What are Standard Industrial Classification Codes [SIC] codes?
The federal government created the SIC code system to categorize all businesses into distinct categories. SIC codes can be 2, 4, 6 or 8 digits but most list vendors only go as narrow as 6 digits. The first 2 digits describe the broad nature of the business. The categories become more specific as they go from 2 to 4 to 6 digits. For example, 13 is Oil and Gas Extraction, 1311 is Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas, 131102 is Gas and hydrocarbon liquefaction from coal, and 13110203 is Coal pyrolysis. So as you can see, the longer the sic code, the more specific the industry. The key thing to remember is that each time you narrow down the sic codes, your list will become smaller and smaller but it will be more targeted and that’s what we want. Taking the above example as an illustration, there are 21,056 companies that fall under sic code 13 (Oil and Gas Extraction) and there is only 1 company under sic code 13110203 (Coal pyrolysis) in the United States. What are NAICS codes? North American
