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Stark County, OH — Fast food Saturation

How many fast food 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. 38 ZIP codes analyzed.

Includes: Fast food · Quick-service restaurants · Takeout & delivery counters · Pizza delivery · Sandwich & burger chains. Counted together because official statistics use one 722513 code.

Measured density: Above average — 1.19× the U.S. rate (between 1.19× and 1.28× 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. 18 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 13 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

Above the U.S. rate   Stark County fast food — 119–128% of the U.S. rate

381 fast food are counted in Stark County — 8.0 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 119% of the U.S. rate of 6.7.

On the comparable ZIP set (ZIPs with a published count in every year), the total has risen 16% between 2015 and 2023 (323 → 375). 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 44718 (Canton), 44709 (Canton), 44708 (Canton) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 44662 (Navarre), 44721 (Canton), 44706 (Canton).

BLS QCEW puts the latest county-wide count (2026 Q1) at 357 establishments, the freshest available signal.

Measured density: Stark County sits at 119% of the U.S. rate for fast food. 13 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 119% and 128% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 44718 and 44709; the lowest measured density is in 44662 and 44721.

This is a supply-side read: it counts existing fast food 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.

Fast food
381–417
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (18 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
8.0
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
6.7
per 10,000 present
County index
1.19×
vs. U.S.
Latest quarter (QCEW)
357
2026 Q1 — county total
Residents
401,620
33 ZIPs with data
Workers
152,716
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
374,091
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
−0.1%
−461 people
Net migration 2024
+1,534
international +556, domestic +978
Jobs located here
157,848
LODES 2022, −2.9% since 2019

Stark County had an estimated 374,091 residents on July 1, 2024 — 0.1% fewer than in 2020 (−461). In the latest year it gained 1,039 people: births minus deaths −483, international migration +556, domestic migration +978. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

157,848 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (−2.9% since 2019), and 167,849 employed residents lived there (−2.0% 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

No ZIP had a statistically significant increase.

ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
44601 Alliance
−5.6%

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
61
no paid employees (2024)
Receipts
$2.1M
published gross receipts
Receipts per business
$35K
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 fast food 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 16% since 2015

Number of fast food in Stark 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.

323
2015
343
2018
350
2020
351
2021
370
2022
375
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
44718 Canton
360%
44709 Canton
189%
44708 Canton
156%
44632 Hartville
151%
44720 North Canton
149%
44705 Canton
126%
44601 Alliance
120%
44657 Minerva
119%
44685 Uniontown
117%
44646 Massillon
114%
44641 Louisville
107%
44707 Canton
105%
44647 Massillon
103%
44614 Canal Fulton
103%
44706 Canton
91%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
44662 Navarre
40%
44721 Canton
78%
44706 Canton
91%
44614 Canal Fulton
103%
44647 Massillon
103%
44707 Canton
105%
44641 Louisville
107%
44646 Massillon
114%
44685 Uniontown
117%
44657 Minerva
119%
44601 Alliance
120%
44705 Canton
126%
44720 North Canton
149%
44632 Hartville
151%
44708 Canton
156%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few fast food 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 ResidentsWorkersFast foodIndex
44702Canton Employment hub 9633,139 5 296%

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

All ZIP codes

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

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersFast food Per 10kIndexStatus
44718Canton 12,50816,594 50 24.0 360% Very high density
44702Canton 9633,139 5 19.7 296% Very high density
44688Waynesburg 2,808654 5 15.9 239% High density
44709Canton 18,6143,913 26 12.6 189% High density
44708Canton 24,2859,229 30 10.4 156% High density
44632Hartville 10,8154,199 13 10.1 151% High density
44720North Canton 39,85126,644 53 10.0 149% Above average
44705Canton 16,8724,230 16 8.4 126% Above average
44601Alliance 32,69612,239 31 8.0 120% Above average
44657Minerva 9,6203,387 9 8.0 119% Above average
44685Uniontown 28,7948,938 26 7.8 117% Above average
44646Massillon 47,74115,311 42 7.6 114% Above average
44643Magnolia 3,896549 3 7.2 108% Above average
44641Louisville 20,0314,694 16 7.1 107% Above average
44707Canton 9,0484,852 8 7.0 105% Above average
44647Massillon 18,1174,428 14 6.9 103% Above average
44614Canal Fulton 13,1902,680 10 6.9 103% Above average
44706Canton 16,4969,898 13 6.1 91% Below average
44721Canton 14,2722,319 8 5.2 78% Below average
44662Navarre 10,3451,647 3 2.7 40% Far below average
44608Beach City 2,692439 0–2 — — Not published
44613Brewster 1,985485 0–2 — — Not published
44626East Sparta 2,658362 0–2 — — Not published
44630Greentown 063 0–2 — — Not published
44648Massillon —520 0–2 — — Not published
44652Middlebranch 61554 0–2 — — Not published
44666North Lawrence 3,247277 0–2 — — Not published
44669Paris 1,753208 0–2 — — Not published
44670Robertsville 22918 0–2 — — Not published
44689Wilmot 411240 0–2 — — Not published
44701Canton —97 0–2 — — Not published
44703Canton 8,070899 0–2 — — Not published
44704Canton 3,681824 0–2 — — Not published
44710Canton 9,0677,406 0–2 — — Not published
44711Canton —17 0–2 — — Not published
44714Canton 10,2101,115 0–2 — — Not published
44730East Canton 6,040845 0–2 — — Not published
44735Canton —193 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in North Canton

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 North Canton retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse North Canton retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse North Canton 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 Stark County and fast food

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 722513 — limited-service restaurants. 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 357 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 (6.67 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.