Analysis
NAICS 323120 is the 2022 national industry for support activities for printing, part of 32312 (Support Activities for Printing). Census lists 40 example activities under it in the official index.
Between 2018 and 2023 the number of establishments fell 29% and employment fell 28%. The 2018 count used NAICS 2017, so part of a large move can come from codes being redefined rather than from businesses opening or closing.
County Business Patterns counts 947 US establishments in this code in 2023, employing 16,557 people at an average annual payroll of $55,792 per employee (26th percentile of national industries). 50% of the establishments have fewer than five employees, which is close to the national mix.
Its index entries, the activities Census uses to assign businesses to this code, include almanac binding without printing, bookbinding shops, bookbinding without printing and color separation services, for the printing trade, among 40 in all.
Its goods appear in 4 statistical lines of the US tariff schedule, mostly under headings 4901 (printed books, brochures, leaflets and similar printed…) and 8442 (machinery, apparatus and equipment (other than the machines…). That link is how import data is matched to domestic producers, for example in trade-remedy cases.
Census lists 4 related activities that belong elsewhere, most often in 332812, 325992, 333248 and 323117. Businesses that do several things are classified by their primary activity, the one that generates the most value, so check those boundaries before settling on this code.
Official definition
This industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in performing prepress and postpress services in support of printing activities. Prepress services may include such things as platemaking, typesetting, trade binding, and sample mounting. Postpress services include such things as book or paper bronzing, die cutting, edging, embossing, folding, gilding, gluing, and indexing.
Source: US Census Bureau, NAICS 2022 Manual.
Not this code if…
| The business mainly does | Use instead |
|---|---|
| Engraving on metal | 332812 Metal Coating, Engraving (except Jewelry and Silverware), and Allied Services to Manufacturers |
| Manufacturing photosensitive plates for printing | 325992 Photographic Film, Paper, Plate, Chemical, and Copy Toner Manufacturing |
| Manufacturing blank plates (except photosensitive plates) for printing | 333248 All Other Industrial Machinery Manufacturing |
| Printing books or printing and binding books | 323117 Books Printing |
Index entries (40)
- Almanac binding without printing
- Bookbinding shops
- Bookbinding without printing
- Color separation services, for the printing trade
- Dictionary binding without printing
- Electronic prepress services for the printing trade
- Electrotype plate preparation services
- Embossing plate preparation services
- Encyclopedia binding without printing
- Engraving printing plate, for the printing trade
- Fiction bookbinding without printing
- Flexographic plate preparation services
- Gold stamping books for the trade
- Gravure plate and cylinder preparation services
- Imagesetting services, prepress
- Letterpress plate preparation services
- Lithographic plate preparation services
- Nonfiction bookbinding without printing
- Offset plate preparation services
- Pamphlet binding without printing
- Photocomposition services, for the printing trade
- Photoengraving plate preparation services
- Phototypesetting services
- Postpress services (e.g., beveling, bronzing, folding, gluing, edging, foil stamping, gilding) on printed materials
- Prepress printing services (e.g., color separation, imagesetting, photocomposition, typesetting)
- Printing plate preparation services
- Printing postpress services (e.g., beveling, bronzing, folding, gluing, edging, foil stamping) to printed products (e.g., books, cards, paper)
- Printing prepress services (e.g., color separation, imagesetting, photocomposition, typesetting)
- Professional bookbinding without printing
- Rebinding books, magazines, or pamphlets
- Religious bookbinding without printing
- Repairing books
- Rotogravure printing plates and cylinders preparation services
- Samples mounting
- School textbooks binding without printing
- Screen for printing, preparation services
- Swatches and samples, mounting for the trade
- Technical manual paper (books) binding without printing
- Trade binding services
- Typesetting (i.e., computer controlled, hand, machine)