Full-service restaurants in California 30,454 establishments · 607,236 employees · 2024
Firms (CA)
30,454
Employment
607,236
Avg Annual Pay
$36,169
State Rank
#1 of 52
How California compares to national
Metric
California
National
California vs. U.S.
Establishments
30,454
265,872
11.5% of U.S. total
Avg annual pay
$36,169
$30,527
+$5,642 (+18.5%)
Location quotient
0.75
1.00
25% less dense than national
Avg firm size (employees)
19.9
20.2
—
Year-over-year firm growth
-0.1%
—
—
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An establishment is a single physical location where business is conducted. A firm with multiple locations counts as multiple establishments. "Avg pay" is wages and salaries per employee, including bonuses and tips — for proprietorships, the owner's take is largely outside this number. The location quotient (LQ) of 0.75 means full-service restaurants are 25% under-represented in California's business mix relative to the U.S. average.
Source. BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages — 2024 annual averages, private-ownership only, NAICS 722511. Establishment counts include any firm with at least one paid employee covered by state unemployment insurance.
SMB Density · firm counts, employment, and wages by industry × state · data from BLS QCEW 2024 annual (private ownership, state-level; mostly 6-digit NAICS, 3 specialty-trade industries at 5-digit aggregation) · data.json