NAICS 339950 · California overview

Sign Manufacturing & Installation in Fresno County

Fresno County had 19 Sign Shops establishments in 2023, ranking 8 of 31 California counties and accounting for 3.1% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
19
Rank 8 of 31 counties
Employees
110
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$5.8M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
0.2
1,035,456 residents

More recent reading

BLS QCEW, 2026Q1

The figures above are County Business Patterns, which carries the size distribution but runs about two years behind. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes quarterly, so this is the same industry roughly 3 years later. The two count different universes, Census counts establishments with paid employees in the March pay period and BLS counts worksites covered by unemployment insurance during the quarter, so the numbers are not directly comparable and either can be the larger.

Establishments
19
2026Q1
Employment
160
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$1,242
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
0.0%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

0.77 location quotient. Sign Shops employment in Fresno County is about 1.3 times less concentrated than in the United States as a whole.

Computed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, not derived here. Above 1.0 means the industry is a larger share of local employment than of national employment.

Establishments by size

Employee-count distribution for Sign Shops in Fresno County. 3 of 19 establishments (16%) employ 10 or more people, the practical floor for most acquisition financing.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-41263.2%
5-9315.8%
10-19315.8%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 26.7% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
202015n/a
202117+2
202219+2
2023190

How this market compares

Fresno County against every other county in California on the same measure. The median excludes places under 2,000 residents, where per-capita figures are arithmetically true but analytically useless.

Above average0.2 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 0.1

More provision than the typical California market of this size. Usually a sign of genuine local demand rather than oversupply.

Vs state median
+27%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#8
of 31 counties
Rank by density
#5
of 31 ranked
Since 2020
+27%
Change in establishments

Density compares sign manufacturing & installation provision per resident. It does not measure revenue, profitability or whether a market is worth entering.

Business size mix

Fresno is more fragmented than California as a whole: a larger share of very small operators. Fragmented markets are where roll-ups are assembled, and where an owner nearing retirement has no obvious internal buyer.

Share of establishmentsFresnoCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer63.2%54.4%+8.7%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target31.6%32.6%-1.0%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing15.8%16.0%-0.2%

What acquirers look at

Permitting expertise and installation equipment create a real moat locally. Recurring maintenance on illuminated signage is an underrated revenue stream.

Cities in Fresno

The figures above cover the county as a whole. These are the places within it.

Other industries in Fresno

Sources

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 County Business Patterns. Establishment counts, employment and annual payroll by NAICS. Retrieved 2026-09-08.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (2026Q1). Quarterly establishment counts and employment for employers covered by unemployment insurance. Retrieved 2026-09-08.