NAICS 722511 · California overview

Full-Service Restaurants in Madera County

Madera County had 66 Restaurants establishments in 2023, ranking 36 of 58 California counties and accounting for 0.2% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
66
Rank 36 of 58 counties
Employees
799
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$23M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
3.9
167,927 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
58
2026Q1
Employment
749
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$553
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
+1.8%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

0.38 location quotient. Restaurants employment in Madera County is about 2.6 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 Restaurants in Madera County. 29 of 66 establishments (44%) employ 10 or more people, the practical floor for most acquisition financing.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-42131.8%
5-91522.7%
10-191522.7%
20-491421.2%

Establishment trend

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

YearEstablishmentsChange
202055n/a
202162+7
202258-4
202366+8

How this market compares

Madera 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 served3.9 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 7.7

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
-49%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#36
of 58 counties
Rank by density
#55
of 57 ranked
Since 2020
+20%
Change in establishments

Density compares full-service restaurants provision per resident. It does not measure revenue, profitability or whether a market is worth entering.

Business size mix

Madera 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 establishmentsMaderaCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer31.8%24.7%+7.1%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target66.7%65.7%+1.0%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing43.9%56.7%-12.8%

What acquirers look at

The highest-turnover category in the index and the weakest lending profile. Lease terms and liquor license transfer usually matter more than the P&L.

Cities in Madera

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

Other industries in Madera

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.