Does our business count as small for the SBA?
Find your industry's SBA size standard by NAICS code or by words, and see whether your average receipts or employees are within it.
SBA loans, SBIR and STTR awards and federal contracts set aside for small businesses are only for businesses the SBA counts as small. What counts as small depends on your industry: the SBA sets a size standard for each industry code in the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), as either average annual receipts or an average number of employees. A business is small if it is at or under the standard.
The figures include your affiliates, such as businesses with the same owners, not just your own company. This calculator compares your figures with the standard for your industry code, from the SBA's table in the federal rules.
Results
238220
Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors
Small
The size standard is $19,000,000 of average annual receipts. Yours: $12,000,000, $7,000,000 under it.
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Worked example: A plumbing and heating contractor with $12 million of receipts a year
A made-up example: NAICS code 238220 (Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors), whose size standard is $19 million of average annual receipts, and a business averaging $12 million a year over its last 5 years.
- Industry
- 238220 Plumbing, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Contractors
- Size standard: average annual receipts of at most
- $19,000,000
- The business's average annual receipts
- $12,000,000
- Under the standard by
- $7,000,000
- Small for the SBA?
- Yes
The table is 13 CFR 121.201 as last changed on March 17, 2023, read from the eCFR on October 21, 2026.
Worth knowing
- Receipts are generally your total income plus cost of goods sold, as on your federal tax return, less returns and allowances. Average them over your last 5 completed fiscal years. For SBA loans, a business 3 or more years old may use its last 3 years instead. A newer business works out a yearly figure from the weeks it has been trading.
- Employees are averaged over the pay periods of the last 24 months. Part-time and temporary staff count the same as full-time.
- For SBA 7(a) and 504 loans there is a second way to qualify: tangible net worth of no more than $20 million and average net income after federal income taxes of no more than $6.5 million over the last 2 years, both including affiliates.
- Some codes have exceptions with their own standard, such as engineering for military equipment within 541330, and some have footnotes that matter mainly for federal contracts. The calculator shows both.
- On August 20, 2026 the SBA proposed new size standards for 338 industry groups and industries, with comments open until November 20, 2026. Until a final rule takes effect, the standards here still apply.
Routes this works for
Sources
- 13 CFR 121.201: size standards by NAICS code (the maximum receipts or employees for a business and its affiliates) · checked October 21, 2026
- 13 CFR 121.104: how annual receipts are calculated (5 years, or 3 for SBA loan programs) · checked October 21, 2026
- 13 CFR 121.106: how employees are counted (24 months of pay periods, part-time counted in full) · checked October 21, 2026
- 13 CFR 121.301: size standards for SBA financial assistance, with the alternative for 7(a) and 504 loans · checked October 21, 2026
- Federal Register 2026-17042: Small Business Size Standards, proposed rule (August 20, 2026) · checked October 20, 2026
- Federal Register 2026-19546: Small Business Size Standards, extension of comment periods to November 20, 2026 · checked October 20, 2026
Something wrong or out of date?
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