Analysis
NAICS 5621 is the 2022 industry group for waste collection, part of 562 (Waste Management and Remediation Services).
It has only one more detailed code, 56211, which covers exactly the same activities; the definition, index entries and statistics are on that page.
By establishments it ranks 1st of the 3 codes at this level within Waste Management and Remediation Services, with 44.7% of them.
Between 2018 and 2023 the number of establishments grew 11% and employment rose 18%. 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 13,064 US establishments in this code in 2023, employing 263,050 people at an average annual payroll of $70,444 per employee (53rd percentile of national industries). 46% of the establishments have fewer than five employees, which is close to the national mix.