California Business Opportunities

A view of the Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point^[1]

A Quick Glance at California

California, whose nickname is The Golden State, first obtained its statehood in 1850. With a population of 38,332,521 people, California is the first most populated state in the United States.

If you are considering starting your new business in California, you might want to look into one of California's top three most populous cities - Los Angeles, San Diego or San Jose and also in the state's capital of Sacramento.

Top Industry

The largest industry in the state of California is computer and electronic products manufacturing.

The gross domestic product (GDP), of this industry, is roughly $88.5 billion and accounts for 3.7% of California's GDP.
Computer and electronic products manufacturing also employs 1.4% of California's private workforce.

Small Businesses

In the United States, the more than 600,000 plus franchised small busineeses account for 40% of all retail sales and provide jobs for some 8 million people. According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), their standard definition of what constitutes as a small business includes a maximum of 500 employees or operations with and/or up to $7 million in revenue, depending on the industry.

There are 6.8 million small businesses, in the state, of California.
Small businesses in California, make up 35.5% of the state's private workforce.

State and Local Taxes

Listed below are the state and local taxes, for the state of California, and how they rank against other states in the U.S.

State Tax Rate	Avg. Local Tax Rate	Combined Rate	Combined Rank*	Max Local Tax Rate
7.25%	1%	8.25%	10	2.5%
*Combined Rank is rank from highest to lowest tax percentage

California has the highest state tax rate in the United States at 7.25%, but Lousinana has the highest combined tax rate, overall, at 9.98%. Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon share the spot for lowest combined tax rates at 0%.

Additional Information

If you need additional information about how to start a business in California, their official state page might be a good place to start. If you are looking to own your own established franchise in California, we have collected a comprehensive list of companies that are actively looking to expand in California, for you to explore.

References

By Frank Schulenburg - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Census.gov
Comparison between U.S. states and countries by GDP (nominal) from Wikipedia
Largest Industry in Each State from 24/7 Wall St.
Civilian Labor Force and Unemployment by State from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
State and Local Sales Tax Rates in 2017 from the Tax Foundation

City and County Level

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