# How to read a San Francisco business registration record

> Accounts and locations, what “open” means, the two start dates, NAICS, and what is left out.

## How to read these records

### Account and location

The City gives each business an account number (the certificate number) and one record per location. The
location ID joins the account, the location and the certificate.

### Open

A record is shown when the file has no end date for the business name or the location and the City has not
closed it administratively. Many businesses stop without telling the City.

### Two start dates

“Business name in use since” is the start of the name; “At this location since” is the start at this address.

### Industry

The NAICS code the business reported itself. It is not checked by the City, and many records have none.

### What is not here

Individuals, and any name without a company word (Inc, LLC, Corp, Co…). The owner's name, which this site never
downloads. Mailing addresses. Tax amounts. Closed locations.

**For owners and managers: does
your company have 30 to 200 employees?**

AI labs pay companies to license their internal workflows (SOPs,
documentation, support tickets), anonymized and under contract. You keep ownership and pay nothing.

**Describe your company in 2 minutes →** 
 Offered by Registres, an independent data gateway. Not affiliated with the City and County of San Francisco.

---

Página: https://san-francisco-business-records.pages.dev/how-to-read/
Fonte: https://data.sfgov.org/d/g8m3-pdis
Recolha: 2026-10-02