry by searching by NAICS code or by keywords in the NAICS description.