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Lake County, IN — Nail salons Saturation

How many nail 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. 32 ZIP codes analyzed.

Includes: Nail salons · Manicure & pedicure studios. Counted together because official statistics use one 812113 code.

Not enough published data to rank this market: 31 of 32 ZIP cells are withheld (each 0–2 businesses). The county total is somewhere between 4 and 66.

Why a range: Census does not publish a ZIP-by-industry count when that ZIP has 0–2 businesses. 31 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 26 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   Lake County nail salons — 8–112% of the U.S. rate

4 nail salons are counted in Lake County — 0.1 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 8% of the U.S. rate of 0.9.

Measured supply density is highest in 46375 (Schererville) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 46375 (Schererville).

BLS QCEW puts the latest county-wide count (2026 Q1) at 20 establishments, the freshest available signal.

Measured density: Lake County sits at 8% of the U.S. rate for nail salons. 26 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 8% and 112% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 46375; the lowest measured density is in 46375.

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

Nail salons
4–66
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (31 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
0.1
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
0.9
per 10,000 present
County index
0.08×
vs. U.S.
Latest quarter (QCEW)
20
2026 Q1 — county total
Residents
504,725
27 ZIPs with data
Workers
171,014
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
502,955
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
+0.8%
+3,992 people
Net migration 2024
+2,107
international +977, domestic +1,130
Jobs located here
187,144
LODES 2022, −2.0% since 2019

Lake County had an estimated 502,955 residents on July 1, 2024 — 0.8% more than in 2020 (+3,992). In the latest year it gained 2,364 people: births minus deaths +278, international migration +977, domestic migration +1,130. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

187,144 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (−2.0% since 2019), and 214,308 employed residents lived there (+0.1% 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
46303 Cedar Lake
+19.7%
46373 Saint John
+17.2%
46307 Crown Point
+14.2%
ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
46407 Gary
−21.3%
46403 Gary
−18.7%
46312 East Chicago
−7.7%

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
596
no paid employees (2024)
Receipts
$29.8M
published gross receipts
Receipts per business
$50K
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 nail 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

Number of nail salons in Lake 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.

0
2015
0
2018
0
2020
0
2021
0
2022
0
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
46375 Schererville
156%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
46375 Schererville
156%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few nail 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 = nail salons per 10,000 people present (residents + 0.5×workers) ÷ the U.S. average. 100% = exactly average.

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersNail salons Per 10kIndexStatus
46375Schererville 24,18812,018 4 1.3 156% High density
46303Cedar Lake 17,6802,307 0–2 — — Not published
46307Crown Point 71,67319,913 0–2 — — Not published
46308Crown Point —79 0–2 — — Not published
46311Dyer 23,3216,464 0–2 — — Not published
46312East Chicago 26,02211,080 0–2 — — Not published
46319Griffith 17,8474,373 0–2 — — Not published
46320Hammond 14,3539,655 0–2 — — Not published
46321Munster 23,73315,460 0–2 — — Not published
46322Highland 23,6808,997 0–2 — — Not published
46323Hammond 23,0474,329 0–2 — — Not published
46324Hammond 21,4096,549 0–2 — — Not published
46325Hammond —83 0–2 — — Not published
46327Hammond 10,5972,651 0–2 — — Not published
46342Hobart 32,2247,666 0–2 — — Not published
46355Leroy —6 0–2 — — Not published
46356Lowell 19,7213,041 0–2 — — Not published
46373Saint John 18,8433,891 0–2 — — Not published
46376Schneider 31961 0–2 — — Not published
46377Shelby 4527 0–2 — — Not published
46394Whiting 11,8943,355 0–2 — — Not published
46401Gary —476 0–2 — — Not published
46402Gary 5,8369,036 0–2 — — Not published
46403Gary 10,9292,145 0–2 — — Not published
46404Gary 15,4281,688 0–2 — — Not published
46405Lake Station 12,1841,148 0–2 — — Not published
46406Gary 9,0014,976 0–2 — — Not published
46407Gary 8,577501 0–2 — — Not published
46408Gary 15,7472,053 0–2 — — Not published
46409Gary 7,184503 0–2 — — Not published
46410Merrillville 39,24327,127 0–2 — — Not published
46411Merrillville —41 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in Merrillville

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 Merrillville retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse Merrillville retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse Merrillville 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 Lake County and nail 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 812113 — nail 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 20 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 (0.85 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.