NOC Code Finder

Your NOC code is the five-digit National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021 code of the occupation whose lead statement and main duties match the work you did. Search your job title above to find it. The finder covers all 516 NOC 2021 occupations and more than 32,000 official job titles from Statistics Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), shows the official description of the one you pick, and tells you its TEER category, the Express Entry programs and category lists it counts for, and whether it is on IRCC's high-wage list. Type an old four-digit NOC 2016 code and it shows the NOC 2021 code that replaced it, so it works as a NOC code lookup both ways: from a job title to its code, and from a code to its official description.

What is a NOC code?

A NOC code is the five-digit number Canada gives each occupation in the National Occupational Classification. Statistics Canada and ESDC publish it, and IRCC uses it to decide whether your work experience counts for Express Entry and other immigration programs. NOC 2021 Version 1.0 sorts every job in Canada into 516 occupations, called unit groups. Each has a code, a title, a lead statement, a list of main duties, employment requirements and example job titles (Statistics Canada).

A job title is not a code. The same title can sit in different unit groups (a "coordinator" can be in health, construction or administration), so the code that is yours is the one whose duties describe your work.

How do you find your NOC code?

Search your job title, then choose the occupation whose lead statement and main duties describe what you actually did. IRCC's own method comes down to five steps (IRCC, Find your NOC):

1. Search your job title in the finder above or on the official NOC site. Try the title on your contract, then other names for the same job.
2. Read the lead statement and main duties of the closest match. For Express Entry, you must have performed the actions in the lead statement and most of the main duties listed (IRCC, Federal Skilled Worker Program).
3. Check the exclusions. They name similar jobs that belong to another unit group; the finder links each one.
4. Write down the code, the title and the TEER category, the second digit of the code.
5. Confirm it on the official NOC site, version NOC 2021 Version 1.0. IRCC says that if its own table and the NOC site ever disagree, the NOC site is correct.

If no title fits, search the main thing you do (for example "payroll" or "forklift"), and read the duties of each result. Choose by duties, never by points: a code your duties do not support risks a refused application.

What does the TEER category mean?

TEER is the second digit of a NOC code: it shows the training, education, experience and responsibilities an occupation usually needs, from TEER 0 (management) to TEER 5. It replaced the four skill levels of NOC 2016 when NOC 2021 took effect. Statistics Canada says the old skill level B had become "a disproportionately large group", one reason for the change (Statistics Canada).

Only TEER 0, 1, 2 and 3 count as skilled work for the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Canadian Experience Class. Work in a TEER 4 or 5 job does not qualify you for either, and earns no Canadian work points. Provinces set their own occupation rules for their nominee programs.

How do you read the five digits of a NOC code?

Each digit narrows the occupation down: the first is the broad occupational category, the second the TEER category, and each further digit a smaller group, down to the unit group. NOC 2021 has 10 broad categories, 6 TEER categories, 45 major groups, 89 sub-major groups, 162 minor groups and 516 unit groups (Statistics Canada). Here is NOC 21231, software engineers and designers:

The ten broad occupational categories, the first digit of every code:

Which NOC codes are eligible for Express Entry?

Every NOC in TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 counts as skilled work for the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Canadian Experience Class; the Federal Skilled Trades Program takes only certain trade groups. In every program, your work must match the lead statement and most of the main duties of the NOC you claim.

• Federal Skilled Worker Program: at least 1 year of continuous work or 1,560 hours in TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3, in your primary occupation, within the last 10 years, in Canada or abroad (IRCC).
• Canadian Experience Class: at least 1 year or 1,560 hours of work in Canada in TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 in the 3 years before you apply, while authorized to work as a temporary resident. It can be in more than one job or NOC (IRCC).
• Federal Skilled Trades Program: at least 2 years of full-time work (3,120 hours) in the 5 years before you apply, all in the same NOC, in one of these groups (IRCC):

Which NOC codes are on the 2026 Express Entry category lists?

