Zoos and Botanical Gardens (United States)

NAICS 2022 code 71213 — a NAICS industry (five-digit level). NAICS = North American Industry Classification System, the standard the U.S. government uses to group businesses. This industry contains a single national industry, 712130, so this page is a short roll-up; for full detail see the 712130 primer.

1. Overview

Zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, and arboreta are place-based attractions that display living animals or plants to the public and pair that display with conservation, research, and education. It is a large, visible slice of American leisure, but an unusual "industry": most of the marquee institutions are not businesses in the ordinary sense — they are tax-exempt nonprofits or units of city, state, and federal government, not companies with shareholders [11]. For an investor, the important structural fact is that there is essentially no pure-play stock to buy; the genuine equity is private, and for most people participation is philanthropy rather than ownership [3].

2. What's inside — and why this level equals its one child

At the five-digit level, NAICS 71213 contains exactly one six-digit national industry:

Because there is only one child, 71213 and 712130 are the same industry — the same establishments, the same firms, the same economics. The Census Bureau kept a single national industry under this heading rather than splitting zoos from gardens, so the five-digit roll-up adds no detail beyond the child. Everything substantive — the definition (zoos, aquariums, aviaries, safari parks, arboreta, botanical gardens, wildlife preserves run for public display), the exclusions (theme parks with animal collections sit in 713110; museums in 712110), and the sector's economics — lives in the 712130 primer. This page gives the level's own ground-truth figures and points there.

3. Size (this level's roll-up figures)

Because the level equals its one child, the roll-up figures are the 712130 figures. Our ground-truth federal statistics for NAICS 71213:

That is average pay near $44,700 and average firm receipts around $8 million [6][7]. (CR4/CR8 = combined revenue share of the largest 4/8 firms; HHI = a standard concentration index where under 1,500 is "unconcentrated.")

Undercount caveat — large here. County Business Patterns (CBP) and the Economic Census cover private employers, including nonprofits, but exclude government-owned establishments (counted separately in the Census of Governments) and businesses with no paid employees [21]. Because a very large share of U.S. zoos and gardens are city-, state-, or federally run, and because the sector leans heavily on volunteers and donated services, these federal business numbers materially undercount the true footprint. For scale on what is left out, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) reports its accredited members alone generate more than $22.5 billion in annual U.S. economic activity and support nearly 200,000 jobs — far above the $5.7 billion of surveyed receipts, precisely because so many big institutions are government-run [1]. (That AZA figure is a network benchmark, not a measure of NAICS 71213 revenue.)

4. Investable universe (where value concentrates)

With a single child, value concentrates exactly where it does in 712130 — and for public-market investors this is close to a blank page, because the largest operators are nonprofits and government agencies with no tradable equity. The nearest listed proxies are mixed leisure/attraction businesses, not pure plays: United Parks & Resorts (NYSE: PRKS), Parks! America (OTCQX: PRKA), and Six Flags (NYSE: FUN) [3][4][5]. The genuine equity — for-profit aquarium and attraction operators such as Herschend, Landry's, Ripley's, and Zoofari — is almost entirely private, and it clusters in aquariums, which have better unit economics than land-and-animal-heavy zoos [12][21]. The biggest names of all — San Diego, the Bronx (Wildlife Conservation Society), the Smithsonian's National Zoo, and the leading botanical gardens — are nonprofit or public and unbuyable by design [9][10]. See the 712130 primer for the full company and owner tables.

5. How the money works

Owners live off a visitor funnel and three revenue streams [13]: earned revenue (gate admissions, memberships, parking, food and gift concessions, seasonal events), contributed revenue (donations, major gifts, corporate sponsorship, endowment income), and government support (city, county, state, and federal appropriations). For AZA-accredited zoos, government money typically supplies 25–40% of the operating budget, with a sector-wide range of roughly 5% to 50% [13]. Costs are heavy and largely fixed — payroll dominates and animals must be fed, housed, and cared for whether or not anyone comes through the gate — which creates operating leverage in strong years and is why the 2020 shutdowns were near-fatal for many institutions [13]. The metrics that matter are attendance, per-capita ("per-cap") spend, membership base, and capital intensity; botanical gardens carry the same model with a friendlier cost base (no round-the-clock animal care). The full mechanics are in the 712130 primer.

6. Demand drivers

• Household discretionary income and leisure spending — these are family day-out purchases, among the first cuts when budgets tighten.
• Family demographics and tourism — households with young children, drive-to leisure, and inbound metro travel.
• Weather and seasonality — outdoor attractions live and die by good-weather days.
• "New attraction" pull — a panda arrival, a baby-animal season, or a blockbuster exhibit reliably spikes attendance and membership.
• School and education demand — field trips anchor weekday attendance.
• Philanthropy and public budgets — donor generosity and municipal fiscal health set the ceiling on the non-earned two-thirds of the model [13].

7. Regulation

Animal-holding facilities are governed by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), enforced by USDA APHIS — every exhibitor of warm-blooded animals needs a Class C exhibitor license, must meet minimum care standards, and is subject to unannounced inspections [16] (USDA = U.S. Department of Agriculture; APHIS = Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service). The Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), and trade law (CITES, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Lacey Act) govern which species can be held, moved, or bred [19][20]. Botanical gardens face far less animal regulation but must comply with plant-import and invasive-species controls. AZA accreditation is voluntary and separate from the law — of roughly 2,800 USDA-licensed exhibitors, fewer than 10% are AZA-accredited [17]. Full detail is in the 712130 primer.

