NAICS 238210 · California overview

Electrical Contractors in Los Angeles County

Los Angeles County had 2,286 Electrical establishments in 2023, ranking 1 of 54 California counties and accounting for 22.5% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
2,286
Rank 1 of 54 counties
Employees
19,904
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$1.5B
All establishments
Per 10k residents
2.4
9,694,934 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
2,529
2026Q1
Employment
19,918
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$1,780
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
+2.8%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

0.62 location quotient. Electrical employment in Los Angeles County is about 1.6 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 Electrical in Los Angeles County. 373 of 2,286 establishments (16%) employ 10 or more people, the practical floor for most acquisition financing.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-41,54667.6%
5-936315.9%
10-191928.4%
20-491355.9%
50-99231.0%
100-249231.0%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 6.5% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
20202,147n/a
20212,178+31
20222,244+66
20232,286+42

How this market compares

Los Angeles 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.

Typical2.4 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 2.7

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

Vs state median
-13%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#1
of 54 counties
Rank by density
#32
of 54 ranked
Since 2020
+6%
Change in establishments

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

Business size mix

Los Angeles 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 establishmentsLos AngelesCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer67.6%62.2%+5.4%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target30.2%33.3%-3.1%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing16.3%19.7%-3.3%

What acquirers look at

Licensing requirements limit new entrants. Service and small-commercial work is far more acquirable than new-construction shops, which carry heavy working-capital and bonding needs.

Cities in Los Angeles

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

Other industries in Los Angeles

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.