SBA's small business size size standards define whether a business entity is small and, thus, eligible for Government programs and preferences reserved for ``small business'' concerns.  Size standards have been established for types of economic activity, or industry, generally under the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

NAICS replaced the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system in 1997, and SBA adopted it as the basis for its table of size standards on October 1, 2000.  NAICS is the first-ever North American industry classification system.  The system was developed by the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to provide comparable statistics across the three countries. Using NAICS, government and business analysts can directly compare industrial production statistics collected and published in the three North American Free Trade Agreement countries.  NAICS also provides increased comparability with the International Standard Industrial Classification System (ISIC, Revision 3), developed and maintained by the United Nations.

NAICS is described in the North American Industry Classification Manual — United States, 2007, which is available from the National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161; by calling 1(800) 553-6847 or 1(703) 605-6000; or on the Internet .  The manual includes definitions for each industry and a comprehensive index.  NAICS assigns codes to all economic activity within twenty broad Sectors.  Section 121.201 of SBA's Small Business Size Regulations provides the full table of small business size standards matched to the U.S. NAICS industry codes. 

Correspondence Tables: 2007 NAICS-US matched to 2002 NAICS-US and 2002 NAICS-US matched to 2007 NAICS-US.  

Table of Small Business Size Standards

HAZMat Registration Program of the U.S. Department of Transportation.  To determine your eligibility as a small business, please see our HAZMat page.

Small Business Competitiveness Demonstration Program — The Program was established in 1988 in response to the concern that a disproportionately large number of contracts in certain industries were being set aside for small businesses.  At the same time, opportunities for small businesses were not being made available in other unrelated industries in which small business participation rates were historically low.

Glossary of terms relating to small business size standards.