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Orange County, CA — Convenience stores Saturation

How many convenience stores 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. 135 ZIP codes analyzed.

Includes: Convenience stores · Corner stores · Small-format food & fuel marts. Counted together because official statistics use one 445120 code.

Measured density: Range spans bands — 0.57× the U.S. rate (between 0.57× and 0.85× 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. 98 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 51 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   Orange County convenience stores — 57–85% of the U.S. rate

205 convenience stores are counted in Orange County — 0.5 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 57% of the U.S. rate of 0.9.

On the comparable ZIP set (ZIPs with a published count in every year), the total has risen 26% between 2015 and 2023 (134 → 169). 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 90623 (La Palma), 92707 (Santa Ana), 92683 (Westminster) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 92618 (Irvine), 92805 (Anaheim), 92840 (Garden Grove).

Census County Business Patterns (2023) puts the county-wide count at 245 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: Orange County sits at 57% of the U.S. rate for convenience stores. 51 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 57% and 85% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 90623 and 92707; the lowest measured density is in 92618 and 92805.

This is a supply-side read: it counts existing convenience stores 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.

Convenience stores
205–401
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (98 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
0.5
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
0.9
per 10,000 present
County index
0.57×
vs. U.S.
Latest year (CBP)
245
2023 — $47M annual payroll
Residents
3,175,270
88 ZIPs with data
Workers
1,572,620
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
3,170,435
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
−0.5%
−15,826 people
Net migration 2024
+7,389
international +29,759, domestic −22,370
Jobs located here
1,697,322
LODES 2022, +0.7% since 2019

Orange County had an estimated 3,170,435 residents on July 1, 2024 — 0.5% fewer than in 2020 (−15,826). In the latest year it gained 15,872 people: births minus deaths +8,437, international migration +29,759, domestic migration −22,370. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

1,697,322 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (+0.7% since 2019), and 1,480,984 employed residents lived there (−1.0% 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
92617 Irvine
+39.7%
92618 Irvine
+35.0%
92782 Tustin
+30.3%
ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
92610 Foothill Ranch
−21.4%
92701 Santa Ana
−13.1%
92691 Mission Viejo
−9.8%

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

Not shown. Census publishes convenience stores only combined with vending machine operators, so a convenience-only nonemployer count is not published.

Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024 (NAICS 2022). We do not approximate this figure.

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 convenience stores 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 26% since 2015

Number of convenience stores in Orange 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.

134
2015
164
2018
166
2020
168
2021
172
2022
169
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
90623 La Palma
175%
92707 Santa Ana
170%
92683 Westminster
144%
92647 Huntington Beach
136%
92780 Tustin
136%
90631 La Habra
130%
92802 Anaheim
125%
92708 Fountain Valley
124%
90680 Stanton
123%
92648 Huntington Beach
120%
92804 Anaheim
112%
92865 Orange
112%
92627 Costa Mesa
110%
92653 Laguna Hills
110%
92706 Santa Ana
109%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
92618 Irvine
25%
92805 Anaheim
50%
92840 Garden Grove
55%
92612 Irvine
57%
92701 Santa Ana
60%
92886 Yorba Linda
61%
92677 Laguna Niguel
61%
92703 Santa Ana
67%
92626 Costa Mesa
67%
92801 Anaheim
74%
92646 Huntington Beach
75%
92691 Mission Viejo
77%
92630 Lake Forest
83%
92806 Anaheim
85%
90620 Buena Park
94%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few convenience stores 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 ResidentsWorkersConvenience storesIndex
92614Irvine Employment hub 29,23971,739 0–2 —

