BizGapMap

Home / Beauty & hair salons / Pennsylvania / Chester County, PA

Chester County, PA — Beauty salons Saturation

How many beauty salons exist per person present — residents plus daytime workers — by ZIP code, compared with the U.S. average. Establishment data: Census ZBP 2023. Population: ACS 2024 5-year. 52 ZIP codes analyzed.

Includes: Hair salons · Beauty salons · Blow-dry & styling bars · Makeup & skincare studios. Counted together because official statistics use one 812112 code.

Measured density: Range spans bands — 1.25× the U.S. rate (between 1.25× and 1.52× once withheld ZIP cells are counted)

Why a range: Census does not publish a ZIP-by-industry count when that ZIP has 0–2 businesses. 35 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 19 of them with residents. Each could hold 0, 1, or 2 businesses: counting them all as 0 gives the low end, counting them all as 2 gives the high end — the data cannot say where the truth sits. The density range uses only the populated cells, since ZIPs without residents are excluded from per-person rates. How ranges work

Above the U.S. rate   Chester County beauty salons — 125–152% of the U.S. rate

170 beauty salons are counted in Chester County — 2.6 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 125% of the U.S. rate of 2.1.

On the comparable ZIP set (ZIPs with a published count in every year), the total has stayed roughly flat between 2015 and 2023 (166 → 164).

Measured supply density is highest in 19301 (Paoli), 19341 (Exton), 19348 (Kennett Square) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 19320 (Coatesville), 19425 (Chester Springs), 19311 (Avondale).

BLS QCEW puts the latest county-wide count (2026 Q1) at 184 establishments, the freshest available signal.

Measured density: Chester County sits at 125% of the U.S. rate for beauty salons. 19 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 125% and 152% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 19301 and 19341; the lowest measured density is in 19320 and 19425.

This is a supply-side read: it counts existing beauty salons and the people present, not foot traffic, income, rent, or whether locals want more. Treat low density as a question to check, not an answer.

Beauty salons
170–240
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (35 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
2.6
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
2.1
per 10,000 present
County index
1.25×
vs. U.S.
Latest quarter (QCEW)
184
2026 Q1 — county total
Residents
535,535
36 ZIPs with data
Workers
241,727
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
560,745
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
+4.8%
+25,885 people
Net migration 2024
+4,089
international +4,285, domestic −196
Jobs located here
264,432
LODES 2022, +1.7% since 2019

Chester County had an estimated 560,745 residents on July 1, 2024 — 4.8% more than in 2020 (+25,885). In the latest year it gained 5,435 people: births minus deaths +1,362, international migration +4,285, domestic migration −196. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

264,432 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (+1.7% since 2019), and 260,947 employed residents lived there (+0.9% since 2019). LODES counts wage and salary jobs covered by unemployment insurance plus federal jobs; it excludes the self-employed and military, and counts jobs rather than unique people. 2019→2022 spans the pandemic, so read it as one change, not a trend.

Population and migration say whether the customer base is growing. They do not say whether people want another business of this type. Definitions and limits →  ·  Full county detail →

ZIP gaining residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
19383 West Chester
+109.4%
19311 Avondale
+29.9%
19341 Exton
+23.5%
ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
19390 West Grove
−14.6%

ACS 5-year estimates for 2015–2019 and 2020–2024. Only ZIPs with at least 2,000 residents in both windows and a change larger than the survey margin of error (90%) are listed — small ZIPs move a lot on paper without a real signal.

Nonemployer businesses (no paid employees)

Nonemployer businesses
439
no paid employees (2024)
Receipts
$18.1M
published gross receipts
Receipts per business
$41K
gross, not profit

Census Nonemployer Statistics counts businesses with no paid employees — a separate universe from the employer establishments counted above; a business is in one or the other, never both. They are not storefronts by definition: many are home-based, mobile, or part-time.

We show them beside the density index, not inside it. In categories such as nail and beauty salons, child care, and pet care, one-person businesses can outnumber employer establishments, so the employer-only count understates how many businesses exist. That is not evidence of higher demand.

