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Multnomah County, OR — 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. 49 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: Very high density — 3.49× the U.S. rate (between 3.49× and 3.63× 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. 24 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 7 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

Very high density   Multnomah County bars — 349–363% of the U.S. rate

358 bars are counted in Multnomah County — 3.5 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 349% 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 (345 → 352).

Measured supply density is highest in 97214 (Portland), 97209 (Portland), 97215 (Portland) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 97230 (Portland), 97219 (Portland), 97212 (Portland).

Census County Business Patterns (2023) puts the county-wide count at 361 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: Multnomah County sits at 349% of the U.S. rate for bars. 7 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 349% and 363% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 97214 and 97209; the lowest measured density is in 97230 and 97219.

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
358–406
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (24 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
3.5
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
1.0
per 10,000 present
County index
3.49×
vs. U.S.
Latest year (CBP)
361
2023 — $102M annual payroll
Residents
794,233
32 ZIPs with data
Workers
443,368
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
795,897
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
−2.5%
−20,424 people
Net migration 2024
+951
international +5,660, domestic −4,709
Jobs located here
512,868
LODES 2022, −3.9% since 2019

Multnomah County had an estimated 795,897 residents on July 1, 2024 — 2.5% fewer than in 2020 (−20,424). In the latest year it gained 1,626 people: births minus deaths +659, international migration +5,660, domestic migration −4,709. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

512,868 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (−3.9% since 2019), and 385,063 employed residents lived there (−4.1% 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
97205 Portland
+22.2%
97209 Portland
+17.5%
97024 Fairview
+16.1%
ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change

No ZIP had a statistically significant decrease.

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
83
no paid employees (2024)
Receipts
$10.8M
published gross receipts
Receipts per business
$130K
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 2% since 2015

Number of bars in Multnomah 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.

345
2015
324
2018
315
2020
302
2021
329
2022
352
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
97214 Portland
1194%
97209 Portland
850%
97215 Portland
836%
97202 Portland
576%
97232 Portland
502%
97203 Portland
419%
97206 Portland
402%
97211 Portland
392%
97217 Portland
385%
97030 Gresham
370%
97213 Portland
328%
97266 Portland
317%
97210 Portland
315%
97220 Portland
290%
97236 Portland
274%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
97230 Portland
70%
97219 Portland
146%
97212 Portland
160%
97239 Portland
170%
97233 Portland
178%
97216 Portland
191%
97218 Portland
268%
97236 Portland
274%
97220 Portland
290%
97210 Portland
315%
97266 Portland
317%
97213 Portland
328%
97030 Gresham
370%
97217 Portland
385%
97211 Portland
392%
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.

Employment hubs & destinations

These ZIPs have far more workers (or visitors) than residents, so their counts are driven by daytime and visitor demand — not a place to read "shortage" from resident numbers alone.

ZIPNeighborhoodType ResidentsWorkersBarsIndex
97204Portland Destination 88529,411 16 1017%
97227Portland Employment hub 5,66514,838 13 985%
97205Portland Employment hub 9,12118,676 7 376%

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

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
97214Portland 27,71424,269 48 12.0 1194% Very high density
97204Portland 88529,411 16 10.3 1017% Very high density
97227Portland 5,66514,838 13 9.9 985% Very high density
97209Portland 22,29627,725 31 8.6 850% Very high density
97215Portland 17,2963,363 16 8.4 836% Very high density
97202Portland 43,53316,283 30 5.8 576% Very high density
97232Portland 15,61520,104 13 5.1 502% Very high density
97203Portland 33,11614,138 17 4.2 419% Very high density
97206Portland 49,8908,769 22 4.1 402% Very high density
97211Portland 33,76913,495 16 3.9 392% Very high density
97217Portland 35,16927,494 19 3.9 385% Very high density
97205Portland 9,12118,676 7 3.8 376% Very high density
97030Gresham 37,70815,726 17 3.7 370% Very high density
97213Portland 31,40815,755 13 3.3 328% Very high density
97266Portland 35,42310,594 13 3.2 317% Very high density
97210Portland 11,32421,451 7 3.2 315% Very high density
97220Portland 27,20220,812 11 2.9 290% Very high density
97236Portland 37,5584,437 11 2.8 274% Very high density
97218Portland 15,42813,604 6 2.7 268% Very high density
97216Portland 16,6388,232 4 1.9 191% High density
97233Portland 36,2365,544 7 1.8 178% High density
97239Portland 17,80422,867 5 1.7 170% High density
97212Portland 28,0425,932 5 1.6 160% High density
97219Portland 42,43010,302 7 1.5 146% Above average
97230Portland 43,55325,930 4 0.7 70% Below average
97010Bridal Veil —139 0–2 — — Not published
97019Corbett 3,233181 0–2 — — Not published
97024Fairview 12,0072,977 0–2 — — Not published
97060Troutdale 21,64913,002 0–2 — — Not published
97080Gresham 48,4114,618 0–2 — — Not published
97201Portland 16,88718,928 0–2 — — Not published
97207Portland —65 0–2 — — Not published
97208Portland 0625 0–2 — — Not published
97221Portland 12,9153,194 0–2 — — Not published
97228Portland —30 0–2 — — Not published
97231Portland 4,308717 0–2 — — Not published
97238Portland —221 0–2 — — Not published
97240Portland —4 0–2 — — Not published
97242Portland —16 0–2 — — Not published
97250Portland —10 0–2 — — Not published
97280Portland —82 0–2 — — Not published
97282Portland —36 0–2 — — Not published
97283Portland —61 0–2 — — Not published
97286Portland —32 0–2 — — Not published
97290Portland —28 0–2 — — Not published
97292Portland —47 0–2 — — Not published
97293Portland —26 0–2 — — Not published
97294Portland —305 0–2 — — Not published
97296Portland —1,242 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in Portland

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 Portland retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse Portland retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse Portland 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 Multnomah 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: 361 establishments and $102M 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.