NAICS 812320 · California overview

Dry Cleaning & Laundry Services in Nevada County

Nevada County had 8 Dry Cleaning establishments in 2023, ranking 30 of 35 California counties and accounting for 0.4% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
8
Rank 30 of 35 counties
Employees
16
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$644,000
All establishments
Per 10k residents
0.8
101,911 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
5
2026Q1
Employment
17
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$640
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
0.0%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

0.88 location quotient. Dry Cleaning is about as concentrated in Nevada 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 Dry Cleaning in Nevada County.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-4787.5%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 100.0% since 2021.

YearEstablishmentsChange
20214n/a
202240
20238+4

How this market compares

Nevada 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 served0.8 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 0.5

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
+69%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#30
of 35 counties
Rank by density
#4
of 35 ranked
Since 2021
+100%
Change in establishments

Density compares dry cleaning & laundry services provision per resident. It does not measure revenue, profitability or whether a market is worth entering.

Business size mix

Nevada 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 establishmentsNevadaCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer87.5%67.8%+19.7%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target0.0%28.8%-28.8%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing0.0%8.6%-8.6%

What acquirers look at

Structural volume decline since 2020 remote work, and solvent contamination is a genuine environmental liability on any site with historic PERC use.

Cities in Nevada

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

Other industries in Nevada

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.