Receipts are gross revenue reported for these businesses — not profit, and not the size of the local market. Census publishes this only at county level, so it is not shown on the ZIP map. See methodology.

Saturation map

Each ZIP area is shaded by its density of this business type per person present (residents + workers) vs. the U.S. average. Click any ZIP to zoom to its boundary, see its numbers, and switch to aerial imagery. Individual mapped shops appear as dots at street level — Show locations zooms you in to them (scroll or double-click to zoom).

Basemap:
Under 50% 50–100% 100–150% 150–250% 250%+ 0–2 (not published) / no data ZIP total (dot size) Mapped shop (OpenStreetMap, street level)

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, tiles by OpenFreeMap.

White dots are ZIP totals from the official Census count — the bigger the dot, the more beauty salons in that ZIP. They are aggregated, not individual shops. Turquoise dots are individual locations mapped in OpenStreetMap, shown only at street level; they are crowd-sourced and indicative, may be incomplete, and do not equal the official counts. Only the official ZIP totals feed the saturation index.

Market trend — down 1% since 2015

Number of beauty salons in Chester County across 2015–2023, on a consistent set of ZIP codes present in every year — so changes are real, not ZIP-boundary artifacts. 2015/2018 are pre-pandemic baselines; 2020/2021 are COVID-distorted.

166
2015
171
2018
177
2020
169
2021
160
2022
164
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
19301 Paoli
306%
19341 Exton
226%
19348 Kennett Square
208%
19520 Elverson
196%
19312 Berwyn
192%
19363 Oxford
166%
19460 Phoenixville
159%
19365 Parkesburg
157%
19382 West Chester
151%
19380 West Chester
144%
19465 Pottstown
118%
19355 Malvern
117%
19335 Downingtown
113%
19311 Avondale
110%
19425 Chester Springs
102%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
19320 Coatesville
71%
19425 Chester Springs
102%
19311 Avondale
110%
19335 Downingtown
113%
19355 Malvern
117%
19465 Pottstown
118%
19380 West Chester
144%
19382 West Chester
151%
19365 Parkesburg
157%
19460 Phoenixville
159%
19363 Oxford
166%
19312 Berwyn
192%
19520 Elverson
196%
19348 Kennett Square
208%
19341 Exton
226%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few beauty salons may simply lack foot traffic, retail space, or demand. We rank only residential and mixed ZIPs here; employment hubs and visitor destinations are listed separately below. ZIPs where Census did not publish a count (0–2 businesses) are not ranked: they may be the least served of all, but the data cannot tell 0 from 1 or 2. Verify those locally.

Employment hubs & destinations

These ZIPs have far more workers (or visitors) than residents, so their counts are driven by daytime and visitor demand — not a place to read "shortage" from resident numbers alone.

ZIPNeighborhoodType ResidentsWorkersBeauty salonsIndex
19374Toughkenamon Employment hub 4341,211 0–2 —

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

All ZIP codes

Click a column header to sort. Index = beauty salons per 10,000 people present (residents + 0.5×workers) ÷ the U.S. average. 100% = exactly average.

