Merchant Category Code List: Every Common MCC and What It Means for Your Rates

What Is a Merchant Category Code?

A merchant category code (MCC) is a four-digit number that classifies what your business sells. The codes come from ISO 18245, an international standard, and the card networks — Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express — maintain their own published lists built on it. Every merchant account has exactly one primary MCC, and it rides along on every single transaction you process.

Most business owners have never seen theirs. That's a problem, because your MCC quietly influences what you pay in interchange, whether your customers earn card rewards on purchases from you, how banks treat your transactions, and whether underwriters flag your business as high-risk.

This guide covers who assigns your MCC, why it matters, a verified merchant category code list of the most common codes (checked against Visa's own Merchant Data Standards Manual — see the Sources section), and how to look up and correct yours.

Who Assigns Your MCC — and How

You don't pick your own MCC. Your acquirer (the processor or merchant services provider that underwrites your account) assigns it when your application is approved. The underwriter reads your business description, your website, sometimes your sample products or menu, and matches you to the code the card networks say fits best.

Visa's Merchant Data Standards Manual is explicit about how classification works: the code should reflect the merchant's primary line of business. A few rules worth knowing:

• One primary code per account. If you genuinely run two distinct businesses — say, a restaurant and a bar under one roof — networks may require separate classification (Visa's manual uses exactly this example: 5812 for the eating place, 5813 for the drinking place).
• Some codes are mandatory. A gas station with unattended pumps must use 5542 (Automated Fuel Dispensers) for pay-at-the-pump sales, even if its convenience store runs under 5541. ATMs must use 6011.
• Some codes require registration. Certain categories — money transfer (4829), gambling, and other regulated verticals — can't just be assigned; the acquirer has to register the merchant with the networks first.

The practical takeaway: your MCC was assigned by a human at underwriting, often quickly, based on a one-line business description. Mistakes happen constantly — and they cost money.

Why Your MCC Actually Matters

1. Interchange rates vary by MCC

Interchange — the wholesale cost of every card transaction — is set by the card networks, and several interchange categories are keyed directly to MCC. Supermarkets (5411), service stations (5541), utilities, charities, and certain B2B categories have their own dedicated interchange programs that differ from generic retail. If your business qualifies for one of those programs but your MCC says otherwise, you're overpaying on every transaction, and no amount of rate negotiation fixes it. This is one of the first things we check in a free statement review.

2. Card rewards and card restrictions key off MCC

When a rewards card offers bonus points on "dining" or "grocery stores," the issuer decides what counts by MCC. A cafe coded 5999 (Miscellaneous and Specialty Retail Shops) instead of 5812 (Eating Places and Restaurants) won't trigger dining rewards — and customers who track their points notice. On the flip side, some corporate and government cards are restricted to specific MCCs, so a wrong code can cause otherwise-good cards to decline at your terminal.

3. Cash-advance treatment

Certain financial MCCs (like 6011 for ATMs and quasi-cash categories) cause card issuers to treat transactions as cash advances — meaning the cardholder pays cash-advance fees and interest from day one. If a retail business gets miscoded into a financial category, customers get surprise fees and you get angry phone calls.

4. Tax reporting

Your processor files Form 1099-K reporting your gross card volume to the IRS, and MCC is part of the data trail behind that reporting. The IRS has also published MCC lists for use in determining how payees are classified for information-reporting purposes. Your MCC won't change what you owe, but a code that badly mismatches your actual business is one more inconsistency you don't want attached to your tax records.

5. High-risk classification

Some MCCs are treated as high-risk by definition — banks and networks attach registration requirements, extra fees, and tighter underwriting to them. More on this below.

Merchant Category Code List: The Most Common Codes

These are the most frequently searched and most commonly assigned MCCs. Every description below was verified against Visa's Merchant Data Standards Manual (network primary source), cross-checked against Citi's published Merchant Category Codes booklet.

