NAICS 524210 · California overview

Insurance Agencies & Brokerages in San Joaquin County

San Joaquin County had 186 Insurance Agency establishments in 2023, ranking 16 of 55 California counties and accounting for 1.3% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
186
Rank 16 of 55 counties
Employees
1,753
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$225M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
2.3
823,815 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
178
2026Q1
Employment
818
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$2,058
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
+1.7%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

0.44 location quotient. Insurance Agency employment in San Joaquin County is about 2.3 times less 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 Insurance Agency in San Joaquin County. 13 of 186 establishments (7%) employ 10 or more people, the practical floor for most acquisition financing.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-413974.7%
5-93217.2%
10-1952.7%
20-4984.3%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 3.3% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
2020180n/a
2021186+6
2022179-7
2023186+7

How this market compares

San Joaquin 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.

Below average2.3 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 2.9

Fewer businesses per resident than the typical California market. Often an underserved market, though it can also mean residents buy this service in a neighbouring town.

Vs state median
-23%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#16
of 55 counties
Rank by density
#40
of 55 ranked
Since 2020
+3%
Change in establishments

Density compares insurance agencies & brokerages provision per resident. It does not measure revenue, profitability or whether a market is worth entering.

Business size mix

San Joaquin tracks the California size distribution closely.

Share of establishmentsSan JoaquinCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer74.7%74.9%-0.1%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target24.2%23.2%+1.0%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing7.0%9.2%-2.2%

What acquirers look at

Renewal commission streams behave like an annuity, which is why these command the highest multiples in small business. Carrier appointment transfer is the gating diligence item.

Cities in San Joaquin

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

Other industries in San Joaquin

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.