NAICS 311811 · California overview

Retail Bakeries in Monterey County

Monterey County had 31 Bakeries establishments in 2023, ranking 9 of 35 California counties and accounting for 2.3% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
31
Rank 9 of 35 counties
Employees
335
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$11M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
0.7
433,729 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
35
2026Q1
Employment
404
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$632
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
0.0%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

3.17 location quotient. Bakeries employment in Monterey County is about 3.2 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 Bakeries in Monterey County. 13 of 31 establishments (42%) employ 10 or more people, the practical floor for most acquisition financing.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-41135.5%
5-9722.6%
10-19722.6%
20-49619.4%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 6.9% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
202029n/a
2021290
202230+1
202331+1

How this market compares

Monterey 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 served0.7 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 0.3

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
+138%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#9
of 35 counties
Rank by density
#2
of 35 ranked
Since 2020
+7%
Change in establishments

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

Business size mix

Monterey is more consolidated than California as a whole: fewer micro-operators and a larger share of businesses with real headcount. Fewer targets, but the ones that exist are more likely to be financeable.

Share of establishmentsMontereyCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer35.5%43.3%-7.8%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target64.5%50.7%+13.8%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing41.9%31.8%+10.2%

What acquirers look at

Wholesale accounts with grocers and restaurants are worth far more than retail counter revenue. Equipment and buildout carry meaningful replacement value.

Cities in Monterey

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

Other industries in Monterey

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.