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

All ZIP codes

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

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersConvenience stores Per 10kIndexStatus
90623La Palma 15,5456,336 3 1.6 175% High density
92707Santa Ana 58,69524,470 11 1.6 170% High density
92683Westminster 89,83318,171 13 1.3 144% Above average
92647Huntington Beach 59,04726,672 9 1.2 136% Above average
92780Tustin 54,37436,196 9 1.2 136% Above average
90631La Habra 68,30915,356 9 1.2 130% Above average
92802Anaheim 43,13253,713 8 1.1 125% Above average
92708Fountain Valley 56,25828,817 8 1.1 124% Above average
90680Stanton 31,9917,219 4 1.1 123% Above average
92648Huntington Beach 45,82717,805 6 1.1 120% Above average
92804Anaheim 83,5378,751 9 1.0 112% Above average
92865Orange 20,58917,444 3 1.0 112% Above average
92627Costa Mesa 60,39318,633 7 1.0 110% Above average
92653Laguna Hills 29,62420,458 4 1.0 110% Above average
92706Santa Ana 37,1756,316 4 1.0 109% Above average
90621Buena Park 35,98411,275 4 1.0 105% Above average
92672San Clemente 36,93912,008 4 0.9 102% Above average
92704Santa Ana 82,12029,907 9 0.9 101% Above average
92867Orange 44,72619,456 5 0.9 100% Above average
92833Fullerton 51,8429,105 5 0.9 97% Below average
92821Brea 41,62353,249 6 0.9 96% Below average
92831Fullerton 35,61819,845 4 0.9 96% Below average
90620Buena Park 46,60823,068 5 0.9 94% Below average
92806Anaheim 41,00347,143 5 0.8 85% Below average
92630Lake Forest 67,15224,355 6 0.8 83% Below average
92691Mission Viejo 45,84122,393 4 0.7 77% Below average
92646Huntington Beach 54,6157,213 4 0.7 75% Below average
92801Anaheim 60,54726,223 5 0.7 74% Below average
92626Costa Mesa 50,70861,637 5 0.6 67% Below average
92703Santa Ana 62,4475,941 4 0.6 67% Below average
92677Laguna Niguel 64,13915,621 4 0.6 61% Below average
92886Yorba Linda 49,7048,621 3 0.6 61% Below average
92701Santa Ana 47,81813,166 3 0.6 60% Below average
92612Irvine 33,71447,161 3 0.5 57% Below average
92840Garden Grove 54,5349,589 3 0.5 55% Below average
92805Anaheim 74,66126,571 4 0.5 50% Far below average
92618Irvine 66,126130,760 3 0.2 25% Far below average
90622Buena Park —893 0–2 — — Not published
90630Cypress 49,31821,856 0–2 — — Not published
90632La Habra —63 0–2 — — Not published
90633La Habra —88 0–2 — — Not published
90720Los Alamitos 23,80515,195 0–2 — — Not published
90721Los Alamitos —42 0–2 — — Not published
90740Seal Beach 24,25411,439 0–2 — — Not published
90742Sunset Beach 405403 0–2 — — Not published
90743Surfside 46848 0–2 — — Not published
92602Irvine 28,2619,006 0–2 — — Not published
92603Irvine 18,3872,938 0–2 — — Not published
92604Irvine 26,4917,418 0–2 — — Not published
92605Huntington Beach —47 0–2 — — Not published
92606Irvine 23,99022,200 0–2 — — Not published
92607Laguna Niguel —55 0–2 — — Not published
92609El Toro —56 0–2 — — Not published
92610Foothill Ranch 12,86711,543 0–2 — — Not published
92614Irvine 29,23971,739 0–2 — — Not published
92615Huntington Beach —182 0–2 — — Not published
92616Irvine —64 0–2 — — Not published
92617Irvine 24,0179,220 0–2 — — Not published
92619Irvine —464 0–2 — — Not published
92620Irvine 61,6317,841 0–2 — — Not published
92623Irvine —92 0–2 — — Not published
92624Capistrano Beach 7,2111,069 0–2 — — Not published
92625Corona Del Mar 12,2944,050 0–2 — — Not published
92628Costa Mesa —133 0–2 — — Not published
92629Dana Point 25,5799,121 0–2 — — Not published
92637Laguna Woods 17,2892,030 0–2 — — Not published
92649Huntington Beach 35,34617,452 0–2 — — Not published
92651Laguna Beach 23,55710,107 0–2 — — Not published
92652Laguna Beach —154 0–2 — — Not published
