Research Guides: Entrepreneurship &amp; Business Planning: Industries

Industry Information

North American Industry Classification System: is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy.

2017 NAICS Code Lookup

Find Industry Information Online

IBISWorld This link opens in a new window
Industry market research reports, economic, and demographic data to support business research; reports include statistics, industry structure, product & customer segmentation, performance analysis, major players, market share, and 5-year forecast analysis for 680+ industries.
Mergent Intellect This link opens in a new window
Companies (private and public), industries, and key business ratios.
Business Source Complete This link opens in a new window
Business research database, providing full text for 8,800 periodicals, including 1,100 peer-reviewed publications, plus company profiles. Subjects covered include marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. (Courtesy of WVInfoDepot)
Statista This link opens in a new window
Provides access to statistics and studies gathered by market researchers, trade organizations, scientific publications, and government sources on over 600 industries.

Economic Census Industry Snapshots
Drill down to the specific NAICS code for a snapshot based on US Census data. (Keyword search is glitchy.) For data on number of establishments, payroll, and industry performance. The Economic Survey is conducted every 5 years. Latest data is from 2007. For more current information, use County Business Patterns in American Factfinder.