NAICS 484110, 484121 · California overview

General Freight Trucking in Ventura County

Ventura County had 159 Trucking establishments in 2023, ranking 17 of 47 California counties and accounting for 0.9% of the statewide total.

Establishments (2023)
159
Rank 17 of 47 counties
Employees
953
Mid-March employment
Annual payroll
$46M
All establishments
Per 10k residents
1.9
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
189
2026Q1
Employment
963
Quarter-end level
Average weekly wage
$1,403
Per covered worker
Quarterly trend
+4.4%
2025Q2 to 2026Q1
Concentration vs the national averageBLS, 2026Q1

0.81 location quotient. Trucking 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 Trucking in Ventura County. 13 of 159 establishments (8%) employ 10 or more people, the practical floor for most acquisition financing.

EmployeesEstablishmentsShareDistribution
1-412377.4%
5-91610.1%
10-19106.3%
20-4931.9%

Establishment trend

Year-over-year establishment counts, County Business Patterns. Net growth of 33.6% since 2020.

YearEstablishmentsChange
2020119n/a
2021135+16
2022150+15
2023159+9

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.

Below average1.9 per 10,000 residents, against a state median of 2.9

Fewer businesses per resident than the typical California market. Often an underserved market, though it can also mean residents buy this service in a neighbouring town.

Vs state median
-33%
Businesses per resident
Rank by count
#17
of 47 counties
Rank by density
#29
of 47 ranked
Since 2020
+34%
Change in establishments

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

Business size mix

Ventura 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 establishmentsVenturaCaliforniaDifference
Under 5 employeesOwner-operated, often no management layer77.4%83.6%-6.2%
5 to 49 employeesThe range most individual buyers target18.2%14.1%+4.2%
10 or more employeesPractical floor for acquisition financing8.2%8.2%-0.0%

What acquirers look at

Rate-cycle exposure is severe and equipment debt is usually understated in seller financials. Dedicated contract lanes are worth far more than spot exposure.

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.