INTRODUCTION
IMPLAN has 546 different Industries to choose from when running your economic impact. But how do you choose which one is right for your study? Here is the guide to everything you need to know about IMPLAN Industries!
IMPLAN INDUSTRIES
IMPLAN Industries consist of 546 different codes and names. IMPLAN Industries can be grouped into the following categories:
- 1-19 are Agriculture
- 20-38 are Mining, Minerals, and Oil
- 39-49 are Utilities
- 50-62 are Construction
- 63-391 are Manufacturing
- 392-413 are Wholesale and Retail
- 414-421 Transport Related
- 422-525 Services
- 526-534 Government Enterprises
- 535-538 are Commodity-Only Sectors
- 539-546 captures payroll and employment for different types of government
Industries 1-534 are all private industries and government enterprises that have been aggregated by similarity in input purchasing patterns. While they are all comparable, each IMPLAN Industry has its own production function and spending patterns. Picking the right Industry is important. Running $1M through Industry 195 - Rubber and plastics hoses and belting manufacturing will yield different results than running that same $1M through Industry 196 - Other rubber product manufacturing.
BUT HOW DO I CHOOSE ONE?
If you are looking at oranges in Florida, Industry 4 - Fruit Farming is going to be the one. Often times, it is just that easy; use the list of 546 Industries and pick which one fits your analysis.
Sometimes selecting which IMPLAN Industry to use is a little trickier. What if you want to know what IMPLAN Industry to assign for a company that makes cash registers? A quick scan through the list of 546 Industries won’t help much. So IMPLAN Economists put together a bridge from NAICS Codes to IMPLAN Industries to help. Using this document, you can search the detailed NAICS Codes by keywords like “cash register.” Doing this leads you to NAICS 333318 - Other Commercial and Service Industry Machinery Manufacturing which corresponds to IMPLAN Industry 272 - Other commercial service industry machinery manufacturing. Using this method, you can also see what other things fall under this Industry. Industry 272 also includes vending machines and voting machines, for example.
Alternatively, you can search the NAICS website to find which 6-digit NAICS Code best fits your needs. Then, you can use the NAICS Codes to IMPLAN bridge to find the corresponding IMPLAN Industry.
Picking the right Construction Industry requires reviewing the Definitions of IMPLAN's 546 Construction Industries, because Construction Industries in IMPLAN are not NAICS based.
If you have Industry data you'd like to analyze that corresponds to multiple IMPLAN Industries, consider Industry Aggregation.
NAICS CODES
The industry classifications for all establishments covered by the economic census and surveys are based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). NAICS Codes are a system by which all Industries are classified across Canada, Mexico, and the United States. They consist of Industries made up of firms with similar spending patterns. The IRS requires that businesses report their Principal Business Activity Code on their federal tax return. The IRS business activity codes are based on the NAICS and this is how the government has data based on these codes. NAICS is scheduled to be reviewed for potential revisions every 5 years so that the classification system can keep pace with the changing economy; the most recent revision was in 2022.
Industries in IMPLAN are all classified based on NAICS Codes, with two exceptions. Construction Industries are based on the Census Structure Type descriptions. Additionally, the Industries that start with an asterisk (IMPLAN Industries 535-546) are not based on NAICS because these Sectors do not make any purchases.
BEA INPUT-OUTPUT ACCOUNTS
So if there are almost a thousand NAICS Codes, why are there only 546 IMPLAN Industries? Well, the answer lies with the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s Input-Output Accounts. The BEA's benchmark Input-Output (I-O) accounts provide the most detailed information available on the structure of the U.S. economy and its industries. Benchmark I-O accounts are prepared at 5-year intervals and are based on detailed data from economic censuses conducted every 5 years by the Bureau of the Census; the most recent Industry and Commodity data is from 2022.
The BEA data contains details on 405 Industries. IMPLAN Economists augment this using input from industry experts. So you may notice a few places where the BEA data is less aggregated than the IMPLAN data.
OTHER RESOURCES
Bureau of Economic Analysis’s Input-Output Accounts
United States Census Bureau NAICS
Written December 27, 2019
Updated August 30, 2023