Personal & Laundry Services
NAICS 812: Personal and laundry services — salons, dry cleaners, funeral homes, pet grooming, and licensing trends.
Industry at a Glance
Sector-wide aggregates across all businesses classified under NAICS 812 (2017 classification frame). For specific sub-industries within this sector, see the individual reports below.
Industry Overview
Personal and Laundry Services (NAICS 812) covers establishments providing personal care, garment care, death care, and pet care services directly to consumers. The subsector includes beauty salons, barber shops, nail salons, dry cleaners, commercial laundries, funeral homes, crematories, pet grooming facilities, and other personal services.
The beauty and personal care segment is the largest employer. State cosmetology licensing boards regulate salon operations, with each state maintaining its own training hour requirements — California requires 1,600 hours for cosmetologist licensure through the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology, while New York requires 1,000 hours. Supercuts (Regis Corporation), Great Clips, and Sport Clips are the largest franchised salon chains, though the sector remains dominated by independent owner-operators.
Death care is the most consolidated segment. Service Corporation International (SCI), headquartered in Houston, operates over 1,900 funeral homes and 500 cemeteries under brands including Dignity Memorial, making it the largest death care company in North America. The FTC's Funeral Rule (16 CFR 453) requires itemized pricing disclosure to prevent bundling abuse.
Dry cleaning faces structural headwinds as casual dress codes reduce garment care frequency. The EPA regulates perchloroethylene (perc) — the traditional dry cleaning solvent — as a hazardous air pollutant under the Clean Air Act, pushing operators toward alternative solvents like GreenEarth (silicone-based) and wet cleaning systems. Geographic concentration follows population density, with personal services establishments most numerous in California, Texas, New York, and Florida.
Who Uses These Reports
Trusted by professionals who need verified federal data to make decisions
Investors & PE Firms
Size markets, validate deal theses, and benchmark targets with verified federal data before committing capital
Consultants & Advisors
Deliver data-backed recommendations to clients with sourced and cited industry metrics — Census, BLS, and FRED
Founders & Operators
Validate market entry, benchmark against industry averages, and present credible data to investors and boards
Corporate Strategy Teams
Support expansion planning, M&A due diligence, and executive reporting with NAICS-classified industry data
See what's inside a report
Market sizing, workforce analysis, competitive landscape, regulatory environment — all sourced from Census, BLS, FRED, and SEC EDGAR.
Industry Trends
Service Corporation International continues acquiring independent funeral homes and cemeteries, operating under local brand names while centralizing back-office functions — a roll-up strategy that has made it North America's largest death care provider.
EPA restrictions on perchloroethylene under the Clean Air Act are accelerating dry cleaner transitions to GreenEarth silicone-based solvents, hydrocarbon alternatives, and professional wet cleaning systems.
Pet grooming is growing faster than other personal service segments, with PetSmart's in-store grooming salons and independent mobile grooming operators benefiting from the post-pandemic pet ownership increase tracked by the American Pet Products Association.
Booking platforms like Fresha, Vagaro, and Square Appointments are becoming operational infrastructure for independent salons, handling scheduling, payment processing, and client retention marketing for establishments that lack in-house technology.
State cosmetology deregulation efforts — notably Arizona's 2019 reduction of required training hours and universal license recognition law — are spreading as legislators question whether 1,000-1,600 hour requirements create unnecessary barriers to entry.
Available Reports
5 industry reports available for purchase under Personal & Laundry Services.
Personal Care ServicesNAICS 81211 report▾
Death Care ServicesNAICS 81221 report▾
Specialty Reports Available on Request
16 specialty industriesavailable on request▾
Industry Groups
Browse deeper into the NAICS hierarchy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is NAICS 812? ▾
How does the FTC Funeral Rule protect consumers? ▾
Why are dry cleaners moving away from perchloroethylene? ▾
How does state cosmetology licensing affect the beauty industry? ▾
What is driving consolidation in the death care segment? ▾
Related Guides
Verified beauty industry trends from federal data. 568K+ workers across 126K+ establishments (Census CBP, 2023).
Get verified dog grooming profit margins data from federal sources. Average Dog Grooming Net Profit Margin: 10–18% (Industry Benchmarks, 2024).
Funeral home economics from federal data: payroll runs 25.9% of revenue, average revenue per establishment is $1.16M, and cremation mix is reshaping margin.
Hair salon net profit margin averages 8–12% (2024). What drives it, how margins vary by salon size and model, and how to benchmark yours.
The average US funeral home books $1.16M a year across 15,183 establishments (Census 2022). What that means per funeral, and what owners actually take home.
Questions about how we source industry data? See our data sources FAQ.
Don't see your industry?
We can generate a report for any NAICS-classified industry in the US. Professional PDF delivered in 48 hours.