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# Definitions
Abbreviations and Symbols The following abbreviations and symbols are used with County Business Patterns data: D Withheld to avoid disclosing data of individual companies; data are included in higher level totals G Low noise applied to cell value H Medium noise applied to cell value S Withheld to avoid releasing data that do not meet publicatio n standards; data are included in higher level industry totals X Not applicable a 0 to 19 employees b 20 to 99 employees c 100 to 249 employees e 250 to 499 employees f 500 to 999 employees g 1,000 to 2,499 employees h 2,500 to 4,999 employees i 5,000 to 9,999 employees j 10,000 to 24,999 employees k 25,000 to 49,999 employees l 50,000 to 99,999 employees m 100,000 employees or more


## Company or Enterprise A company (or "enterprise") is comprised of all the establishmen ts that operate under the ownership or control of a single orga nization. A company may be a business, service, or membership organization; consist of one or several establishments; and operate at one or several location s. It includes all subsidiary organizations, all establishments that are ma jority-owned by the company or any subsid iary, and all the establishments that can be directed or managed by the company or any subsidiary. A company may have one or many establishments. If the company operated at different physical locations, even if the individual locations were producing the same line of goods, a separate report was re quested for each location. If the company operated in two or more distinct lines of manufacturing at the same location, a separate report was requested for each activity. For statistics at the company level, refer to the Statistics of U.S. Businesses.



## Employment Size Class Numbers of establishments by employment size class is determined bypaid employment in the mid-March pay period. Employment siz e class is derived from the original employment value before noise is applied. This may cause a slight difference betwe en the tabulated total establishment value and the value shown for an employment size class. The size group “1 to 4” includes establishments that did not r eport any paid employees in the mid-March pay period but paid wag es to at least one employee at some time during the year.



## Establishment An establishment is a single physical location at which business is conducted or services or industrial operations are performe d. It is not necessari ly identical with a company or enterprise, which may consist of one or more estab lishments. When two or more activities are carried on at a singl e location under a single ownership, all activities generally are grouped together as a singl e establishment. The entire est ablishment is classified on t he basis of its major activity and all data are included in that classification. Establishment counts represent the number of locations with paid employees any time during the year. This series excludes gover nment establishments except for wholesale liquor establishments (NAICS 4248), retail liquor stores (NAICS 44531), Federally-chartered savings institutions (NAICS 522120), Federallychartered credit unions (NAICS 522130), and hospitals (NAICS 622).



## Legal Form of Organization (LFO) The Legal Form of Organization is derived from administrative record s data sources. The following Legal Forms of Organization a re included in this report.

• Corporation - An incorporated business that is granted a charter recognizing it as a separate legal entity having its own privileges, and liabilities distinct from

those of its members.

United States Census Bureau 

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11 / 3 /201 4ABOUT US Are You in a Survey? FAQs Director's Corner Regional Offices History Research Scientific Integrity Jobs @ Census Diversity @ Census Business Opportunities Congressional and Intergovernmental Contact Us FIND DATA QuickFacts American FactFinder Easy Stats Population Finder 2010 Census Economic Census Interactive Maps Training & Workshops Data Tools Developers Catalogs Publications BUSINESS & INDUSTRY Help With Your Forms Economic Indicators Economic Census E-Stats International Trade Export Codes NAICS Governments Local Employment Dynamics Survey of Business Owners PEOPLE & HOUSEHOLDS 2010 Census 2000 Census American Community Survey Income Poverty Population Estimates Population Projections Health Insurance Housing International Genealogy SPECIAL TOPICS Statistics in Schools Tribal Resources (AIAN) Emergency Preparedness Statistical Abstract Special Census Program Fraudulent Activity & Scams Recovery Act USA.gov BusinessUSA.gov NEWSROOM News Releases Release Schedule Facts for Features Blogs Multimedia • S-Corporatio n - A form of corporation where the entity does not pay any federa l income taxes. The corporation's income or losses are divide d among and

passed to its shareholders. The shareholders must then report th e income or loss on their own individual income tax returns.

• Sole Proprietorships - An unincorporated business with a sole owner.

• Partnership - An unincorporated business where two or more persons join to carry on a trade or business with each having a shared financia l interest in the

business.

• Non-profit- An organization that does not distribute surplus funds to it s owners or shareholders, but instead uses surplus funds to help pursue its goals. Most

non-profit organizations are exempt from income taxes.

• Government- A business that taxpayers primarily fund. Most government businesses are out of scope to this data series. Click this link for more information on

in-scope government businesses.



## Mid-March Employment Paid employment consists of full- and part -time employees, including salaried officers and executives of corporations, who are on the payroll in the pay period including March 12. Included are employees on paid sick leave, hol idays, and vacations; not included are sole proprietors and p artners of unincorporated businesses.



## Municipios and Other County Equivalents for Island Areas The primary legal divisions of Puerto Rico are termed municipios . County Business Patterns publishes a municipio as the equival ent of a county in the United States. Districts and islands in American Samoa, municipalities in the Commonwealth of the Nort hern Mariana Islands, districts in Guam, and islands in the U.S. Virgin Islands are treated as an equivalent of a county in the United States.



## North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) The North American Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business e stablishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy. For more information please refer to the NAICS website: http://www.census.gov/eos/www/naics.



## Payroll Payroll includes all forms of compensation, such as salaries, wages, commissions, dismissal pay, bonuses, vacation allowances, sick-leave pay, and employee contributions to qualified pension plans paid during the year to all employees. For corporations, payroll includes amounts paid to officers and executives; for unincorporated businesses, it does not inclu de profit or other compensation of proprie tors or partners. Payroll is reported before deductions for social security, income tax, insurance, union dues, etc. This definition of payrol l is the same as that used by the Internal Revenue Service (IR S) on Form 941 as taxable Medicare Wages and Tips (even if not subject to income or FICAtax). First-quarter payroll consists of payroll during the Janua ry-to-March quarter.

CONNECT WITH US Accessibility| Information Quality| FOIA | Data Protection and Privacy Policy| U.S. Department of Commerce Source: U.S. Census Bureau | County Business Patterns | (301) 763-2580 | Last Revised: January 10, 2012 

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