MCC	Description
4829	Money Transfer
5310	Discount Stores
5311	Department Stores
5399	Miscellaneous General Merchandise
5411	Grocery Stores and Supermarkets
5499	Miscellaneous Food Stores – Convenience Stores and Specialty Markets
5541	Service Stations (With or Without Ancillary Services)
5542	Automated Fuel Dispensers
5734	Computer Software Stores
5812	Eating Places and Restaurants
5813	Drinking Places (Alcoholic Beverages) – Bars, Taverns, Nightclubs, Cocktail Lounges
5814	Fast Food Restaurants
5815	Digital Goods Media – Books, Movies, Digital Artwork/Images, Music
5818	Digital Goods – Large Digital Goods Merchant
5912	Drug Stores and Pharmacies
5999	Miscellaneous and Specialty Retail Shops
6011	Financial Institutions – Automated Cash Disbursements (ATMs)
8011	Doctors – Not Elsewhere Classified
8062	Hospitals
8099	Medical Services and Health Practitioners (Not Elsewhere Classified)
8999	Professional Services (Not Elsewhere Classified)

A few of these deserve a closer look because they're the codes businesses most often get wrong:

• 5812 vs. 5814 — Full-service restaurants are 5812; fast food and quick-service (order at a counter, pay before you eat) are 5814. Card issuers usually treat both as "dining" for rewards, but interchange programs can differ between them.
• 5411 vs. 5499 — To qualify as a grocery store or supermarket (5411), perishables must make up a substantial share of what you sell. Convenience stores, specialty food markets, and vending fall under 5499 — and 5411 carries supermarket interchange programs that 5499 doesn't.
• 5999 and 8999 — These are the "not elsewhere classified" catch-alls for retail and professional services. Underwriters reach for them when nothing else obviously fits. If you're sitting in one of these and a more specific code describes your business, it's worth asking whether the specific code carries better interchange or rewards treatment.
• 8099 — The catch-all for medical services and health practitioners without a more specific code (doctors are 8011, dentists 8021, hospitals 8062). Telehealth and alternative-health businesses frequently land here.

The Full MCC Ranges: How the List Is Organized

The complete list runs to hundreds of codes, but it's organized into ranges by industry. This structure comes straight from the published network lists:

Range	Category	Verified Examples
0001–1499	Agricultural Services	0742 Veterinary Services; 0780 Horticultural and Landscaping Services
1500–2999	Contracted Services	1520 General Contractors – Residential and Commercial; 1711 Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing Contractors
3000–3299	Airlines (airline-specific codes)	Individual carriers each have their own code
3300–3499	Car Rental (company-specific codes)	Individual rental brands each have their own code
3500–3999	Lodging (hotel-specific codes)	Individual hotel brands each have their own code
4000–4799	Transportation Services	4111 Local and Suburban Commuter Passenger Transportation, Including Ferries; 4121 Taxicabs and Limousines; 4511 Air Carriers, Airlines – Not Elsewhere Classified; 4722 Travel Agencies and Tour Operators
4800–4999	Utility Services	4814 Telecommunication Services; 4816 Computer Network/Information Services; 4829 Money Transfer; 4900 Utilities – Electric, Gas, Heating Oil, Sanitary, Water
5000–5599	Retail Outlet Services	5251 Hardware Stores; 5311 Department Stores; 5411 Grocery Stores and Supermarkets; 5541 Service Stations; 5542 Automated Fuel Dispensers
5600–5699	Clothing Stores	5651 Family Clothing Stores; 5661 Shoe Stores; 5691 Men's and Women's Clothing Stores
5700–7299	Miscellaneous Stores and Services	5734 Computer Software Stores; 5812 Eating Places and Restaurants; 5942 Book Stores; 5999 Miscellaneous and Specialty Retail Shops; 6300 Insurance Sales, Underwriting and Premiums; 7011 Lodging – Hotels, Motels, Resorts (Not Elsewhere Classified); 7230 Barber and Beauty Shops
7300–7999	Business Services	7399 Business Services Not Elsewhere Classified; 7995 Betting
8000–8999	Professional Services and Membership Organizations	8011 Doctors; 8021 Dentists and Orthodontists; 8111 Attorneys, Legal Services; 8351 Child Care Services; 8931 Accounting, Auditing and Bookkeeping Services; 8999 Professional Services (Not Elsewhere Classified)
9000–9999	Government Services	9311 Tax Payments; 9399 Government Services – Not Elsewhere Classified

Note the 3000–3999 range: those aren't generic categories but codes assigned to specific airlines, car rental companies, and hotel chains — which is why a generic airline is 4511 and a generic hotel is 7011, outside that range.

