California · NAICS 71 · Annual, 2025

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation in California

Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 71 in California, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.

In 2025, Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (NAICS 71) employed about 414,400 people in California across roughly 37,024 establishments, with average annual pay of $68,200.

Employment in Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation in California grew 63.3% from 2020 to 2025. Employment reached its 2004–2025 peak in 2025, at about 414,400. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for California are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.

  • 414,400Employment, 2025
  • 37,024Establishments
  • $68,200Avg. annual pay
  • 2.3%Share of California jobs
  • 1.17Location quotient

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation in California, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 302,800 to 414,400.0200K400K600K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 302,800; 2005 305,400; 2006 311,700; 2007 320,900; 2008 324,000; 2009 312,800; 2010 308,700; 2011 310,200; 2012 317,800; 2013 324,600; 2014 335,000; 2015 345,500; 2016 357,200; 2017 359,500; 2018 372,500; 2019 386,200; 2020 253,800; 2021 286,500; 2022 361,600; 2023 390,800; 2024 408,300; 2025 414,400.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
2025414,42637,024$68,204 1.5%pub.
2024408,32235,745$68,139 4.5%pub.
2023390,80634,955$67,800 8.1%pub.
2022361,60233,415$71,801 26.2%pub.
2021286,51831,431$73,942 12.9%est. · 1.00
2020253,81130,301$71,886 34.3%est. · 1.00
2019386,16328,343$58,956 3.7%est. · 1.00
2018372,46626,009$56,773 3.6%est. · 1.00
2017359,53722,886$55,038 0.6%est. · 1.00
2016357,24121,535$52,752 3.4%est. · 1.00

† Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

The full history from 2004 and quarterly values are available with a free account.

By subsector, 2025

3-digit NAICS · 3 shown

CodeSubsectorEmploymentShare of arts, entertainment, and recreationLQSource
711Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries96,42923.3%1.40pub.
712Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions26,4146.4%0.87pub.
713Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries291,58370.4%1.14pub.

Where these numbers come from

Reading these figures

The figures on this page come from one named vintage, stated below, and are annual values for all ownerships combined. Where QCEW withheld a value, the marked figure is an estimate that DTG produced under the constraints of the published record; suppression is a property of QCEW, not of DTG, and a withheld value is marked rather than silently omitted. Two things DTG itself holds back, and says so where it does: an estimate that cannot be given a reliability score is not shown, and average pay is not shown where fewer than three jobs are reported. The row is marked withheld, with the reason in a note beneath the table. The mark is on every row that carries a value: the headline, the yearly history, the subsectors and the other states. An estimated value that rounds below one is shown as less than one, not as zero. Quarterly figures, county figures and projected years are in the app.

How this figure was built

Employment is the average of the three monthly counts in each quarter, averaged across the year, and establishments are averaged across the year the same way. Average annual pay is the year’s total wages divided by that average employment. Each of these is DTG’s value: QCEW’s published figure where QCEW disclosed it, and DTG’s estimate, marked, where it did not. How withheld values are estimated, and what the reliability score beside a figure means, are described on the industry data and disclosure and provenance pages.

Estimated by Data Tactical Group from BLS QCEW, with CES/SAE and projection inputs described in the methodology. Method: Disclosure, Industry.

Notes

Data Tactical Group is an independent company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any federal agency.

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation in California, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for arts, entertainment, and recreation in California. A free account shows every detailed industry beneath it, quarterly, for every state, with projections to ten years. No card.

County figures, file export and the API are on paid plans.