NAICS 238220 · California overview

HVAC, Plumbing & Mechanical Contractors in Plumas County

Plumas County had 10 HVAC & Plumbing establishments in 2023, ranking 49 of 55 California counties and accounting for 0.1% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
10
Rank 49 of 55 counties
Employees
44
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$2.3M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
5.4
18,583 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
8
2026Q1
Employment
26
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$1,236
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
0.0%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

1.00 location quotient. HVAC & Plumbing is about as concentrated in Plumas 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 HVAC & Plumbing in Plumas County.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-4660.0%

Establishment trend

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

YearEstablishmentsChange
20209n/a
202190
20226-3
202310+4

How this market compares

Plumas 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 served5.4 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 3.0

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
+81%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#49
of 55 counties
Rank by density
#4
of 55 ranked
Since 2020
+11%
Change in establishments

Density compares hvac, plumbing & mechanical contractors provision per resident. It does not measure revenue, profitability or whether a market is worth entering.

Business size mix

Plumas tracks the California size distribution closely.

Share of establishmentsPlumasCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer60.0%60.9%-0.9%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target0.0%35.1%-35.1%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing0.0%20.2%-20.2%

What acquirers look at

Recurring maintenance contracts, emergency pricing power and licensed-technician scarcity make the mechanical trades the most consolidated category in small business. Owner age skews high and private equity has been rolling them up since 2019. Plumbing is frequently acquired as a bolt-on to an existing HVAC platform to share dispatch and trucks.

Cities in Plumas

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

Other industries in Plumas

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.