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Bay County, FL — Bars Saturation

How many bars exist per person present — residents plus daytime workers — by ZIP code, compared with the U.S. average. Establishment data: Census ZBP 2023. Population: ACS 2024 5-year. 17 ZIP codes analyzed.

Includes: Bars & taverns · Pubs & brewpubs (drinking-focused) · Cocktail & wine bars · Taprooms. Counted together because official statistics use one 722410 code.

Measured density: Range spans bands — 1.19× the U.S. rate (between 1.19× and 1.91× once withheld ZIP cells are counted)

Why a range: Census does not publish a ZIP-by-industry count when that ZIP has 0–2 businesses. 13 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 8 of them with residents. Each could hold 0, 1, or 2 businesses: counting them all as 0 gives the low end, counting them all as 2 gives the high end — the data cannot say where the truth sits. The density range uses only the populated cells, since ZIPs without residents are excluded from per-person rates. How ranges work

Range spans the U.S. rate   Bay County bars — 119–191% of the U.S. rate

26 bars are counted in Bay County — 1.2 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 119% of the U.S. rate of 1.0.

On the comparable ZIP set (ZIPs with a published count in every year), the total has stayed roughly flat between 2015 and 2023 (22 → 22).

Measured supply density is highest in 32407 (Panama City Beach), 32408 (Panama City), 32401 (Panama City) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 32413 (Panama City Beach), 32401 (Panama City), 32408 (Panama City).

Census County Business Patterns (2023) puts the county-wide count at 32 establishments, including locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA — so it can run slightly above the sum of the ZIP rows on this page. It is annual, so it lags more than QCEW.

Measured density: Bay County sits at 119% of the U.S. rate for bars. 8 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 119% and 191% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 32407 and 32408; the lowest measured density is in 32413 and 32401.

This is a supply-side read: it counts existing bars and the people present, not foot traffic, income, rent, or whether locals want more. Treat low density as a question to check, not an answer.

Bars
26–52
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (13 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
1.2
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
1.0
per 10,000 present
County index
1.19×
vs. U.S.
Latest year (CBP)
32
2023 — $6M annual payroll
Residents
186,434
12 ZIPs with data
Workers
62,163
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
199,718
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
+14.4%
+25,175 people
Net migration 2024
+7,266
international +2,192, domestic +5,074
Jobs located here
76,304
LODES 2022, +8.0% since 2019

Bay County had an estimated 199,718 residents on July 1, 2024 — 14.4% more than in 2020 (+25,175). In the latest year it gained 7,296 people: births minus deaths +45, international migration +2,192, domestic migration +5,074. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

76,304 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (+8.0% since 2019), and 71,712 employed residents lived there (+7.1% since 2019). LODES counts wage and salary jobs covered by unemployment insurance plus federal jobs; it excludes the self-employed and military, and counts jobs rather than unique people. 2019→2022 spans the pandemic, so read it as one change, not a trend.

Population and migration say whether the customer base is growing. They do not say whether people want another business of this type. Definitions and limits →  ·  Full county detail →

ZIP gaining residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
32407 Panama City Beach
+51.6%
ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
32401 Panama City
−14.0%

ACS 5-year estimates for 2015–2019 and 2020–2024. Only ZIPs with at least 2,000 residents in both windows and a change larger than the survey margin of error (90%) are listed — small ZIPs move a lot on paper without a real signal.

Nonemployer businesses (no paid employees)

Nonemployer businesses
21
no paid employees (2024)
Receipts
$1.9M
published gross receipts
Receipts per business
$92K
gross, not profit

Census Nonemployer Statistics counts businesses with no paid employees — a separate universe from the employer establishments counted above; a business is in one or the other, never both. They are not storefronts by definition: many are home-based, mobile, or part-time.

We show them beside the density index, not inside it. In categories such as nail and beauty salons, child care, and pet care, one-person businesses can outnumber employer establishments, so the employer-only count understates how many businesses exist. That is not evidence of higher demand.

Receipts are gross revenue reported for these businesses — not profit, and not the size of the local market. Census publishes this only at county level, so it is not shown on the ZIP map. See methodology.

Saturation map

Each ZIP area is shaded by its density of this business type per person present (residents + workers) vs. the U.S. average. Click any ZIP to zoom to its boundary, see its numbers, and switch to aerial imagery. Individual mapped shops appear as dots at street level — Show locations zooms you in to them (scroll or double-click to zoom).

Basemap:
Under 50% 50–100% 100–150% 150–250% 250%+ 0–2 (not published) / no data ZIP total (dot size) Mapped shop (OpenStreetMap, street level)

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, tiles by OpenFreeMap.

