NAICS 621320 · California overview

Optometry Practices in Marin County

Marin County had 24 Optometry establishments in 2023, ranking 18 of 41 California counties and accounting for 0.9% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
24
Rank 18 of 41 counties
Employees
118
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$6.6M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
0.9
253,694 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
23
2026Q1
Employment
116
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$1,467
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
+9.5%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

1.07 location quotient. Optometry is about as concentrated in Marin 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 Optometry in Marin County.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-41458.3%
5-9729.2%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net decline of 11.1% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
202027n/a
202126-1
2022260
202324-2

How this market compares

Marin 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.

Densely served0.9 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 0.6

Well above the state median for this industry. A crowded market: expect established competitors and price pressure, but also a deeper pool of businesses to buy.

Vs state median
+61%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#18
of 41 counties
Rank by density
#4
of 41 ranked
Since 2020
-11%
Change in establishments

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

Business size mix

Marin 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 establishmentsMarinCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer58.3%49.3%+9.1%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target29.2%47.9%-18.8%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing0.0%14.2%-14.2%

What acquirers look at

Blends licensed professional services with high-margin retail optical. Retail revenue is transferable to a non-licensed owner in a way the clinical side is not.

Cities in Marin

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

Other industries in Marin

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.