Creditsafe has records for 12,704,440 businesses in California, including 8,677,993 classified as active. An active classification means a qualifying company-information, payment or legal-filing update was recorded within the previous two years; it does not necessarily prove current trading. This page examines company counts, credit risk, payment behavior, company ages and leading industries using the latest Creditsafe data. Creditsafe credit scores run from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating lower predicted credit risk. The figures describe Creditsafe database records, not an official state business census.
The latest Creditsafe data shows: Creditsafe holds 12,704,440 California business records, including 8,677,993 classified as active. The database records 535,951 businesses added in the latest 12 months.
What this means for your business: Use this market overview to guide prospect research, but validate each company before treating it as an active trading opportunity.
The latest Creditsafe data shows: California has an average Creditsafe credit score of 48.30, compared with 51.76 nationally. This suggests higher average predicted credit risk in California.
What this means for your business: Do not use statewide averages alone to set credit limits. Review each company’s credit report and individual risk indicators.
The latest Creditsafe data shows: California businesses average 1.83 days beyond terms, compared with 1.94 nationally. The share paying on time is 28.67%.
What this means for your business: Consider payment history alongside credit scores when setting terms, managing collections and forecasting cash flow.
The latest Creditsafe data shows: Among the ten largest listed industries, Residential Construction records the longest average payment delay (2.92 days beyond terms), compared with 1.83 days statewide.
What this means for your business: Check sector-level and company-level payment patterns rather than applying one collections policy across every industry.
The latest Creditsafe data shows: The database contains 2,360,740 records in the supplied high-risk category and 1,082,209 with an unavailable or inapplicable risk category. These aggregate categories are not the same as individual-company score bands.
What this means for your business: Use state statistics as context, then assess the specific company’s creditworthiness and payment behavior before extending credit.
Go beyond California averages. Check a company’s creditworthiness, payment behavior and potential risks before making your next business decision.
Get your free business report today| Measure | California value |
|---|---|
| Businesses in Creditsafe database | 12,704,440 |
| Active businesses | 8,677,993 |
| Businesses added, latest 12 months | 535,951 |
| Average credit score | 48.30 |
| Average days beyond terms | 1.83 |
| Paying on time | 28.67% |
| Median company age | 17 years |
Active reflects Creditsafe’s data-update classification, not a guarantee a company is currently trading.
Creditsafe holds records on 12,704,440 California businesses. Of these, 8,677,993 are active (68.3% of state records), while 4,026,447 are inactive. The database records 535,951 businesses added in the latest 12 months. These are database counts, not an official government census.
Creditsafe classifies a business as active when at least one qualifying database element has been updated within the last two years. This may include company identity, contact, location, industry, sales or employee information, as well as payment data or legal filings such as suits, liens, judgments and UCCs. This classification indicates a recent data update and does not guarantee the business is currently trading.
Higher scores indicate lower predicted credit risk. California has higher average predicted risk than the US benchmark.
California businesses average fewer days beyond agreed terms than the national benchmark.
The Creditsafe business credit score ranges from 1 to 100 and predicts the likelihood of a company becoming seriously delinquent (90 or more days beyond payment terms) within the next 12 months or going bankrupt. Higher scores indicate lower credit risk. California businesses have an average score of 48.30, compared with 51.76 nationally, suggesting higher average credit risk. These averages do not replace assessment of individual companies.
Shares reflect the supplied aggregate risk categories, which should not be equated with individual-company credit score bands.
Creditsafe US score bands are: very low risk (71-100), low risk (51-70), moderate risk (30-50), high risk (21-29), and very high risk (1-20). N/A indicates an unavailable or inapplicable score. The dataset’s aggregated low, medium and high categories are retained as supplied and should not be assumed to correspond exactly to these individual-company score bands.
Businesses in California average 1.83 days beyond terms (DBT), compared with 1.94 nationally, a difference of -0.11 days. The supplied on-time payment figure is 28.67%. DBT and on-time payment percentage are separate measures and should not be treated as interchangeable.
Among the ten largest listed industries, Residential Construction has the highest average DBT (2.92 days), while Business Consulting has the lowest (0.93 days). Industry aggregates do not establish the payment behavior of any particular company.
Look up a business and find its Secretary of State (SOS) registration number with our free business search.
Find a business SOS number for freeThe median recorded company age is 17 years and the average is 20 years. The database includes 3,534,545 businesses aged 20 years or more and 3,847,543 records with no available company age.
| Company age | Share of business records |
|---|---|
| Under 5 years | 7.5% |
| 5-10 years | 14.2% |
| 10-20 years | 20.2% |
| 20+ years | 27.8% |
| N/A | 30.3% |
Percentages use all 12,704,440 California business records, including those with no recorded age. Totals may differ slightly from 100% due to rounding.
Business Services is the largest listed industry, with 663,451 businesses in the Creditsafe database. The chart and table rank the ten largest listed industries by number of business records, not by employment or economic output.
Longer bars indicate larger recorded industry populations.
| Rank | Industry | Business records |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Business Services | 663,451 |
| 2 | Eating Places | 431,130 |
| 3 | Real Estate Agents and Managers | 329,779 |
| 4 | Offices and Clinics of Medical Doctors | 256,713 |
| 5 | Custom Computer Programming Services | 195,112 |
| 6 | Legal Services | 187,612 |
| 7 | Business Consulting | 164,527 |
| 8 | Residential Construction | 155,339 |
| 9 | Religious Organizations | 134,665 |
| 10 | Beauty Shops | 132,434 |
The three largest listed industries together account for 1,424,360 records (11.2% of the state database). These industry rankings should not be interpreted as employment or economic output rankings.
Higher scores indicate lower predicted risk. Five leading industries shown.
Average days beyond terms for five leading industries with available values.
Industries are ordered by business record count, not time. The line connects categorical observations and is not a historical trend.
Among the ten largest industries, Religious Organizations has the highest average credit score (53.05, indicating lower predicted risk), while Residential Construction has the lowest (39.93, indicating higher predicted risk). Residential Construction records the longest average payment delay (2.92 DBT). Industry averages do not establish the creditworthiness of an individual business.
| Industry (top ten) | Average credit score | Average DBT |
|---|---|---|
| Business Services | 47.32 | 1.17 |
| Eating Places | 48.10 | 2.90 |
| Real Estate Agents and Managers | 50.04 | 1.11 |
| Offices and Clinics of Medical Doctors | 52.32 | 1.53 |
| Custom Computer Programming Services | 50.67 | 0.97 |
| Legal Services | 52.84 | 1.11 |
| Business Consulting | 52.03 | 0.93 |
| Residential Construction | 39.93 | 2.92 |
| Religious Organizations | 53.05 | 0.95 |
| Beauty Shops | 48.36 | 1.41 |
| Metric | California | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Average credit score | 48.30 | 51.76 |
| Average DBT (days) | 1.83 | 1.94 |
California is 3.46 points below the national average credit score and 0.11 days below the national payment delay. These measures can move in different directions, so neither should be used alone to assess a business.
These statistics are derived from Creditsafe’s US business database and provide an aggregated view of records associated with California. They are not official state registration totals. An active business has had at least one qualifying company-information, payment-data or legal-filing update in the last two years, which does not necessarily establish current trading. State and industry averages provide context and should not replace assessment of an individual business credit report.
Source: US_STATE_SEO_LLM_FINAL_20261101.csv | Data as of October 31, 2026 | Refresh frequency: monthly.
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