NAICS 561710 · California overview

Pest Control Services in San Luis Obispo County

San Luis Obispo County had 22 Pest Control establishments in 2023, ranking 21 of 42 California counties and accounting for 1.1% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
22
Rank 21 of 42 counties
Employees
128
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$8.8M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
0.8
282,367 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
24
2026Q1
Employment
160
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$1,340
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
0.0%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

1.32 location quotient. Pest Control employment in San Luis Obispo County is about 1.3 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 Pest Control in San Luis Obispo County.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-41254.5%
5-9627.3%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 15.8% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
202019n/a
2021190
202221+2
202322+1

How this market compares

San Luis Obispo 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
+54%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#21
of 42 counties
Rank by density
#10
of 42 ranked
Since 2020
+16%
Change in establishments

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

Business size mix

San Luis Obispo tracks the California size distribution closely.

Share of establishmentsSan Luis ObispoCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer54.5%56.1%-1.6%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target27.3%38.6%-11.3%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing0.0%23.6%-23.6%

What acquirers look at

Among the highest-multiple SMB categories: contractual recurring revenue, ~85% retention, and route-based density economics. Heavily rolled up by national platforms.

Cities in San Luis Obispo

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

Other industries in San Luis Obispo

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.