Analysis
NAICS 52421 is the 2022 NAICS industry for insurance agencies and brokerages, part of 5242 (Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Insurance Related Activities).
It has only one more detailed code, 524210, which covers exactly the same activities; the definition, index entries and statistics are on that page.
County Business Patterns counts 133,728 US establishments in this code in 2023, employing 818,561 people at an average annual payroll of $90,831 per employee (79th percentile of national industries). 72% of the establishments have fewer than five employees, which marks it as a small-business industry.
By establishments it ranks 1st of the 2 codes at this level within Agencies, Brokerages, and Other Insurance Related Activities, with 90.4% of them.
Between 2018 and 2023 the number of establishments fell 2% and employment rose 11%. 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.
Official definition
See industry description for 524210.
Source: US Census Bureau, NAICS 2022 Manual.