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Hotels in California

How many hotels exist per person present (residents + daytime workers) across the 35 California counties we cover, by ZIP code, compared with the U.S. average. Data: Census ZBP 2023 + ACS 2024 + BLS QCEW.

Includes: Hotels · Motels · Motor inns. Counted together because official statistics use one 721110 code.

State verdict (covered counties): Below the U.S. rate — 82% of the U.S. rate

Counties covered

in California

Hotels

5,160

establishments (2023)

Per 10,000 present

1.1

residents + 0.5×workers

U.S. average

1.4

per 10,000 present

State index

82%

vs. U.S.

Residents

38,319,676

in covered counties

Workers

15,030,202

jobs in covered counties

Coverage. This page aggregates only the 35 California counties BizGapMap covers — not the whole state. Counts and the index reflect those counties. The aggregate index uses only ZIP cells Census published, so it is a lower bound. Density is a supply-side signal: it counts existing hotels and the people present, not foot traffic, income, rent, or whether locals want more.

Counties in California

City	County	Hotels	Residents	Workers	Per 10k	Index	Verdict
San Luis Obispo	San Luis Obispo County	172–210	271,285	97,546	5.4	389–430%	Very high density
Monterey	Monterey County	180–222	426,948	115,284	3.7	269–320%	Very high density
Napa	Napa County	62–76	135,313	65,776	3.7	267–310%	Very high density
Eureka	Humboldt County	40–94	134,385	33,944	2.6	191–431%	Range spans bands
Goleta	Santa Barbara County	124–176	443,781	158,550	2.4	172–208%	High density
Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz County	72–102	272,278	80,401	2.3	167–213%	High density
El Dorado Hills	El Dorado County	49–91	192,693	49,889	2.3	163–276%	Range spans bands
San Francisco	San Francisco County	264–308	830,479	727,248	2.2	160–173%	High density
Redding	Shasta County	38–88	190,130	53,985	1.8	127–267%	Range spans bands
Madera	Madera County	28–48	159,701	30,139	1.6	116–191%	Range spans bands
West Sacramento	Yolo County	41–65	222,458	74,293	1.6	114–170%	Range spans bands
Santa Rosa	Sonoma County	82–140	485,213	174,040	1.4	104–154%	Range spans bands
Menlo Park	San Mateo County	128–168	713,109	457,352	1.4	98–118%	Range spans bands
San Diego	San Diego County	499–737	3,282,423	1,385,217	1.3	91–114%	Range spans bands
Irvine	Orange County	485–649	3,175,270	1,572,620	1.2	89–101%	Range spans bands
El Centro	Imperial County	23–47	174,015	33,702	1.2	87–171%	Range spans bands
Fairfield	Solano County	58–72	449,663	122,066	1.1	82–99%	Below average
Chico	Butte County	26–58	207,286	61,889	1.1	79–158%	Range spans bands
San Rafael	Marin County	32–94	257,061	106,330	1.0	75–177%	Range spans bands
El Segundo	Los Angeles County	1,164–1,654	9,801,306	3,924,098	1.0	72–87%	Below average
Roseville	Placer County	50–92	422,233	166,507	1.0	72–132%	Range spans bands
Bakersfield	Kern County	100–188	915,763	218,146	1.0	71–116%	Range spans bands
Riverside	Riverside County	273–407	2,482,806	674,999	1.0	70–91%	Below average
Santa Clara	Santa Clara County	232–360	1,935,981	1,162,159	0.9	67–85%	Below average
Ontario	San Bernardino County	233–397	2,195,107	711,262	0.9	66–100%	Range spans bands
Fremont	Alameda County	173–229	1,655,008	750,285	0.9	62–75%	Below average
Hanford	Kings County	14–26	152,269	28,375	0.8	61–104%	Range spans bands
Ventura	Ventura County	78–138	841,297	285,173	0.8	57–80%	Range spans bands
Merced	Merced County	24–56	288,279	48,681	0.8	56–125%	Range spans bands
Fresno	Fresno County	89–193	1,021,317	301,306	0.8	55–106%	Range spans bands
Visalia	Tulare County	38–98	473,757	104,822	0.7	52–121%	Range spans bands
Modesto	Stanislaus County	44–84	559,023	148,684	0.7	50–89%	Range spans bands
Tracy	San Joaquin County	61–117	796,477	232,266	0.7	48–82%	Range spans bands
Folsom	Sacramento County	122–218	1,596,140	531,159	0.7	47–75%	Range spans bands
Concord	Contra Costa County	62–134	1,159,422	342,009	0.5	34–64%	Range spans bands

Scroll the table sideways to see all columns.

Lowest vs. highest measured density

Fewest competitors per capita

389%

269%

267%

191%

172%

167%

163%

160%

Most competitors per capita

34%

47%

48%

50%

52%

55%

56%

57%

Low measured density is not evidence of opportunity. A county with few hotels may simply lack foot traffic, retail space, or demand. Use the ranking to find where to look, then verify locally.

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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.