Industry · NAICS · Market structure
Which industries have the most DBE firms? Utilities and IT, not just construction
Published May 25, 2026 · ~7 minute read
DBE certification is most often discussed alongside heavy construction. The Federal-Aid Highway Program is the historical anchor of the federal DBE rule, and state DOT programs are by far the most visible certifying agencies in our directory. So it's a fair assumption that "DBE" and "construction" go together.
They do go together, but not as much as you'd think. When we compare the industry distribution of our 120,738 NAICS-coded DBE firms to the industry distribution of all US small businesses (firms with fewer than 500 employees, per Census SUSB 2022), construction comes in eleventh on over-representation. Utilities, education, IT, administrative services, and several others have stronger concentration ratios.
How DBE concentration compares across NAICS sectors
The chart below shows the representation ratio for each 2-digit NAICS sector. A ratio above 1.0x means DBE certification is more concentrated in that sector than the broader US small-business economy. A ratio below 1.0x means it's less concentrated. The x-axis is log-scaled so the under-represented sectors stay visually meaningful next to the utilities outlier.
Where DBEs are most concentrated
1. Utilities — 21.9x over-represented
Of the 6,566 small US firms in NAICS 22 (Utilities), our database holds 2,708 DBE-certified ones. That's 2.2% of all NAICS-coded DBEs in our database in a sector that makes up 0.1% of the US small-business population. Utilities are heavily contracted out (telecom, electric, gas, water, sewage) and many of those contracts run through state DOTs and federal infrastructure programs that carry DBE goals. The result is a small absolute footprint — 2,708 firms — that's wildly over-represented in the DBE certification system.
2. Educational Services — 9.8x
18,828 DBE firms in NAICS 61 (Educational Services). The category covers training providers, tutoring services, continuing-education firms, and educational consulting. Public-sector procurement of training and instructional services is widespread and DBE-goal-eligible, which is what produces the over-representation. Universities and K-12 districts that procure under DBE rules are the primary buyer.
3. Information / IT — 6.5x
10,822 DBE firms in NAICS 51 (Information). This includes IT services, software, telecommunications, broadcasting, publishing, and data processing. Federal IT contracting with DBE participation requirements is a substantial channel, and many state IT modernization programs use the same framework. The over-representation here suggests IT-services DBE supply is healthier than the construction-heavy reputation of the program would suggest.
4. Administrative & Support Services — 5.7x
39,616 DBE firms in NAICS 56 — the second-largest absolute DBE sector. This bucket includes office administration, facilities support, employment services, business support, travel arrangement, security and investigation, services to buildings, and waste management. Many of these are government-procurement-heavy categories where DBE goals routinely apply.
5. Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing — 5.5x
2,348 DBE firms in NAICS 11. The over-representation here is smaller in absolute terms but notable. Most likely driven by food procurement contracts (school districts, federal nutrition programs) and forestry-management contracts on public lands.
Where construction really ranks: 11th, at 2.5x
Construction (NAICS 23) holds 37,150 DBE firms in our database — third-largest absolute sector. But the US has a lot of small construction firms (781,192 of them). The ratio of DBE share to small-business share works out to 2.5x: real over-representation, but considerably below what utilities, education, IT, administrative services, manufacturing, transportation, mining, professional services, and wholesale show. Construction is the workhorse, not the outlier.
Where DBE supply is thinner than the economy would suggest
Five sectors come in below the 1.0x baseline. In these industries, certified DBE supply is proportionally less than the size of the underlying small-business economy. If you're a prime contractor looking for DBE subcontractors in any of these sectors, expect a thinner pool than headcount alone would suggest.
- Accommodation & Food Services (NAICS 72) — 0.41x.4,470 DBE firms versus 572,464 small US firms in the sector. The DBE program has limited applicability to most food-service businesses. Concession contracts at federally-funded airports (ACDBE) are the main channel where you'd expect to see DBE certification in this category.
- Finance & Insurance (NAICS 52) — 0.51x. 2,333 DBE firms versus 242,710 small US firms. Brokerage, insurance agencies, and investment advisors are seldom federal-contract recipients in ways that trigger DBE rules.
- Retail Trade (NAICS 44-45) — 0.53x.6,425 DBE firms versus 643,115 small US firms. Same pattern: retail doesn't generally connect to federal transportation, infrastructure, or services contracting.
- Health Care & Social Assistance (NAICS 62) — 0.71x.9,167 DBE firms versus 689,442 small US firms. Less under-represented than retail or food service, but still well below baseline. Most healthcare firms don't go through DBE certification routes even when they could.
- Other Services (NAICS 81) — 0.81x. 11,106 DBE firms versus 727,836 small US firms. Mild under-representation. This catch-all sector includes personal services, repair, religious organizations, and civic organizations — a mix where DBE eligibility is uneven.
What this means in practice
For DBE firms considering certification: the data suggests DBE programs are a particularly strong fit if you're in utilities, IT, professional or administrative services, transportation, or manufacturing — beyond the well-known construction channel. If you're in retail, food service, finance, or healthcare, the historical procurement structure is less DBE-oriented and you'll get less leverage out of a DBE cert (though it can still matter for specific contract opportunities).
