NAICS 445310 · California overview

Beer, Wine & Liquor Stores in Kings County

Kings County had 6 Liquor Stores establishments in 2023, ranking 36 of 45 California counties and accounting for 0.1% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
6
Rank 36 of 45 counties
Employees
30
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$590,000
All establishments
Per 10k residents
0.4
154,327 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
9
2026Q1
Employment
50
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$462
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
+12.5%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

0.93 location quotient. Liquor Stores is about as concentrated in Kings County as it is nationally.

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 Liquor Stores in Kings County.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-4350.0%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 20.0% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
20205n/a
202150
20226+1
202360

How this market compares

Kings 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.

Thinly served0.4 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 0.9

Well below the state median. Either a genuine gap in provision or a market served from somewhere nearby. Worth checking the neighbouring places below before drawing a conclusion.

Vs state median
-58%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#36
of 45 counties
Rank by density
#45
of 45 ranked
Since 2020
+20%
Change in establishments

Density compares beer, wine & liquor stores provision per resident. It does not measure revenue, profitability or whether a market is worth entering.

Business size mix

Kings is more consolidated than California as a whole: fewer micro-operators and a larger share of businesses with real headcount. Fewer targets, but the ones that exist are more likely to be financeable.

Share of establishmentsKingsCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer50.0%74.8%-24.8%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target0.0%23.6%-23.6%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing0.0%7.6%-7.6%

What acquirers look at

The California ABC license is often the single most valuable asset, and transfer runs its own 60 to 90 day timeline independent of the deal.

Cities in Kings

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

Other industries in Kings

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.