Home / Full-service restaurants / California

Restaurants in California

How many restaurants 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: Sit-down restaurants with table service. Counted together because official statistics use one 722511 code.

State verdict (covered counties): In line with the U.S. rate — 103% of the U.S. rate

Counties covered

in California

Restaurants

30,283

establishments (2023)

Per 10,000 present

6.6

residents + 0.5×workers

U.S. average

6.4

per 10,000 present

State index

103%

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 restaurants and the people present, not foot traffic, income, rent, or whether locals want more.

Counties in California

City	County	Restaurants	Residents	Workers	Per 10k	Index	Verdict
San Francisco	San Francisco County	1,690–1,714	830,479	727,248	14.2	222%	High density
San Luis Obispo	San Luis Obispo County	349–377	271,285	97,546	10.9	171–175%	High density
Santa Rosa	Sonoma County	502–538	485,213	174,040	8.8	137–142%	Above average
Eureka	Humboldt County	132–184	134,385	33,944	8.7	137–186%	Range spans bands
San Rafael	Marin County	268–316	257,061	106,330	8.6	135–150%	Range spans bands
Napa	Napa County	145–157	135,313	65,776	8.6	135–142%	Above average
El Dorado Hills	El Dorado County	186–218	192,693	49,889	8.5	134–151%	Range spans bands
Menlo Park	San Mateo County	788–816	713,109	457,352	8.3	129–132%	Above average
Fremont	Alameda County	1,562–1,590	1,655,008	750,285	7.7	120–121%	Above average
Monterey	Monterey County	370–402	426,948	115,284	7.6	120–127%	Above average
Goleta	Santa Barbara County	395–431	443,781	158,550	7.6	118–121%	Above average
Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz County	233–253	272,278	80,401	7.5	117–122%	Above average
Irvine	Orange County	2,908–3,018	3,175,270	1,572,620	7.3	115–116%	Above average
Roseville	Placer County	357–383	422,233	166,507	7.1	111–119%	Above average
El Segundo	Los Angeles County	8,166–8,458	9,801,306	3,924,098	6.9	109–109%	Above average
Santa Clara	Santa Clara County	1,699–1,779	1,935,981	1,162,159	6.7	106–107%	Above average
San Diego	San Diego County	2,636–2,806	3,282,423	1,385,217	6.6	104–106%	Above average
Redding	Shasta County	135–177	190,130	53,985	6.2	97–122%	Range spans bands
Ventura	Ventura County	598–638	841,297	285,173	6.1	95–97%	Below average
Folsom	Sacramento County	1,121–1,163	1,596,140	531,159	6.0	94–96%	Below average
Concord	Contra Costa County	792–822	1,159,422	342,009	6.0	93–95%	Below average
Fairfield	Solano County	291–301	449,663	122,066	5.7	89–92%	Below average
Chico	Butte County	126–148	207,286	61,889	5.3	83–93%	Below average
West Sacramento	Yolo County	130–154	222,458	74,293	5.0	78–90%	Below average
Modesto	Stanislaus County	314–334	559,023	148,684	5.0	78–81%	Below average
Ontario	San Bernardino County	1,230–1,328	2,195,107	711,262	4.8	75–79%	Below average
Riverside	Riverside County	1,316–1,398	2,482,806	674,999	4.6	73–75%	Below average
Fresno	Fresno County	516–584	1,021,317	301,306	4.4	69–75%	Below average
Tracy	San Joaquin County	396–430	796,477	232,266	4.3	68–71%	Below average
Bakersfield	Kern County	444–506	915,763	218,146	4.3	68–74%	Below average
Visalia	Tulare County	207–253	473,757	104,822	3.9	62–72%	Below average
El Centro	Imperial County	68–88	174,015	33,702	3.6	56–71%	Range spans bands
Merced	Merced County	109–135	288,279	48,681	3.5	55–67%	Range spans bands
Madera	Madera County	60–76	159,701	30,139	3.4	54–66%	Range spans bands
Hanford	Kings County	44–56	152,269	28,375	2.6	41–51%	Well below average

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Lowest vs. highest measured density

Fewest competitors per capita

222%

171%

137%

137%

135%

135%

134%

129%

Most competitors per capita

41%

54%

55%

56%

62%

68%

68%

69%

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

← All Full-service restaurants markets nationwide · Methodology · Data sources

Check a ZIP or city · Search by radius · Answers · Data story · Methodology · Data sources · About · Privacy · Terms · Updates (RSS)

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.