NAICS 722511 · California overview

Full-Service Restaurants in Tuolumne County

Tuolumne County had 61 Restaurants establishments in 2023, ranking 37 of 58 California counties and accounting for 0.2% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
61
Rank 37 of 58 counties
Employees
762
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$23M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
11.5
53,160 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
59
2026Q1
Employment
658
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$535
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
+7.3%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

1.07 location quotient. Restaurants is about as concentrated in Tuolumne 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 Restaurants in Tuolumne County. 29 of 61 establishments (48%) employ 10 or more people, the practical floor for most acquisition financing.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-41219.7%
5-92032.8%
10-191524.6%
20-491423.0%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 8.9% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
202056n/a
202159+3
202262+3
202361-1

How this market compares

Tuolumne 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.

Above average11.5 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 7.7

More provision than the typical California market of this size. Usually a sign of genuine local demand rather than oversupply.

Vs state median
+49%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#37
of 58 counties
Rank by density
#7
of 57 ranked
Since 2020
+9%
Change in establishments

Density compares full-service restaurants provision per resident. It does not measure revenue, profitability or whether a market is worth entering.

Business size mix

Tuolumne 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 establishmentsTuolumneCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer19.7%24.7%-5.0%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target80.3%65.7%+14.6%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing47.5%56.7%-9.2%

What acquirers look at

The highest-turnover category in the index and the weakest lending profile. Lease terms and liquor license transfer usually matter more than the P&L.

Cities in Tuolumne

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

Other industries in Tuolumne

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.