NAICS 446110 · California overview

Independent Pharmacies in Kings County

Kings County had 16 Pharmacy establishments in 2023, ranking 32 of 50 California counties and accounting for 0.4% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
16
Rank 32 of 50 counties
Employees
221
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$10M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
1.0
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
15
2026Q1
Employment
186
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$891
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
-21.1%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

0.88 location quotient. Pharmacy 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 Pharmacy in Kings County. 9 of 16 establishments (56%) employ 10 or more people, the practical floor for most acquisition financing.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-4531.3%
10-19318.8%
20-49637.5%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 23.1% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
202013n/a
202114+1
202216+2
2023160

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.

Typical1.0 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 0.9

Close to the state median for this industry. Provision is roughly what the population would predict.

Vs state median
+10%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#32
of 50 counties
Rank by density
#17
of 50 ranked
Since 2020
+23%
Change in establishments

Density compares independent pharmacies provision per resident. It does not measure revenue, profitability or whether a market is worth entering.

Business size mix

Kings 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 establishmentsKingsCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer31.3%21.8%+9.5%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target56.3%75.4%-19.2%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing56.3%54.4%+1.8%

What acquirers look at

PBM reimbursement pressure has compressed margins for a decade. Compounding, long-term-care contracts and clinical services are what make one viable.

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.