NAICS 445310 · California overview

Beer, Wine & Liquor Stores in Shasta County

Shasta County had 8 Liquor Stores establishments in 2023, ranking 34 of 45 California counties and accounting for 0.2% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
8
Rank 34 of 45 counties
Employees
57
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$1.2M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
0.4
181,648 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
9
2026Q1
Employment
78
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$717
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
0.0%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

1.01 location quotient. Liquor Stores is about as concentrated in Shasta 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 Liquor Stores in Shasta County. 3 of 8 establishments (38%) employ 10 or more people, the practical floor for most acquisition financing.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-4337.5%
10-19337.5%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 14.3% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
20207n/a
202170
20228+1
202380

How this market compares

Shasta 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.

Thinly served0.4 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 0.9

Well below the state median. Either a genuine gap in provision or a market served from somewhere nearby. Worth checking the neighbouring places below before drawing a conclusion.

Vs state median
-53%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#34
of 45 counties
Rank by density
#44
of 45 ranked
Since 2020
+14%
Change in establishments

Density compares beer, wine & liquor stores provision per resident. It does not measure revenue, profitability or whether a market is worth entering.

Business size mix

Shasta is more consolidated than California as a whole: fewer micro-operators and a larger share of businesses with real headcount. Fewer targets, but the ones that exist are more likely to be financeable.

Share of establishmentsShastaCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer37.5%74.8%-37.3%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target37.5%23.6%+13.9%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing37.5%7.6%+29.9%

What acquirers look at

The California ABC license is often the single most valuable asset, and transfer runs its own 60 to 90 day timeline independent of the deal.

Cities in Shasta

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

Other industries in Shasta

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.