8. Consolidation

By federal concentration measures the industry is highly fragmented: the top four firms hold just 15.2% of surveyed receipts and the HHI is only 123 — well inside the range regulators consider unconcentrated [7]. That fragmentation is structural: these are place-based institutions you cannot merge the way you merge two banks, and most are nonprofits or government units no one can buy. Where consolidation is happening is the for-profit and outsourced edge — private operators like Herschend, Landry's, and Ripley's rolling up aquariums, and cash-strapped cities outsourcing zoo and garden operations to nonprofits or private managers under public-private partnerships (P3s) [12][18]. The federal data contain no mergers-and-acquisitions series, so track transactions individually.

9. Risks

Discretionary and weather sensitivity against a mostly fixed cost base; incomplete post-pandemic attendance recovery [15]; rising labor, feed, veterinary, utility, insurance, and construction costs; government-funding and donor risk (a quarter to half of many institutions' revenue) [13]; capital and deferred-maintenance overhang; reputational and animal-welfare pressure (the "Blackfish" backlash, debates over elephants and cetaceans); and biosecurity and climate threats (avian influenza, extreme heat, storms). These apply identically to 712130.

10. How to invest & outlook

Public-market routes are all indirect — United Parks & Resorts (PRKS), Parks! America (PRKA), and Six Flags (FUN) give theme-park economics with an animal-collection overlay, not zoo or garden economics [3][4][5]. Enterprise value against normalized EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) is the usual frame, but EBITDA overstates cash generation when big habitat or infrastructure projects loom. Private routes — where the genuine equity lives — are for-profit aquarium and attraction operators (private-market access required), P3 operating contracts (a services angle, not asset ownership), and municipal bonds that finance zoo and garden capital projects; for most people, philanthropy and membership remain the only way to participate [12][14][18].

Near-term outlook (forward-looking judgment). Cautiously constructive but highly selective. Demand for family nature experiences is durable and only mildly cyclical, but the model is under real cost pressure: labor and animal-care costs are rising, attendance is not fully recovered, and deferred capital is mounting. Expect institutions to lean on dynamic pricing, premium experiences, and memberships to lift per-cap, and expect the P3-outsourcing trend to continue [15][18]. Botanical gardens look like the sector's bright spot — cheaper to run than animal collections, with attendance up sharply since 2014 and event-driven revenue growing fast [2]. Because 71213 equals its one child, this judgment is the 712130 judgment; see that primer for the operator- and facility-level detail behind it.

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Sources

1. Association of Zoos and Aquariums, "Zoo and Aquarium Statistics" and economic-impact/conservation-funding releases (2022–2026). https://www.aza.org/zoo-and-aquarium-statistics
2. American Public Gardens Association, "Benchmarking" (~600 gardens; ~132M visitors, up from ~70M in 2014). https://www.publicgardens.org/benchmarking/
3. United Parks & Resorts Inc., 2025 Form 10-K (SEC EDGAR) and corporate name-change release. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1564902/000119312526088288/prks-20251231.htm
4. Parks! America, Inc., 2024 Form 10-K (SEC EDGAR) and OTCQX listing. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1297937/000149315224049988/form10-k.htm
5. Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, 2025 Form 10-K (SEC EDGAR). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1999001/000199900126000048/fun-20251231.htm
6. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, NAICS 712130 (2023) — establishments, employment, annual and first-quarter payroll (via Histometrics ingested federal statistics). https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/2023/econ/cbp/2023-cbp.html
7. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, Concentration statistics, NAICS 712130 — receipts, firm count, CR4/CR8/CR20/CR50, HHI (via Histometrics ingested federal statistics). https://api.census.gov/data/2022/ecnsize/groups/EC2200SIZECONCEN.html
8. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, 2023 Form 990 / ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/951648219
9. Wildlife Conservation Society, "Financials" and "Parks." https://www.wcs.org/about-us/financials
10. Reference for Business, "SIC 8422 Arboreta and Botanical or Zoological Gardens" (ownership breakdown). https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/industries/Service/Arboreta-Botanical-or-Zoological-Gardens.html
11. For-profit aquarium/attraction operators — Herschend, Landry's, Ripley's Entertainment — company and industry reporting (2020–2026). https://www.hfecorp.com/
12. AZA "Conservation Funding"; Maryland Department of Commerce, "Economic Impact of the Maryland Zoo"; Minnesota Zoological Garden Biennial Budget. https://www.aza.org/conservation-funding
13. New York State Parks & Historic Sites, "Zoos, Botanical Gardens and Aquaria Operational Support Grant Program." https://parks.ny.gov/grants/zoos-botanical-gardens/default.aspx
14. NBC News, "Museums, zoos and aquariums are embracing dynamic pricing" (2024). https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/museums-zoos-aquariums-are-embracing-dynamic-pricing-rcna210877
15. USDA APHIS, "Licensing and Registration Under the Animal Welfare Act." https://www.aphis.usda.gov/awa/licensing-rule
16. Association of Zoos and Aquariums, "Accreditation FAQs." https://www.aza.org/accred-faq
17. Fort Worth Report, "Two years after nonprofit takeover, Fort Worth Botanic Garden..." (2022). https://fortworthreport.org/2022/07/05/two-years-after-nonprofit-takeover-fort-worth-botanic-garden-boasts-higher-visitor-numbers-and-less-city-funding/
18. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, "Endangered Species Permits: FAQs." https://www.fws.gov/page/endangered-species-permits-frequently-asked-questions
19. NOAA Fisheries, "Public Display of Marine Mammals" (Marine Mammal Protection Act). https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/permits/public-display-marine-mammals
20. Zoofari Parks, "About Us." https://www.zoofariparks.com/about
21. U.S. Census Bureau, "County Business Patterns" coverage notes and "2023 Nonemployer Statistics." https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/about.html
22. Smithsonian Institution, "About the Smithsonian" (Smithsonian's National Zoo). https://www.si.edu/about/