332510

Analysis

NAICS 332510 is the 2022 national industry for hardware manufacturing, part of 33251 (Hardware Manufacturing). Census lists 23 example activities under it in the official index.

Census lists 10 related activities that belong elsewhere, most often in 332722, 332618, 337215 and 331. 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.

County Business Patterns counts 532 US establishments in this code in 2023, employing 29,290 people at an average annual payroll of $65,693 per employee (44th percentile of national industries). 31% of the establishments have fewer than five employees, which is close to the national mix.

Between 2018 and 2023 the number of establishments fell 10% and employment rose 2%. 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.

Its index entries, the activities Census uses to assign businesses to this code, include aircraft hardware, metal, manufacturing, appliance hardware, metal, manufacturing, automobile hardware, metal, manufacturing and brackets (i.e., builder's hardware-type), metal…, among 23 in all.

Its goods appear in 48 statistical lines of the US tariff schedule, mostly under headings 8302 (base metal mountings, fittings and similar articles…), 8301 (padlocks and locks (key, combination or electrically…) and 8483 (transmission shafts (including camshafts and crankshafts)…). That link is how import data is matched to domestic producers, for example in trade-remedy cases.