NAICS 238910 · California overview

Septic & Water Well Services in Mariposa County

Mariposa County had 6 Septic & Well establishments in 2023, ranking 48 of 50 California counties and accounting for 0.2% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
6
Rank 48 of 50 counties
Employees
53
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$4.4M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
3.5
16,918 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
4
2026Q1
Employment
n/a
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
n/a
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
0.0%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

1.89 location quotient. Septic & Well employment in Mariposa County is about 1.9 times more 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 Septic & Well in Mariposa County.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-4350.0%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net decline of 14.3% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
20207n/a
20219+2
202290
20236-3

How this market compares

Mariposa 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 served3.5 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 1.0

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
+252%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#48
of 50 counties
Rank by density
#3
of 50 ranked
Since 2020
-14%
Change in establishments

Density compares septic & water well services provision per resident. It does not measure revenue, profitability or whether a market is worth entering.

Business size mix

Mariposa tracks the California size distribution closely.

Share of establishmentsMariposaCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer50.0%54.4%-4.4%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target0.0%38.2%-38.2%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing0.0%26.7%-26.7%

What acquirers look at

Regulated, permit-gated and essentially recession-proof in rural markets. Very high owner age and almost no institutional competition for deals.

Other industries in Mariposa

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.