NAICS 323

Printing & Related Support Activities

NAICS 323: Printing and related support — packaging, commercial print, digital press trends, and prepress services.

Published by VantaInsights Research·Methodology·Data Sources· AI-drafted
Built on data from Census Bureau CBP Bureau of Labor Statistics Federal Reserve FRED SEC EDGAR

Industry at a Glance

Sector-wide aggregates across all businesses classified under NAICS 323 (2017 classification frame). For specific sub-industries within this sector, see the individual reports below.

Employment
386K
US Census CBP · 2023 · NAICS 2017
Establishments
22K
US Census CBP · 2023 · NAICS 2017
Annual Payroll
$22.2B
US Census CBP · 2023 · NAICS 2017
Avg Annual Wage
$57,397
Derived from US Census CBP · 2023 · NAICS 2017
Market Size
$90.9B
US Census Economic Census · 2022 · NAICS 2017

Industry Overview

Printing and related support activities (NAICS 323) covers commercial printing, packaging printing, prepress services, bindery work, and specialty finishing. The subsector has contracted from over 50,000 establishments in the early 2000s to roughly 25,000 today as digital media displaced traditional print advertising, direct mail volumes declined, and commodity commercial printing consolidated. What remains is a structurally different industry — weighted toward packaging and label printing, which now generates more revenue than all other print segments combined.

RR Donnelley (now Donnelley Financial Solutions for the regulatory filing segment) and Quad/Graphics rank among the largest commercial printers, but the industry is predominantly made up of establishments with fewer than 20 employees. Geographic concentration follows population centers: the Chicago metro area, New York/New Jersey corridor, and Southern California are the densest printing clusters. Equipment investment has shifted from offset lithography presses toward high-speed inkjet platforms from HP, Canon, and Ricoh that enable variable data, short runs, and just-in-time production.

Regulatory requirements include EPA and state-level volatile organic compound (VOC) emission standards for ink and solvent use, OSHA machine-guarding standards for press and bindery equipment, and FDA 21 CFR compliance for food-contact packaging. The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP) certification has emerged as an industry-specific environmental standard, distinguishing printers that meet third-party audited criteria for waste reduction, energy use, and chemical management.

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Industry Trends

01

HP Indigo and Canon varioPRINT inkjet platforms are replacing offset for runs under 5,000 units, enabling brands to run localized packaging variants and personalized direct mail without plate costs.

02

Corrugated packaging print demand is surging with e-commerce shipment volumes — printers serving Amazon, Walmart, and direct-to-consumer brands are investing in wide-format flexographic and digital corrugated presses.

FDA

FDA 21 CFR compliance for food-contact packaging inks and substrates is tightening, with migration testing and low-migration UV ink adoption becoming standard requirements for printers serving food and beverage brands.

SGP

Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP) certification is gaining traction as brand owners require third-party verified environmental credentials from their print supply chain partners.

KDP

Print-on-demand and web-to-print platforms are eliminating inventory for book publishers and marketing operations — Amazon's KDP print network and commercial platforms like Gelato enable distributed production close to the end customer.

Specialty Reports Available on Request

4 specialty industriesavailable on request
▾
Commercial Printing (Except Screen & Books)
323111View →
Commercial Screen Printing
323113View →
Books Printing
323117View →
Support Activities for Printing
323120View →

Industry Groups

Browse deeper into the NAICS hierarchy.

32310 reports

Printing & Related Support Activities

Frequently Asked Questions

What is NAICS 323? ▾
NAICS 323 classifies establishments that print on paper, plastic, metal, and other substrates using offset, digital, flexographic, gravure, and screen technologies, along with support services like prepress, platemaking, and binding. It excludes newspaper and periodical publishing (NAICS 511) but includes the physical printing those publishers outsource. The subsector serves packaging, marketing, publishing, and industrial applications.
Why has the printing industry consolidated so dramatically? ▾
Digital media displaced print advertising and corporate communications, reducing commercial print volumes by roughly 40% over two decades. Overcapacity drove price competition and margin compression, forcing thousands of small printers to close or merge. Survivors pivoted toward packaging, specialty finishing, and value-added services. Large operators like Quad/Graphics used acquisitions to achieve scale economies in procurement, equipment, and distribution.
What is driving growth in packaging printing? ▾
E-commerce shipment volumes, consumer preference for branded unboxing experiences, and regulatory labeling requirements are expanding packaging print demand. The shift from brick-and-mortar to online retail increases corrugated packaging needs per unit sold. Brand owners also use short-run digital packaging for seasonal promotions and regional variants, creating print volume that did not exist under traditional offset-only production models.
What environmental regulations apply to printing operations? ▾
Printers must comply with EPA National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for lithographic and letterpress printing, state-level VOC emission limits on inks and solvents, and OSHA standards for press and bindery safety. Printers producing food-contact packaging face additional FDA compliance for ink migration and substrate safety. Many states require waste solvent and ink disposal reporting under RCRA hazardous waste rules.
How is digital printing changing the economics of short-run production? ▾
Digital presses eliminate the platemaking and makeready costs that made offset printing uneconomical below several thousand impressions. This enables just-in-time production, personalized content through variable data, and localized packaging variants. The breakeven point between digital and offset has shifted upward as inkjet speed and quality improve — runs of 10,000 or more are now economically viable on digital platforms that would have required offset five years ago.

Related Industries

Converted Paper Product Manufacturing 3222Newspaper, Periodical, Book, & Directory Publishers 5111Advertising, Public Relations, & Related Services 5418Paper & Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers 4241Resin, Synthetic Rubber, & Artificial Synthetic Fibers & Filaments Manufacturing 3252

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