Analysis
NAICS 8131 is the 2022 industry group for religious organizations, part of 813 (Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations).
It has only one more detailed code, 813110, which covers exactly the same activities; the definition, index entries and statistics are on that page.
County Business Patterns counts 186,801 US establishments in this code in 2023, employing 1,576,295 people at an average annual payroll of $28,701 per employee (3rd percentile of national industries). 62% of the establishments have fewer than five employees, which marks it as a small-business industry.
By establishments it ranks 1st of the 5 codes at this level within Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations, with 60.5% of them.
Between 2018 and 2023 the number of establishments grew 1% and employment fell 7%. 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.