If you hit a processing term you don't recognize while digging through your paperwork, our processing glossary covers the vocabulary.

How to Look Up Your Own MCC

You have four reliable options, in order of effort:

1. Check your merchant statement. Many processors print your MCC on the monthly statement, usually in the account summary near your merchant ID. (Not sure how to read yours? See our guide to reading a merchant statement.)
2. Check your welcome paperwork. Your original merchant application or approval letter typically lists the assigned MCC.
3. Ask your processor. Support can tell you your MCC in one phone call. Ask them to email it so you have it in writing.
4. Test it from the cardholder side. Run a small transaction on your own card, then check the transaction detail in your card issuer's app — many issuers display the merchant category, which reflects your MCC.

There's no public directory where you can type in a business name and get its MCC — the code lives on the merchant account, so the processor and the statement are the authoritative sources.

Wrong MCC? Here's How to Fix It — and Why It's Worth Fixing

If your code doesn't match what you actually do, contact your processor and request a reclassification. Expect to:

1. State your case in writing. Describe your actual primary business and the code you believe fits, referencing the network definitions.
2. Provide evidence. A website, menu, product catalog, or license that documents what you sell.
3. Go through re-underwriting. An MCC change is effectively a re-review of your account. Legitimate corrections are routine; processors handle them regularly.

Why bother? A wrong MCC costs you in specific, measurable ways:

• Interchange you can't negotiate away. If you qualify for a category-specific interchange program (supermarket, utility, charity, and others) and you're coded generic retail, you pay the difference on every single transaction, forever.
• Funding holds and freezes. Underwriting models compare your transactions against what's normal for your MCC. A miscoded account throws off those models — average tickets that look "wrong" for the category are a classic trigger for held funds and manual reviews.
• Termination risk. Deliberately operating under a wrong MCC to dodge fees or restrictions violates network rules and can get an account terminated and the business placed on the MATCH list. Always fix a wrong code through your processor — never by misrepresenting the business.

One warning: don't chase a "cheaper" MCC that doesn't honestly describe your business. The correct code is the one that matches what you actually sell. If it happens to carry better interchange, that's a legitimate win.

MCCs and High-Risk Businesses

Some MCCs are high-risk by definition. Betting and gambling (7995), money transfer (4829), outbound telemarketing (5966), and subscription/continuity merchants (5968) are classic examples — the networks require special registration for several of them, and acquirers price the risk in. Other codes become high-risk in context: 8099 covers plenty of ordinary medical services, but telehealth and supplement-adjacent businesses under that umbrella often get high-risk treatment from underwriters.

If your business falls into one of these categories, two things matter. First, work with a processor that actually underwrites your category instead of one that approves you under a softer code and terminates you later — that's precisely the account-shutdown story we cover in our high-risk merchant services practice. Second, know what fair pricing looks like for your category before you sign; our breakdown of high-risk merchant account fees covers the registration fees, reserves, and rates that are normal versus the ones that are padding.

Check Your Code — It Takes Five Minutes

Your MCC was assigned once, probably years ago, by an underwriter who spent thirty seconds on it. It's been silently shaping your rates ever since. Your MCC is printed on your statement — send us a copy and we'll check it's right, free, along with everything else you're being charged. Start with a free statement review.

Sources

• Visa Merchant Data Standards Manual (MCC definitions and classification rules): https://usa.visa.com/content/dam/VCOM/download/merchants/visa-merchant-data-standards-manual.pdf — observed September 2026
• Citi Merchant Category Codes reference booklet (code list and range groupings): https://www.citibank.com/tts/solutions/commercial-cards/assets/docs/govt/Merchant-Category-Codes.pdf — observed September 2026
• ISO 18245 (Retail financial services — Merchant category codes): https://www.iso.org/standard/33365.html — observed September 2026

All MCC descriptions in the tables above were verified against these published lists in September 2026. Networks update their MCC lists periodically; confirm current codes with your processor before acting on a reclassification.