A market of 207,929 residents, ranked 222nd among the 387 metropolitan areas in the country. This page lays out the income and housing picture and a trade-by-trade look at the competition.
This is the Chico metropolitan area in California.
The typical owner-occupied home is valued at $424,700, 28 percent above the national figure. The median household in Chico, CA earns $67,928 a year, 16 percent below the national figure (the US median is $80,734).
The median age is 36.2, 2.7 years below the national median, so this is a younger market than the country as a whole. 31.9% of adults over 25 hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 4 points below the US share. The unemployment rate stands at 7.5%, 2 points above the US share. Ownership: 57.3% of households own their home, 8 points below the US share.
Against the state as a whole, the median income is 31 percent lower than the California figure, the median home value is 42 percent lower than the California figure, and the number of businesses per resident is 14 percent thinner than the California figure; see the California page for the full figures.
How crowded is the market overall? Chico, CA has 4,677 employer establishments. Business density is a first proxy for competition: 22.5 per 1,000 residents, 10 percent below the national figure. The most numerous category on this page is restaurants at 368. Home-services contractors make up 297 of those establishments, 6.4% of the total, 2 points above the US share.
| Trade | Establishments | Per 100,000 residents | vs US mix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Self-storage facilities | 20 | 9.6 | 1.93× |
| Roofing contractors | 26 | 12.5 | 1.82× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 21 | 10.1 | 1.61× |
| Landscaping services | 93 | 44.7 | 1.41× |
| General automotive repair | 66 | 31.7 | 1.39× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 33 | 15.9 | 1.38× |
| Child day care services | 63 | 30.3 | 1.37× |
| Electrical contractors | 61 | 29.3 | 1.31× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 93 | 44.7 | 1.22× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 67 | 32.2 | 1.20× |
| Dentists | 90 | 43.3 | 1.19× |
| Physicians' offices | 132 | 63.5 | 1.08× |
| Restaurants and other eating places | 368 | 177 | 1.06× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 63 | 30.3 | 1.01× |
| Legal services | 100 | 48.1 | 0.99× |
| Automobile dealers | 23 | 11.1 | 0.87× |
| Personal care services (all) | 66 | 31.7 | 0.73× |
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 3 | 1.4 | 0.58× |
| General freight trucking | 34 | 16.4 | 0.52× |
| Beauty salons | 20 | 9.6 | 0.42× |
Index: local share of all establishments divided by the US share; above 1 means the trade is more common here than nationally.
Chico, CA is dense with self-storage operators, roofing contractors, concrete contractors and landscaping services compared with the US pattern. At the top of that list, self-storage operators number 20, 1.9 times the US share. Fewer than the national pattern would suggest: beauty salons, general freight trucking, road and paving contractors and personal care services. Beauty salons are the widest shortfall at 20 establishments, about 42% of the US share. Plumbing and HVAC contractors, automobile dealers and physicians' offices track the US share closely.
On a per-capita basis restaurants come first at 177 per 100,000, ahead of physicians' offices and legal services. The most numerous of the listed trades: restaurants with 368 establishments, then physicians' offices (132) and legal services (100). Taken as groups, the strongest relative to the US mix are the home-services trades (1.3 times the national share) and the weakest are trucking, storage, real estate and road construction (about the same as).
When self-storage operators, roofing contractors and concrete contractors are this common, customers compare. That makes the review profile and the speed of the first reply the deciding factors, and it makes conversion tracking essential so budget flows to the searches that turn into booked work. For beauty salons, general freight trucking and road and paving contractors the picture is the opposite. Fewer competing profiles means a complete listing, a fast site and a modest search budget can take a disproportionate share of the searches that exist. Where income runs 16 percent below the national figure, financing and clear pricing belong in the ad itself, not on a later page. With ownership at 57.3%, renters are a bigger share than usual; home-services advertisers do well to court property managers as well as households. A median age 2.7 years below the national median tilts the audience toward people who find businesses through maps, social feeds and AI assistants as much as through classic search.
Six places to begin in Chico, CA; the complete list is one click away.
Pages that answer the specific services-plus-place searches people in Chico, CA use, built to be found.
A website that loads fast, states the offer and gets the visitor to the phone.
Replies to reviews, written and posted for the business.
Service and area pages written to answer real questions.
Campaigns on Google fenced to the service area and judged on booked work.
Keeping the Business Profile complete, current and answered so it earns the map placement.
Chico, CA has 207,929 residents (US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimate), ranking 222nd of 387 metropolitan areas.
The median household income in Chico, CA is $67,928 (ACS 2024 5-year), below the US median of $80,734.
The Census Bureau counts 4,677 employer establishments in Chico, CA (County Business Patterns 2023), or 22.5 businesses per 1,000 residents.
The median home value in Chico, CA is $424,700, and 57.3% of homes are owner-occupied (ACS 2024 5-year).
Measured against the US business mix (County Business Patterns 2023), self-storage operators, roofing contractors and concrete contractors have more establishments per resident than the US average; beauty salons, general freight trucking and road and paving contractors have fewer in Chico, CA.
One conversation about your trade, your area and your goals; then a written plan.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023. Updated 2026-09-29.