NAICS 311811 · California overview

Retail Bakeries in Orange County

Orange County had 131 Bakeries establishments in 2023, ranking 2 of 35 California counties and accounting for 9.5% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
131
Rank 2 of 35 counties
Employees
1,227
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$35M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
0.4
3,149,507 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
140
2026Q1
Employment
n/a
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
n/a
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
-4.8%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

1.10 location quotient. Bakeries is about as concentrated in Orange 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 Bakeries in Orange County. 33 of 131 establishments (25%) employ 10 or more people, the practical floor for most acquisition financing.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-45441.2%
5-94131.3%
10-192216.8%
20-49118.4%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 17.0% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
2020112n/a
2021126+14
2022127+1
2023131+4

How this market compares

Orange 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.

Above average0.4 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 0.3

More provision than the typical California market of this size. Usually a sign of genuine local demand rather than oversupply.

Vs state median
+38%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#2
of 35 counties
Rank by density
#10
of 35 ranked
Since 2020
+17%
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

Orange tracks the California size distribution closely.

Share of establishmentsOrangeCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer41.2%43.3%-2.1%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target56.5%50.7%+5.8%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing25.2%31.8%-6.6%

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 Orange

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

Other industries in Orange

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.