92654Laguna Hills —62 0–2 — — Not published
92655Midway City 8,026426 0–2 — — Not published
92656Aliso Viejo 52,22924,852 0–2 — — Not published
92657Newport Coast 9,9203,420 0–2 — — Not published
92658Newport Beach —97 0–2 — — Not published
92659Newport Beach —13 0–2 — — Not published
92660Newport Beach 34,89060,414 0–2 — — Not published
92661Newport Beach 3,079968 0–2 — — Not published
92662Newport Beach 2,294676 0–2 — — Not published
92663Newport Beach 21,36814,263 0–2 — — Not published
92673San Clemente 29,40611,028 0–2 — — Not published
92674San Clemente —79 0–2 — — Not published
92675San Juan Capistrano 35,09515,336 0–2 — — Not published
92676Silverado 2,085168 0–2 — — Not published
92678Trabuco Canyon 66473 0–2 — — Not published
92679Trabuco Canyon 30,8182,512 0–2 — — Not published
92684Westminster —4 0–2 — — Not published
92685Westminster —19 0–2 — — Not published
92688Rancho Santa Margarita 43,32017,871 0–2 — — Not published
92690Mission Viejo —41 0–2 — — Not published
92692Mission Viejo 47,0226,539 0–2 — — Not published
92693San Juan Capistrano —168 0–2 — — Not published
92694Ladera Ranch 35,7644,795 0–2 — — Not published
92697Irvine 0236 0–2 — — Not published
92698Aliso Viejo —15 0–2 — — Not published
92702Santa Ana —133 0–2 — — Not published
92705Santa Ana 48,78152,604 0–2 — — Not published
92711Santa Ana —71 0–2 — — Not published
92728Fountain Valley —119 0–2 — — Not published
92781Tustin —107 0–2 — — Not published
92782Tustin 30,0739,254 0–2 — — Not published
92799Santa Ana —15 0–2 — — Not published
92803Anaheim —654 0–2 — — Not published
92807Anaheim 37,29625,692 0–2 — — Not published
92808Anaheim 21,5395,987 0–2 — — Not published
92809Anaheim —13 0–2 — — Not published
92811Atwood —12 0–2 — — Not published
92812Anaheim —35 0–2 — — Not published
92816Anaheim —5 0–2 — — Not published
92817Anaheim —23 0–2 — — Not published
92822Brea —52 0–2 — — Not published
92823Brea 5,8465,290 0–2 — — Not published
92825Anaheim —13 0–2 — — Not published
92832Fullerton 27,29811,170 0–2 — — Not published
92834Fullerton —745 0–2 — — Not published
92835Fullerton 26,00512,791 0–2 — — Not published
92836Fullerton —61 0–2 — — Not published
92837Fullerton —134 0–2 — — Not published
92838Fullerton —43 0–2 — — Not published
92841Garden Grove 33,21913,789 0–2 — — Not published
92842Garden Grove —13 0–2 — — Not published
92843Garden Grove 46,41412,390 0–2 — — Not published
92844Garden Grove 23,1885,028 0–2 — — Not published
92845Garden Grove 16,1432,981 0–2 — — Not published
92846Garden Grove —25 0–2 — — Not published
92856Orange —22 0–2 — — Not published
92859Orange —53 0–2 — — Not published
92861Villa Park 5,7481,190 0–2 — — Not published
92863Orange —64 0–2 — — Not published
92866Orange 15,3319,454 0–2 — — Not published
92868Orange 26,38050,123 0–2 — — Not published
92869Orange 36,2715,428 0–2 — — Not published
92870Placentia 52,82612,959 0–2 — — Not published
92871Placentia —46 0–2 — — Not published
92885Yorba Linda —116 0–2 — — Not published
92887Yorba Linda 19,7257,810 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in Irvine

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 Irvine retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse Irvine retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse Irvine 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 Orange County and convenience stores

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 445120 — convenience retailers. 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: 245 establishments and $47M 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 (0.91 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.