NAICS 811111 · California overview

General Automotive Repair in Ventura County

Ventura County had 215 Auto Repair establishments in 2023, ranking 13 of 54 California counties and accounting for 2.2% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
215
Rank 13 of 54 counties
Employees
764
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$44M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
2.6
830,851 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
243
2026Q1
Employment
980
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$1,232
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
+3.8%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

1.14 location quotient. Auto Repair is about as concentrated in Ventura 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 Auto Repair in Ventura County. 13 of 215 establishments (6%) employ 10 or more people, the practical floor for most acquisition financing.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-415974.0%
5-94320.0%
10-19136.0%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 5.9% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
2020203n/a
2021212+9
2022214+2
2023215+1

How this market compares

Ventura 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.

Typical2.6 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 2.6

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

Vs state median
-2%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#13
of 54 counties
Rank by density
#30
of 54 ranked
Since 2020
+6%
Change in establishments

Density compares general automotive repair provision per resident. It does not measure revenue, profitability or whether a market is worth entering.

Business size mix

Ventura is more fragmented than California as a whole: a larger share of very small operators. Fragmented markets are where roll-ups are assembled, and where an owner nearing retirement has no obvious internal buyer.

Share of establishmentsVenturaCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer74.0%68.4%+5.6%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target26.0%30.7%-4.7%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing6.0%8.1%-2.1%

What acquirers look at

Real estate frequently comes with the business, which transforms SBA financeability. Technician retention is the operational risk that sinks most first-time buyers.

Cities in Ventura

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

Other industries in Ventura

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.