Find the NAICS code for the company you're researching. NAICS stands for North American Industry Classification System and was developed by the US, Mexico, and Canada to assign each industry a unique classification.
You can look up the NAICS code for the industry your company is classed in on the Census Bureau's NAICS page (look for the search box on the left that says 2007 NAICS search).
It may also be listed in other sources, such as Mergent, Business Source Complete or other business databases.
The first two digits of the code designate the sector, the third digit designates the subsector, the fourth digit designates the industry group, the fifth digit designates the NAICS industry, and the sixth digit designates the national industry. A zero as the sixth digit generally indicates that the NAICS industry and the U.S. industry are the same.
Library Book
Find financial ratios for your industry
Almanac of Business and Industrial Financial Ratios
Market Feasibility- Expected Growth, Current Outlook, etc.
FRED : Economic Data (Provides user-friendly charts of economic data from government sources.)
Census Data - demographic and business data by region. First use the zip code search for demographic data.
Then, use the Advanced Search for industry information. Under Search #1 in the "industry or industry code" search box, choose "industries," then type in a keyword search such as "construction," and then hit "Go"
Bureau of Labor Statistics - Reports on how people spend time and money
Suggest viewing:
Under "BLS Overviews" in middle of the page, click on "Industry,"then click on "Industries at a Glance", then "Alphabetical Index"
Consumer Spending- click on "Consumer Spending" then in first paragraph, click on "reports", then scroll down to "Annual Report" then click on "Consumer Expenditures in 2016 (HTML)"
Time Use- click on "Time Use" then view latest numbers on the right side of page
For a nice summary of Time Use, click on "AVERAGE HOURS PER DAY" on the right side of the page, then the top link for "American Time Use Survey Summary" which has results from the year