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Pharmacies in California

How many pharmacies exist per person present (residents + daytime workers) across the 35 California counties we cover, by ZIP code, compared with the U.S. average. Data: Census ZBP 2023 + ACS 2024 + BLS QCEW.

Includes: Pharmacies · Drug stores · Community & compounding pharmacies. Counted together because official statistics use one 446110 code.

State verdict (covered counties): Below the U.S. rate — 76% of the U.S. rate

Counties covered

in California

Pharmacies

3,578

establishments (2023)

Per 10,000 present

0.8

residents + 0.5×workers

U.S. average

1.0

per 10,000 present

State index

76%

vs. U.S.

Residents

38,319,676

in covered counties

Workers

15,030,202

jobs in covered counties

Coverage. This page aggregates only the 35 California counties BizGapMap covers — not the whole state. Counts and the index reflect those counties. The aggregate index uses only ZIP cells Census published, so it is a lower bound. Density is a supply-side signal: it counts existing pharmacies and the people present, not foot traffic, income, rent, or whether locals want more.

Counties in California

City	County	Pharmacies	Residents	Workers	Per 10k	Index	Verdict
El Segundo	Los Angeles County	1,319–1,749	9,801,306	3,924,098	1.1	109–124%	Above average
Irvine	Orange County	435–589	3,175,270	1,572,620	1.1	106–121%	Above average
Eureka	Humboldt County	15–73	134,385	33,944	1.0	96–442%	Range spans bands
Ventura	Ventura County	91–145	841,297	285,173	0.9	90–113%	Range spans bands
El Centro	Imperial County	17–41	174,015	33,702	0.9	86–198%	Range spans bands
Hanford	Kings County	14–26	152,269	28,375	0.8	81–140%	Range spans bands
Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz County	26–54	272,278	80,401	0.8	81–136%	Range spans bands
Ontario	San Bernardino County	197–357	2,195,107	711,262	0.8	75–119%	Range spans bands
Riverside	Riverside County	211–327	2,482,806	674,999	0.7	72–94%	Below average
Bakersfield	Kern County	75–167	915,763	218,146	0.7	71–135%	Range spans bands
Modesto	Stanislaus County	44–80	559,023	148,684	0.7	67–113%	Range spans bands
San Francisco	San Francisco County	80–126	830,479	727,248	0.7	65–84%	Below average
Fresno	Fresno County	78–182	1,021,317	301,306	0.7	64–132%	Range spans bands
Visalia	Tulare County	35–95	473,757	104,822	0.7	64–156%	Range spans bands
San Rafael	Marin County	20–82	257,061	106,330	0.6	62–200%	Range spans bands
San Diego	San Diego County	248–488	3,282,423	1,385,217	0.6	60–92%	Below average
Folsom	Sacramento County	114–202	1,596,140	531,159	0.6	59–93%	Range spans bands
El Dorado Hills	El Dorado County	13–57	192,693	49,889	0.6	58–218%	Range spans bands
Chico	Butte County	14–48	207,286	61,889	0.6	57–171%	Range spans bands
Madera	Madera County	10–32	159,701	30,139	0.6	55–166%	Range spans bands
San Luis Obispo	San Luis Obispo County	18–72	271,285	97,546	0.6	54–157%	Range spans bands
Concord	Contra Costa County	68–138	1,159,422	342,009	0.5	50–89%	Range spans bands
West Sacramento	Yolo County	13–45	222,458	74,293	0.5	49–153%	Range spans bands
Roseville	Placer County	25–73	422,233	166,507	0.5	48–140%	Range spans bands
Menlo Park	San Mateo County	46–94	713,109	457,352	0.5	47–82%	Range spans bands
Santa Clara	Santa Clara County	122–256	1,935,981	1,162,159	0.5	47–73%	Range spans bands
Redding	Shasta County	10–64	190,130	53,985	0.5	45–250%	Range spans bands
Tracy	San Joaquin County	42–106	796,477	232,266	0.5	45–98%	Range spans bands
Fremont	Alameda County	88–164	1,655,008	750,285	0.4	42–70%	Range spans bands
Santa Rosa	Sonoma County	24–96	485,213	174,040	0.4	41–132%	Range spans bands
Monterey	Monterey County	20–80	426,948	115,284	0.4	40–144%	Range spans bands
Merced	Merced County	12–46	288,279	48,681	0.4	37–136%	Range spans bands
Napa	Napa County	5–27	135,313	65,776	0.3	29–132%	Range spans bands
Goleta	Santa Barbara County	15–81	443,781	158,550	0.3	28–102%	Range spans bands
Fairfield	Solano County	14–40	449,663	122,066	0.3	27–72%	Range spans bands

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Lowest vs. highest measured density

Fewest competitors per capita

109%

106%

96%

90%

86%

81%

81%

75%

Most competitors per capita

27%

28%

29%

37%

40%

41%

42%

45%

Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A county with few pharmacies may simply lack foot traffic, retail space, or demand. Use the ranking to find where to look, then verify locally.

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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.