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Ventura County, CA — Convenience stores Saturation

How many convenience stores 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. 41 ZIP codes analyzed.

Includes: Convenience stores · Corner stores · Small-format food & fuel marts. Counted together because official statistics use one 445120 code.

Measured density: Below average — 0.63× the U.S. rate (between 0.63× and 0.97× 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. 30 ZIP cells in this county are withheld, 15 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

Range spans the U.S. rate   Ventura County convenience stores — 63–97% of the U.S. rate

57 convenience stores are counted in Ventura County — 0.6 per 10,000 people present (residents + daytime workers), 63% of the U.S. rate of 0.9.

On the comparable ZIP set (ZIPs with a published count in every year), the total has risen 12% between 2015 and 2023 (42 → 47). That set is smaller than today's county total. 2020–2021 were pandemic-distorted, and Census rounds counts, so small moves are within noise.

Measured supply density is highest in 93001 (Ventura), 93030 (Oxnard), 93023 (Ojai) — well above the national rate. On measured density alone, the lowest-density residential ZIPs with a published count are 91362 (Thousand Oaks), 93063 (Simi Valley), 93021 (Moorpark).

Census County Business Patterns (2023) puts the county-wide count at 67 establishments, including locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA — so it can run slightly above the sum of the ZIP rows on this page. It is annual, so it lags more than QCEW.

Measured density: Ventura County sits at 63% of the U.S. rate for convenience stores. 15 ZIPs with population have no published count (each 0–2 businesses), so the true per-capita rate is between 63% and 97% of the U.S. rate. Why. The highest measured density is in 93001 and 93030; the lowest measured density is in 91362 and 93063.

This is a supply-side read: it counts existing convenience stores 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.

Convenience stores
57–117
published count; upper bound counts each withheld ZIP cell as 2 (30 cells) (2023)
Per 10,000 present
0.6
residents + daytime workers
U.S. average
0.9
per 10,000 present
County index
0.63×
vs. U.S.
Latest year (CBP)
67
2023 — $9M annual payroll
Residents
841,297
26 ZIPs with data
Workers
285,173
jobs located in county

Is the area growing?

Population
835,427
Census PEP, July 1 2024
Change since 2020
−1.0%
−8,381 people
Net migration 2024
+269
international +4,158, domestic −3,889
Jobs located here
317,769
LODES 2022, +0.5% since 2019

Ventura County had an estimated 835,427 residents on July 1, 2024 — 1.0% fewer than in 2020 (−8,381). In the latest year it gained 2,356 people: births minus deaths +2,070, international migration +4,158, domestic migration −3,889. Components are published separately and may not sum exactly.

317,769 jobs were located in the county in 2022 (+0.5% since 2019), and 402,417 employed residents lived there (+1.7% 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

No ZIP had a statistically significant increase.

ZIP losing residents
2015–19 → 2020–24
Change
93033 Oxnard
−7.0%

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

Not shown. Census publishes convenience stores only combined with vending machine operators, so a convenience-only nonemployer count is not published.

Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024 (NAICS 2022). We do not approximate this figure.

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 convenience stores 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 — up 12% since 2015

Number of convenience stores in Ventura 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.

42
2015
41
2018
44
2020
49
2021
47
2022
47
2023

Highest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
93001 Ventura
173%
93030 Oxnard
136%
93023 Ojai
135%
93065 Simi Valley
116%
93033 Oxnard
106%
93060 Santa Paula
88%
93010 Camarillo
80%
93003 Ventura
78%
93021 Moorpark
77%
93063 Simi Valley
72%
91362 Thousand Oaks
69%

Lowest measured density

ZIP
vs. U.S. average
Index
91362 Thousand Oaks
69%
93063 Simi Valley
72%
93021 Moorpark
77%
93003 Ventura
78%
93010 Camarillo
80%
93060 Santa Paula
88%
93033 Oxnard
106%
93065 Simi Valley
116%
93023 Ojai
135%
93030 Oxnard
136%
93001 Ventura
173%
Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A ZIP with few convenience stores 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 ResidentsWorkersConvenience storesIndex
93042Point Mugu Nawc Employment hub 99405 0–2 —

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

All ZIP codes

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

ZIPNeighborhood ResidentsWorkersConvenience stores Per 10kIndexStatus
93001Ventura 32,02611,831 6 1.6 173% High density
93030Oxnard 58,19227,940 9 1.2 136% Above average
93023Ojai 21,0366,652 3 1.2 135% Above average
93065Simi Valley 73,53422,854 9 1.1 116% Above average
93033Oxnard 78,7378,090 8 1.0 106% Above average
93060Santa Paula 34,5015,747 3 0.8 88% Below average
93010Camarillo 46,74816,482 4 0.7 80% Below average
93003Ventura 52,90634,074 5 0.7 78% Below average
93021Moorpark 37,7469,890 3 0.7 77% Below average
93063Simi Valley 55,06611,598 4 0.7 72% Below average
91362Thousand Oaks 35,99623,333 3 0.6 69% Below average
91319Newbury Park —79 0–2 — — Not published
91320Newbury Park 43,47223,516 0–2 — — Not published
91358Thousand Oaks —18 0–2 — — Not published
91359Westlake Village —462 0–2 — — Not published
91360Thousand Oaks 42,23618,533 0–2 — — Not published
91361Westlake Village 18,80218,064 0–2 — — Not published
91377Oak Park 13,757819 0–2 — — Not published
93002Ventura —267 0–2 — — Not published
93004Ventura 30,6982,731 0–2 — — Not published
93006Ventura —90 0–2 — — Not published
93011Camarillo —51 0–2 — — Not published
93012Camarillo 35,79116,689 0–2 — — Not published
93015Fillmore 19,1912,183 0–2 — — Not published
93016Fillmore —25 0–2 — — Not published
93020Moorpark —580 0–2 — — Not published
93022Oak View 6,078665 0–2 — — Not published
93031Oxnard —89 0–2 — — Not published
93032Oxnard —59 0–2 — — Not published
93034Oxnard —10 0–2 — — Not published
93035Oxnard 26,8532,776 0–2 — — Not published
93036Oxnard 49,39416,618 0–2 — — Not published
93040Piru 1,799107 0–2 — — Not published
93041Port Hueneme 23,2732,696 0–2 — — Not published
93042Point Mugu Nawc 99405 0–2 — — Not published
93043Port Hueneme Cbc Base 468221 0–2 — — Not published
93044Port Hueneme —192 0–2 — — Not published
93061Santa Paula —26 0–2 — — Not published
93062Simi Valley —113 0–2 — — Not published
93066Somis 2,898659 0–2 — — Not published
93094Simi Valley —18 0–2 — — Not published

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Find an actual space in Ventura

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 Ventura retail space →
Crexi
Free listings + market data
Browse Ventura retail space →
CityFeet
Retail space for lease
Browse Ventura 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 Ventura County and convenience stores

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 445120 — convenience retailers. Counts establishments with paid employees. ZBP is published annually with a ~2-year lag.

Fresh county signal. This industry has no clean QCEW series, so the freshest county signal is Census County Business Patterns 2023: 67 establishments and $9M in annual payroll county-wide. This count includes locations in ZIP codes that do not map to a ZCTA, so it can be slightly higher than the sum of the ZIP rows. CBP is annual and slower than QCEW. 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 (0.91 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.