IRCC runs Express Entry rounds for 10 categories, and 9 of them come with a closed list of NOC codes: 91 occupations in all. For the healthcare, STEM, trade, education and transport categories, you need 12 months of full-time work (or the same in part-time) in the past 3 years in one listed occupation, in Canada or abroad. For physicians, senior managers and researchers, that work must be in Canada. Skilled military recruits have rules of their own, and the tenth category, French-language proficiency, has no occupation list: it needs French test results with at least NCLC 7 in all four abilities. The lists below are IRCC's, as last updated on October 16, 2026 (IRCC, Category-based selection).

Being on a list adds no CRS points. It makes you eligible for that category's rounds, where IRCC invites the highest-ranked candidates who meet the category.

Healthcare and social services occupations: 37 occupations

Needs 12 months of full-time work (or the same in part-time) in the past 3 years in one listed occupation, in Canada or abroad.

Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) occupations: 11 occupations

Needs 12 months of full-time work (or the same in part-time) in the past 3 years in one listed occupation, in Canada or abroad.

Trade occupations: 25 occupations

Needs 12 months of full-time work (or the same in part-time) in the past 3 years in one listed occupation, in Canada or abroad.

Education occupations: 5 occupations

Needs 12 months of full-time work (or the same in part-time) in the past 3 years in one listed occupation, in Canada or abroad.

Transport occupations: 4 occupations

Needs 12 months of full-time work (or the same in part-time) in the past 3 years in one listed occupation, in Canada or abroad.

Physicians with Canadian work experience: 3 occupations

Needs 12 months of full-time work (or the same in part-time) in the past 3 years in one listed occupation, in Canada.

Senior managers with Canadian work experience: 4 occupations

Needs 12 months of full-time work (or the same in part-time) in the past 3 years in one listed occupation, in Canada.

Researchers with Canadian work experience: 2 occupations

Needs 12 months of full-time work (or the same in part-time) in the past 3 years in one listed occupation, in Canada.

Skilled military recruits: 3 occupations

Needs at least 10 years of continuous service in a recognized foreign military and a Canadian Armed Forces job offer of at least 3 years of full-time work (Foreign Skilled Military Applicants only).

How do you convert a NOC 2016 code to NOC 2021?

Type your four-digit NOC 2016 code in the finder: it works as a NOC 2016 to 2021 converter and shows the five-digit NOC 2021 code, or codes, that replaced it. IRCC switched from NOC 2016 to NOC 2021 on November 16, 2022 (IRCC). The finder follows Statistics Canada's correspondence table: most of the 500 NOC 2016 unit groups became one NOC 2021 group, but 60 were split across two or more, and 22 old unit groups ended while 38 new ones began (Statistics Canada, correspondence table; introduction to NOC 2021). When your old code was split, read the duties of each new one.

Does your NOC code change your CRS score?

Not by itself, but it decides three things that do: whether your work earns Canadian or foreign work points, whether it earns high-wage points from November 3, 2026, and which category rounds you can be invited in.

• Work points need skilled work: TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3.
• High-wage points: from November 3, 2026, 12 months of Canadian work in one of the 186 occupations on IRCC's high-wage list adds 20 to 70 points, or a qualifying job offer in one is worth 50 to 100. Check yours on the high-wage occupations list.
• Category rounds add no points but give you more rounds you can be invited in.

Job offers earned no points from March 25, 2025, and from November 3, 2026 only an offer in a high-wage occupation does. Your whole score is in the CRS calculator.

What if your job fits more than one NOC code?

Pick the code whose lead statement and main duties cover most of what you did; one job gets one code. If you held two different jobs, each gets its own code in your Express Entry profile. When two codes seem close, compare their main duties line by line and read the exclusions of each: they say which similar jobs belong elsewhere. Your reference letters should describe the duties you did, in your own employer's words, so an officer can match them to the code you claim.

NOC codes for common jobs

These are the NOC 2021 codes the official titles give the jobs people look up most. Your own duties still decide: a "store manager" who mostly works the cash is not in 60020.

Found your code? Next, your score

Your NOC decides which work counts; your language test decides most of the rest. The CRS calculator gives your full Express Entry score under the rules from November 3, 2026, and the CLB calculator turns CELPIP, IELTS or PTE scores into CLB levels.