Sac Valley Research
What 232,502 contractor licenses say about California construction.
We analyze the Contractors State License Board's public licensing file every active, CLEAR-status license in California and publish what we find. Every study below includes its methodology and a downloadable dataset, free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).
Dataset snapshot: 2026-06-10 · Source: CSLB public records
Which Sacramento-Area City Has the Most Contractors Per Capita?
Orangevale leads at 14.41 licenses per 1,000 residents 6× the lowest-ranked city.
Read the study →The Fastest-Growing Contractor Trades in California
New license issuance nearly doubled from 2021 to 2025; roofing is the youngest workforce, with 31.5% of its active licenses issued since 2021.
Read the study →49% of California Contractors Carry No Workers' Comp Coverage
Roughly half the state's active contractors are workers'-comp exempt (no employees on file) and the rate runs highest in the trades homeowners hire most.
Read the study →Where the Work Is: A 2026 Market Map of Sacramento-Area Homeowners
Median income, home values, owner rates, and home age for 19 cities, joined with contractor density including the seven-city "remodel belt" where the median home is 45+ years old.
Read the study →For journalists and researchers
All findings are reproducible from CSLB public records, and each study page links its underlying CSV. You're welcome to cite or republish any figure with a link to the study. Questions or custom cuts of the data: contact us.