U.S. state · on request
We hold no California dataset of our own. On request, we compile lists of California businesses by industry and county from public sources and tell you before you order which fields, how many records and which as-of date we can deliver. For scale: the U.S. Census Bureau counts 1,029,689 establishments with paid employees in California (2023) and 3,686,618 businesses without paid employees (2024).
4,716,307
businesses in California: with employees (CBP 2023) + without employees (NES 2024)
1,029,689
establishments with paid employees (CBP 2023)
3,686,618
businesses without paid employees (NES 2024)
16,405,436
paid employees of those establishments (CBP 2023, week of March 12)
Official statistics, not counts from our dataset (we hold no California data of our own). Establishments with paid employees come from U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (latest year published), businesses without paid employees from U.S. Census Bureau, Nonemployer Statistics 2024 (latest year published; it leaves out businesses with less than $1,000 in receipts except in construction, methodology). State files downloaded from www2.census.gov on October 13, 2026. The two series cover different years.
U.S. Census Bureau
The ten sectors with the most businesses, counting those with and without employees. CBP 2023 uses NAICS 2017 and NES 2024 NAICS 2022; sector boundaries are largely the same in both editions, though industries within retail trade and information were reorganized.
| NAICS | Sector | With employees | Without employees | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 54 | Professional, scientific and technical services | 143,863 | 594,336 | 738,199 | 15.7% |
| 48-49 | Transportation and warehousing | 39,439 | 555,747 | 595,186 | 12.6% |
| 81 | Other services | 83,407 | 359,631 | 443,038 | 9.4% |
| 62 | Health care and social assistance | 132,345 | 306,663 | 439,008 | 9.3% |
| 53 | Real estate and rental and leasing | 65,036 | 362,705 | 427,741 | 9.1% |
| 56 | Administrative, support and waste services | 48,724 | 307,277 | 356,001 | 7.5% |
| 44-45 | Retail trade | 106,675 | 240,437 | 347,112 | 7.4% |
| 23 | Construction | 86,763 | 246,176 | 332,939 | 7.1% |
| 71 | Arts, entertainment and recreation | 33,856 | 241,947 | 275,803 | 5.8% |
| 72 | Accommodation and food services | 95,952 | 73,552 | 169,504 | 3.6% |
Public registers are the starting point of a list on request; contact fields come from the companies' websites. For some industries, state license records add the license type and status.
The state office that registers corporations, limited liability companies and limited partnerships.
The Secretary of State's online service, where business entity records can be searched one by one.
Federal rules apply in every state: the CAN-SPAM Act for commercial email, and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule for calls and texts. States can add rules of their own, as Florida does with its Telephone Solicitation Act. An export contains no consent; the compliance of your campaign is your responsibility. This is not legal advice.
FAQ
It depends on what you count. The U.S. Census Bureau counted 1,029,689 establishments with paid employees in 2023 (County Business Patterns) and 3,686,618 businesses without paid employees in 2024 (Nonemployer Statistics), 4,716,307 together. Of the businesses without employees, 3,181,970 were sole proprietorships. None of these figures comes from our dataset.
No. Our main product is the Florida Business Database. For California we compile data on request and confirm the scope, the as-of date and the price before you order.
Because each is the latest year published: County Business Patterns runs to 2023 and Nonemployer Statistics to 2024. Within one year a business is in only one of the two series; because the years differ, the sum approximates the number of businesses rather than counting it exactly.
There is no price list for markets on request. The price depends on the industries, the region, the fields and the number of records; we quote it in USD before you order.
Name the industry, the region and the fields you need. We reply with what we can compile from public sources for California, with the scope, the as-of date and the price, before you order.