White dots are ZIP totals from the official Census count — the bigger the dot, the more bars in that ZIP. They are aggregated, not individual shops. Turquoise dots are individual locations mapped in OpenStreetMap, shown only at street level; they are crowd-sourced and indicative, may be incomplete, and do not equal the official counts. Only the official ZIP totals feed the saturation index.

Market trend — up 0% since 2015

Number of bars in Bay County across 2015–2023, on a consistent set of ZIP codes present in every year — so changes are real, not ZIP-boundary artifacts. 2015/2018 are pre-pandemic baselines; 2020/2021 are COVID-distorted.

22
2015
15
2018
18
2020
16
2021
23
2022
22
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
32407 Panama City Beach
338%
32408 Panama City
325%
32401 Panama City
324%
32413 Panama City Beach
204%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
32413 Panama City Beach
204%
32401 Panama City
324%
32408 Panama City
325%
32407 Panama City Beach
338%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few bars may simply lack foot traffic, retail space, or demand. We rank only residential and mixed ZIPs here; employment hubs and visitor destinations are listed separately below. ZIPs where Census did not publish a count (0–2 businesses) are not ranked: they may be the least served of all, but the data cannot tell 0 from 1 or 2. Verify those locally.

All ZIP codes

Click a column header to sort. Index = bars per 10,000 people present (residents + 0.5×workers) ÷ the U.S. average. 100% = exactly average.

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersBars Per 10kIndexStatus
32407Panama City Beach 16,4048,216 7 3.4 338% Very high density
32408Panama City 18,8325,001 7 3.3 325% Very high density
32401Panama City 18,94711,039 8 3.3 324% Very high density
32413Panama City Beach 15,4537,951 4 2.1 204% High density
32402Panama City —238 0–2 — — Not published
32403Panama City 447421 0–2 — — Not published
32404Panama City 42,5145,398 0–2 — — Not published
32405Panama City 29,98417,402 0–2 — — Not published
32406Panama City —107 0–2 — — Not published
32409Panama City 11,1131,594 0–2 — — Not published
32410Mexico Beach 55039 0–2 — — Not published
32411Panama City —41 0–2 — — Not published
32412Panama City —17 0–2 — — Not published
32417Panama City —85 0–2 — — Not published
32438Fountain 4,815128 0–2 — — Not published
32444Lynn Haven 21,4594,645 0–2 — — Not published
32466Youngstown 5,916329 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in Panama City

The numbers above tell you how the market looks. To find a specific storefront, these marketplaces list available retail space for lease.

LoopNet
Largest commercial marketplace
Browse Panama City retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse Panama City retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse Panama City retail space →

Open vacancy data (actual empty units) is only published by some cities; where it exists we show it directly. Listings above are third-party.

Census withholds some ZIP-by-industry cells to protect small businesses. 0–2 means the cell was not published (Census publishes industry counts only at 3+ per ZIP), so the ZIP is left unranked rather than counted as zero. ~ means the count is estimated from the broader industry group and can be off by a business or two.

Follow Bay County and bars

When a data vintage changes or a section of this report is revised, we post it to a public update feed. No email address, no account, no tracking — and nothing is sent unless something actually changed.

Subscribe to updates (RSS) How these numbers are built →

Methodology & sources

Establishments. U.S. Census ZIP Code Business Patterns (ZBP 2023), NAICS 722410 — drinking places (alcoholic beverages). Counts establishments with paid employees. ZBP is published annually with a ~2-year lag.

Fresh county signal. This industry has no clean QCEW series, so the freshest county signal is Census County Business Patterns 2023: 32 establishments and $6M in annual payroll county-wide. This count includes locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA, so it can be slightly higher than the sum of the ZIP rows. CBP is annual and slower than QCEW. It cannot be broken down by ZIP.

Population. U.S. Census American Community Survey 2024 5-year ZCTA population (table B01003). Workers are the ZIP's total employment from the same 2023 ZBP file.

Demand ("people present"). Demand comes from residents and daytime workers: residents + 0.5 × workers. This is the single documented assumption in the model and can be tuned.

Index. index = (ZIP establishments ÷ ZIP demand × 10,000) ÷ the U.S. average for this industry (1.01 per 10,000 present). It is a supply-side density measure; it does not capture income, rent, tourism, or whether locals actually want more.

Read the full methodology →  ·  Data sources & vintages →

BizGapMap — free, no-login small-business saturation reports for major U.S. counties. Built entirely from public U.S. Census, BLS, and IRS data (ZBP 2023, ACS 2024 5-year, PEP 2024, LODES, QCEW, IRS SOI). No forecasts, no revenue guesses — withheld cells are marked, and the few derived counts are labelled as estimates.