For primes meeting DBE goals on federally-funded projects: the supply story tracks the over-representation pattern. DBE construction and DBE professional-services supply is deep. DBE healthcare or DBE finance subcontractor pools are thinner relative to the size of those underlying industries. Plan accordingly when scoping a project that touches a cross-industry vendor mix.
For policy folks: the under-represented sectors are the likely growth frontier for DBE program reach. Healthcare and food service in particular have large small-business populations that DBE certification hasn't penetrated as deeply as the program's federal-aid-highway roots would suggest is possible.
Methodology
- DBE side
- Parsed
certifications.naics_codes_rawacross 265,961 certification records. Extracted the 2-digit NAICS prefix from each numeric code (filtering to valid 2-digit sectors per the 2022 NAICS structure). Aggregated to distinct companies: 120,738 DBE firms (91% of the database) have at least one valid NAICS sector on file. The remaining 9% have only non-NAICS state procurement codes (NIGP) or no code data and are excluded. - Baseline
- US Census Bureau Statistics of US Businesses (SUSB), annual data tables for 2022 (released April 2025). us_naicssector_large_emplsize_2022.xlsx. We use the "Number of Firms" column for the
<500 employeessize category as the comparison universe, since DBE eligibility is bounded by small-business size standards (which vary by NAICS but generally fall under 500 employees). - Representation ratio
- For each NAICS 2-digit sector, ratio = (DBE share of sector) / (SUSB small-firm share of sector). A ratio of 2.0x means the sector accounts for twice as large a fraction of DBE firms as it does of US small businesses. NAICS 92 (Public Administration) is excluded since SUSB does not cover government entities.
- Reproducibility
- The full analysis script will be open-sourced alongside the existing scripts at scripts/analysis.
Frequently asked questions
What industry has the most DBE-certified firms?
By absolute count, Professional, Scientific & Technical Services (NAICS 54) has the most DBE firms in the DBE Source database: 62,473, or 51.7% of all NAICS-coded DBE firms. Administrative & Support Services (NAICS 56) is second at 39,616 firms (32.8%). Construction (NAICS 23) is third at 37,150 (30.8%). Companies often hold certifications spanning multiple NAICS sectors, so the percentages add up to more than 100%.
Is DBE certification mostly for construction companies?
Historically yes — the federal DBE rule originated with the Federal-Aid Highway Program. But the data tells a broader story. Construction has 37,150 certified DBE firms in our database, while Professional Services has 62,473 and Administrative Support has 39,616. By representation ratio (DBE share vs US small-business share), Utilities is 21.9x over-represented and Educational Services 9.8x, both well above Construction's 2.5x. DBE certification spans a much wider set of industries than just construction.
What NAICS codes are eligible for DBE certification?
Federal DBE eligibility is based on small-business size standards that vary by NAICS code (set by the SBA). In principle, firms across nearly every NAICS sector can pursue DBE certification if they meet the ownership and size criteria. In practice, our data shows certified firms concentrate in NAICS 54 (Professional Services), 56 (Administrative), 23 (Construction), 31-33 (Manufacturing), 48-49 (Transportation), and 61 (Education) — these six sectors account for the majority of all DBE certifications.
Why is DBE certification under-represented in healthcare and retail?
Both sectors have limited connection to the federally-funded transportation, infrastructure, and services contracts that historically use DBE goal requirements. A retail or healthcare small business is eligible to pursue DBE certification, but the value of the certification depends on having a buyer-side market that uses DBE goals. For most retailers and healthcare providers, that market is small relative to their commercial revenue.
How is the representation ratio calculated?
For each NAICS 2-digit sector: take the share of DBE firms in our database that are in that sector, then divide by the share of US small businesses that are in that sector (per Census SUSB 2022, <500 employees). A ratio above 1.0 indicates DBE certification is more concentrated in that sector than the underlying small-business population.
Caveats
The data covers 120,738 DBE firms (91% of the DBE Source database) that have at least one valid NAICS 2-digit sector attached to a certification. Firms can hold certifications spanning multiple sectors and are counted once per sector, which is why sector percentages sum to more than 100%. The SUSB baseline counts firms (legal entities), not establishments; a multi-establishment firm appears once.
The NAICS code on a certification reflects what the firm self-reported when certifying. It may not exactly match the firm's actual revenue mix or the work it most commonly performs. The over-representation signal is robust to this because the same self-reporting structure applies across sectors, but specific narrow claims about individual sector composition should be treated with normal caution.
SUSB 2022 is the latest available release as of this writing (April 2025). The DBE Source database is a May 2026 snapshot. We're comparing a 2022 baseline to a 2026 count, which means the ratios incorporate roughly four years of differential growth between the DBE certification population and the general small-business population. Both populations grow but not necessarily at identical rates per sector.
Data snapshot: May 25, 2026. SUSB baseline: 2022 (released April 2025). Companion analyses: DBE density by state and the 7 state DOTs most welcoming to out-of-state DBE firms.