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersBeauty salons Per 10kIndexStatus
19372Thorndale 1,8541,661 7 26.1 1254% Very high density
19301Paoli 7,8146,352 7 6.4 306% Very high density
19341Exton 21,70929,076 17 4.7 226% High density
19348Kennett Square 23,62112,734 13 4.3 208% High density
19520Elverson 6,2772,190 3 4.1 196% High density
19312Berwyn 12,28310,473 7 4.0 192% High density
19363Oxford 18,2314,070 7 3.5 166% High density
19460Phoenixville 45,42311,706 17 3.3 159% High density
19365Parkesburg 8,0062,347 3 3.3 157% High density
19382West Chester 54,12719,365 20 3.1 151% High density
19380West Chester 49,85633,781 20 3.0 144% Above average
19465Pottstown 18,5643,705 5 2.4 118% Above average
19355Malvern 29,42556,600 14 2.4 117% Above average
19335Downingtown 53,62912,099 14 2.3 113% Above average
19311Avondale 11,6922,891 3 2.3 110% Above average
19425Chester Springs 17,2193,109 4 2.1 102% Above average
19320Coatesville 55,9419,302 9 1.5 71% Below average
19310Atglen 2,950927 0–2 — — Not published
19316Brandamore 38935 0–2 — — Not published
19330Cochranville 5,957523 0–2 — — Not published
19333Devon 7,4713,246 0–2 — — Not published
19343Glenmoore 8,4501,750 0–2 — — Not published
19344Honey Brook 12,8273,058 0–2 — — Not published
19345Immaculata 768905 0–2 — — Not published
19347Kemblesville —12 0–2 — — Not published
19350Landenberg 10,945928 0–2 — — Not published
19351Lewisville —40 0–2 — — Not published
19352Lincoln University 11,484482 0–2 — — Not published
19353Lionville —89 0–2 — — Not published
19357Mendenhall —83 0–2 — — Not published
19358Modena 19169 0–2 — — Not published
19360New London —57 0–2 — — Not published
19362Nottingham 6,0921,240 0–2 — — Not published
19367Pomeroy 2111 0–2 — — Not published
19369Sadsburyville 12293 0–2 — — Not published
19374Toughkenamon 4341,211 0–2 — — Not published
19375Unionville 23445 0–2 — — Not published
19376Wagontown —44 0–2 — — Not published
19381West Chester —249 0–2 — — Not published
19383West Chester 6,537439 0–2 — — Not published
19390West Grove 12,5463,192 0–2 — — Not published
19395Westtown —39 0–2 — — Not published
19399Southeastern —15 0–2 — — Not published
19421Birchrunville —35 0–2 — — Not published
19432Devault —52 0–2 — — Not published
19442Kimberton 0648 0–2 — — Not published
19457Parker Ford 148225 0–2 — — Not published
19470Saint Peters —32 0–2 — — Not published
19475Spring City 12,2981,887 0–2 — — Not published
19480Uwchland —227 0–2 — — Not published
19481Valley Forge —186 0–2 — — Not published
19482Valley Forge —474 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in Malvern

The numbers above tell you how the market looks. To find a specific storefront, these marketplaces list available retail space for lease.

LoopNet
Largest commercial marketplace
Browse Malvern retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse Malvern retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse Malvern retail space →

Open vacancy data (actual empty units) is only published by some cities; where it exists we show it directly. Listings above are third-party.

Census withholds some ZIP-by-industry cells to protect small businesses. 0–2 means the cell was not published (Census publishes industry counts only at 3+ per ZIP), so the ZIP is left unranked rather than counted as zero. ~ means the count is estimated from the broader industry group and can be off by a business or two.

Follow Chester County and beauty salons

When a data vintage changes or a section of this report is revised, we post it to a public update feed. No email address, no account, no tracking — and nothing is sent unless something actually changed.

Subscribe to updates (RSS) How these numbers are built →

Methodology & sources

Establishments. U.S. Census ZIP Code Business Patterns (ZBP 2023), NAICS 812112 — beauty salons. Counts establishments with paid employees. ZBP is published annually with a ~2-year lag.

Fresh county signal. BLS QCEW (quarterly) is newer than ZBP — 2026 Q1 shows 184 establishments county-wide for this industry. It cannot be broken down by ZIP.

Population. U.S. Census American Community Survey 2024 5-year ZCTA population (table B01003). Workers are the ZIP's total employment from the same 2023 ZBP file.

Demand ("people present"). Demand comes from residents and daytime workers: residents + 0.5 × workers. This is the single documented assumption in the model and can be tuned.

Index. index = (ZIP establishments ÷ ZIP demand × 10,000) ÷ the U.S. average for this industry (2.08 per 10,000 present). It is a supply-side density measure; it does not capture income, rent, tourism, or whether locals actually want more.

Read the full methodology →  ·  Data sources & vintages →

BizGapMap — free, no-login small-business saturation reports for major U.S. counties. Built entirely from public U.S. Census, BLS, and IRS data (ZBP 2023, ACS 2024 5-year, PEP 2024, LODES, QCEW, IRS SOI). No forecasts, no revenue guesses — withheld cells are marked, and the few derived counts are labelled as estimates.