A classification of economic activities based on location patterns

The Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) groups activities without regard to locational behavior. Any SIC group may—and often does—contain two or more activities that have different locational patterns.Starting with data describing the number of people employed in each of 480 activities in each of 311 metropolitan areas of the United States in 1965, we have devised a new classification based on similarity of locational behavior. The results are presented in the form of a 5-digit classification of these 480 SIC activities. Some of the more interesting clustering patterns are discussed and some patterns that might have been expected but did not appear are mentioned.This paper builds upon earlier research reported in “The Agglomeration Process in Urban Growth,” by Joel Bergsman, Peter Greenston and Robert Healy (Urban Studies, October 1972) and is part of a continuing inquiry into the economic development of cities.