Industry · NAICS 452
General merchandise stores
The United States has 59,516 employer establishments in general merchandise stores (1.8 per 10,000 residents), employing 2,666,463 people at an average annual pay of $30,677, plus 208,118 nonemployer businesses.
In the United States
- Establishments
- 59,516
- 208,118 nonemployers
- Per 10,000 residents
- 1.8
- Paid employees
- 2,666,463
- Average annual pay
- $30,677
Places ranked by residents per establishment
Places ranked by residents per establishment: more residents for each business, fewer competitors per resident. A count, not a measure of demand: retirement areas, low incomes or tourism change what a business needs.
| # | Place | vs US | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Urban Honolulu, HI | 989,698 | 49 | 20,198 | 0.5 | 0.28× | 7,095 | $36,745 | 568 |
| 2 | San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA | 4,601,326 | 253 | 18,187 | 0.5 | 0.31× | 23,404 | $37,076 | 2,484 |
| 3 | Missoula, MT | 126,641 | 7 | 18,092 | 0.6 | 0.31× | 1,332 | $33,352 | 89 |
| 4 | Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA | 263,322 | 15 | 17,555 | 0.6 | 0.32× | 1,045 | $33,976 | 138 |
| 5 | Boulder, CO | 327,945 | 19 | 17,260 | 0.6 | 0.33× | 1,875 | $33,037 | 219 |
| 6 | San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | 1,958,644 | 116 | 16,885 | 0.6 | 0.34× | 11,562 | $37,291 | 946 |
| 7 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 4,062,857 | 242 | 16,789 | 0.6 | 0.34× | 27,259 | $37,570 | 1,919 |
| 8 | Napa, CA | 133,628 | 9 | 14,848 | 0.7 | 0.38× | 1,040 | $33,054 | 67 |
| 9 | Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA | 277,358 | 19 | 14,598 | 0.7 | 0.39× | 2,180 | $38,594 | 123 |
| 10 | Anchorage, AK | 401,959 | 28 | 14,356 | 0.7 | 0.39× | 5,055 | $37,802 | 168 |
| 11 | Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT | 739,116 | 53 | 13,946 | 0.7 | 0.41× | 6,369 | $31,982 | 692 |
| 12 | Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA | 299,197 | 22 | 13,600 | 0.7 | 0.42× | 3,020 | $38,264 | 149 |
| 13 | Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT | 962,351 | 71 | 13,554 | 0.7 | 0.42× | 4,056 | $30,419 | 456 |
| 14 | San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA | 3,279,736 | 245 | 13,387 | 0.7 | 0.42× | 21,526 | $35,641 | 2,097 |
| 15 | Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA | 131,453 | 10 | 13,145 | 0.8 | 0.43× | 1,304 | $37,013 | 92 |
| 16 | Hilo-Kailua, HI | 207,476 | 16 | 12,967 | 0.8 | 0.44× | 2,010 | $37,101 | 115 |
| 17 | Bellingham, WA | 232,620 | 18 | 12,923 | 0.8 | 0.44× | 1,780 | $35,333 | 134 |
| 18 | Truckee-Grass Valley, CA | 102,060 | 8 | 12,758 | 0.8 | 0.44× | 107 | $19,757 | 88 |
| 19 | Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA | 483,405 | 38 | 12,721 | 0.8 | 0.44× | 2,638 | $35,846 | 284 |
| 20 | Bozeman, MT | 125,952 | 10 | 12,595 | 0.8 | 0.45× | 880 | $37,911 | 94 |
| 21 | Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA | 2,519,045 | 209 | 12,053 | 0.8 | 0.47× | 20,687 | $35,136 | 1,496 |
| 22 | Ogden, UT | 660,366 | 55 | 12,007 | 0.8 | 0.47× | 5,221 | $31,623 | 489 |
| 23 | Vallejo, CA | 451,377 | 38 | 11,878 | 0.8 | 0.48× | 3,454 | $35,558 | 311 |
| 24 | Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA | 2,435,884 | 207 | 11,768 | 0.8 | 0.48× | 17,010 | $34,505 | 1,737 |
| 25 | Salt Lake City-Murray, UT | 1,287,775 | 110 | 11,707 | 0.9 | 0.48× | 10,587 | $33,355 | 865 |
1–25 of 398 places
Sources: County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024).
- Residents per establishment is the place's population estimate for 2023 divided by its establishments; more residents per business means fewer competitors per resident. Places with fewer than the minimum establishments are left out because a handful of businesses makes the ratio jump around.
- Metro areas are made of whole counties and their figures are the exact sums of those counties'. A metro area is listed under its principal state.
- This compares counts of businesses with counts of residents. It does not measure demand, spending power, visitors, the size or quality of the businesses, or whether a market is open. Employment and payroll carry the Census Bureau's noise infusion.
- County Business Patterns 2023 uses NAICS 2017 codes; the nonemployer figures use NAICS 2022. Industries are matched by name between editions.
- Growth needs a second reference year of County Business Patterns in the same industry classification; only 2023 is loaded, so there is no growth column yet.
Federal contracts in this industry
Federal agencies obligated $777.9K on contracts under NAICS 455, 452 in fiscal year 2026, nationwide (22 awards, each counted once per county where it was performed).
Metro areas
- Jacksonville, FL$152.5K20%1 award
- 4 awards
- Waterloo-Cedar Falls, IA$19K2.4%1 award
Counties
- Duval County, FL$152.5K20%1 award
- Caroline County, VA$122.6K16%1 award
- Fairfax County, VA$31.4K4.0%2 awards
- Bremer County, IA$19K2.4%1 award
- District of Columbia, DC$17.6K2.3%1 award
- Prince George's County, MD$7,1850.9%1 award
Cities and towns
- Jacksonville city, FL$152.5K20%1 award
- Wolf Trap CDP, VA$79.5K10%1 award
- Tysons CDP, VA$19.1K2.5%1 award
- Washington city, DC$17.6K2.3%1 award
- Dunn Loring CDP, VA$7,9991.0%1 award
- Reston CDP, VA$4,3040.6%1 award
- Summerfield CDP, MD$2,5530.3%1 award
- Landover CDP, MD$2,4960.3%1 award
- Bowling Green town, VA$1,8600.2%1 award
- Difficult Run CDP, VA$1,4740.2%1 award
Where the work was performed, as agencies report it (often the contractor's office). Metro areas are the exact sums of their counties. Cities are estimated: each action's county money split by the share of its ZIP code's land inside the city, so a city's figure is part of its county's.
USAspending.gov, prime award contract transactions (FPDS)