NAICS 812112, 812113, 812199 · California overview

Hair Salons, Barber Shops & Day Spas in San Luis Obispo County

San Luis Obispo County had 97 Salons & Spas establishments in 2023, ranking 24 of 46 California counties and accounting for 0.5% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
97
Rank 24 of 46 counties
Employees
440
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$10M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
3.4
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
108
2026Q1
Employment
321
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$629
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
+8.0%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

0.88 location quotient. Salons & Spas is about as concentrated in San Luis Obispo 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 Salons & Spas in San Luis Obispo County. 4 of 97 establishments (4%) employ 10 or more people, the practical floor for most acquisition financing.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-46668.0%
5-92323.7%
10-1944.1%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 9.0% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
202089n/a
202179-10
202295+16
202397+2

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.

Typical3.4 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 3.2

Close to the state median for this industry. Provision is roughly what the population would predict.

Vs state median
+6%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#24
of 46 counties
Rank by density
#21
of 46 ranked
Since 2020
+9%
Change in establishments

Density compares hair salons, barber shops & day spas 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 layer68.0%65.3%+2.8%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target27.8%33.8%-6.0%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing4.1%12.2%-8.1%

What acquirers look at

Booth-rental structures mean the business may own almost nothing transferable. Verify whether stylists are employees or independent tenants before valuing the revenue.

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.