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Virginia Beach city, VA — Beauty salons Saturation

How many beauty salons 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: Hair salons · Beauty salons · Blow-dry & styling bars · Makeup & skincare studios. Counted together because official statistics use one 812112 code.

Measured density: High density — 1.79× the U.S. rate (between 1.79× and 1.86× 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. 9 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 4 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

High density   Virginia Beach city beauty salons — 179–186% of the U.S. rate

200 beauty salons are counted in Virginia Beach city — 3.7 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 179% of the U.S. rate of 2.1.

On the comparable ZIP set (ZIPs with a published count in every year), the total has risen 8% between 2015 and 2023 (186 → 200). That set is smaller than today's county total. 2020–2021 were pandemic-distorted, and Census rounds counts, so small moves are within noise.

Measured supply density is highest in 23451 (Virginia Beach), 23454 (Virginia Beach), 23452 (Virginia Beach) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 23464 (Virginia Beach), 23453 (Virginia Beach), 23462 (Virginia Beach).

BLS QCEW puts the latest county-wide count (2026 Q1) at 199 establishments, the freshest available signal.

Measured density: Virginia Beach city sits at 179% of the U.S. rate for beauty salons. 4 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 179% and 186% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 23451 and 23454; the lowest measured density is in 23464 and 23453.

This is a supply-side read: it counts existing beauty salons 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.

Beauty salons
200–218
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (9 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
3.7
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
2.1
per 10,000 present
County index
1.79×
vs. U.S.
Latest quarter (QCEW)
199
2026 Q1 — county total
Residents
456,349
12 ZIPs with data
Workers
163,508
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
454,808
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
−1.1%
−4,865 people
Net migration 2024
−609
international +1,675, domestic −2,284
Jobs located here
175,200
LODES 2022, −2.8% since 2019

Virginia Beach city had an estimated 454,808 residents on July 1, 2024 — 1.1% fewer than in 2020 (−4,865). In the latest year it gained 1,029 people: births minus deaths +1,635, international migration +1,675, domestic migration −2,284. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

175,200 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (−2.8% since 2019), and 194,066 employed residents lived there (−2.5% 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
23456 Virginia Beach
+13.9%
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
1,050
no paid employees (2024)
Receipts
$35.0M
published gross receipts
Receipts per business
$33K
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 beauty salons 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 8% since 2015

Number of beauty salons in Virginia Beach city 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.

186
2015
196
2018
194
2020
198
2021
197
2022
200
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
23451 Virginia Beach
436%
23454 Virginia Beach
229%
23452 Virginia Beach
189%
23455 Virginia Beach
177%
23456 Virginia Beach
140%
23462 Virginia Beach
133%
23453 Virginia Beach
103%
23464 Virginia Beach
93%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
23464 Virginia Beach
93%
23453 Virginia Beach
103%
23462 Virginia Beach
133%
23456 Virginia Beach
140%
23455 Virginia Beach
177%
23452 Virginia Beach
189%
23454 Virginia Beach
229%
23451 Virginia Beach
436%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few beauty salons 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 = beauty salons per 10,000 people present (residents + 0.5×workers) ÷ the U.S. average. 100% = exactly average.

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersBeauty salons Per 10kIndexStatus
23451Virginia Beach 44,01220,015 49 9.1 436% Very high density
23454Virginia Beach 58,17822,246 33 4.8 229% High density
23452Virginia Beach 58,45535,714 30 3.9 189% High density
23455Virginia Beach 49,97713,859 21 3.7 177% High density
23456Virginia Beach 61,91113,455 20 2.9 140% Above average
23462Virginia Beach 66,15133,985 23 2.8 133% Above average
23453Virginia Beach 34,4826,011 8 2.1 103% Above average
23464Virginia Beach 75,06116,185 16 1.9 93% Below average
23450Virginia Beach —304 0–2 — — Not published
23457Virginia Beach 4,814741 0–2 — — Not published
23459Virginia Beach 1,324323 0–2 — — Not published
23460Virginia Beach 1,041662 0–2 — — Not published
23461Virginia Beach 943312 0–2 — — Not published
23463Virginia Beach —1,349 0–2 — — Not published
23466Virginia Beach —118 0–2 — — Not published
23467Virginia Beach —16 0–2 — — Not published
23471Virginia Beach —16 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in Virginia Beach

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 Virginia Beach retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse Virginia Beach retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse Virginia Beach 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 Virginia Beach city and beauty salons

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 812112 — beauty salons. Counts establishments with paid employees. ZBP is published annually with a ~2-year lag.

Fresh county signal. BLS QCEW (quarterly) is newer than ZBP — 2026 Q1 shows 199 establishments county-wide for this industry. 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 (2.08 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.