Pool Contractors Per Capita: A 2026 Metro Saturation Index

Pool contractors per capita vs per pool home in 14 metros, 2026

Counting licensed pool businesses per resident and per pool home gives different rankings. Phoenix looks well supplied per resident but thin per pool home, because 36.8% of Phoenix houses had a pool in AHS 2015, against 20.1% in Los Angeles and 13.6% in San Francisco-Oakland. The Saturation Index uses the pool-home denominator and shows a range for the uncertainty in pool counts.

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA scored 125 on the Saturation Index in October 2026, with a range of 114 to 139 (PC&S calculation; California CSLB). Riverside had 761 licensed pool businesses for an estimated 292,032 pool homes.

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA scored 108 (95 to 124) and Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL scored 103 (95 to 112) in 2026 (PC&S calculation; California CSLB; Florida DBPR). Both ranges include the baseline of 100.

Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ scored 84 (77 to 93) on the July 20, 2026 Arizona roster (PC&S calculation; Arizona ROC). San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA scored 74 (65 to 87) in October 2026 (PC&S calculation; California CSLB).

Per resident, the order changes. Phoenix had 19.4 licensed pool businesses per 100,000 residents in 2026, 2.0 times Los Angeles at 9.7 (PC&S calculation; Census population estimates). San Francisco-Oakland had 5.1 per 100,000, the lowest of 14 roster metros.

Licensed pool builders per 10,000 pool homes

Builder licenses are the most comparable supply measure across the four states, because each of the four has a pool-specific construction class. Builder density per pool home is lowest in Tucson, San Francisco-Oakland, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Riverside-San Bernardino had 19.8 licensed pool builders per 10,000 pool homes in October 2026, against 9.3 in Phoenix on the July 2026 roster (PC&S calculation; California CSLB; Arizona ROC).

The pooled builder baseline across the five AHS roster metros was 14.09 builders per 10,000 pool homes in 2026 (PC&S calculation). Miami sat close to it at 14.3 (PC&S calculation; Florida DBPR).

Florida counts certified (CPC) and registered (RP) pool/spa contractors. Florida law defines a residential pool/spa contractor’s scope as ‘the construction, repair, and servicing of a residential swimming pool’ (Florida Statutes). California counts C-53 swimming pool contractors (California CSLB); Nevada counts subclassification A-10 and its construction sub-subclasses (Nevada Legislature); Arizona counts B-5, B-6, KA-5, KA-6, A-9 and A-19 (Arizona ROC).

Metro builder pages: Phoenix pool builders, Miami pool builders, Tampa pool builders and Orlando pool builders. How licensing works in each state is covered in pool contractor license requirements by state.

New pool permits per licensed builder: where builders are busiest

The installed base is only half of the demand picture. New pool permits show where construction work is flowing now. Las Vegas and Cape Coral-Fort Myers builders carry far more new pools each than Los Angeles or San Diego builders.

The city of Las Vegas issued 527 new residential pool permits in 2025 (PC&S permit analysis). The Las Vegas metro had 93 licensed pool builders in October 2026, a lower bound of 5.67 city permits per builder (PC&S calculation; Nevada State Contractors Board).

Scaled to all metro households, Las Vegas builders handled an estimated 19.7 new pools each in 2025 (PC&S calculation). Cape Coral-Fort Myers builders handled an estimated 20.4 each (PC&S calculation; PC&S permit analysis).

Los Angeles builders handled an estimated 3.5 new pools each and San Diego builders 2.0 in 2025 (PC&S calculation). Phoenix, scaled from Mesa permits, came to 5.8 and Orlando to 7.6 (PC&S calculation).

Pool service supply where no roster exists: Census business counts in 34 metros

Routine pool cleaning falls outside the licensed service classes, so rosters undercount service supply, and Texas has no state pool license at all. Census counts businesses in NAICS 561790, a category that includes swimming pool cleaning. The category grows with pool share across metros, but it also includes gutter, chimney and duct cleaning, so it is a proxy, not a pool count.

Across 25 AHS metros, NAICS 561790 businesses per 10,000 houses tracked the single-family pool share with a Pearson correlation of 0.72 and a rank correlation of 0.77 (PC&S calculation; Census Nonemployer Statistics; Census County Business Patterns; PC&S homes-with-pools analysis).

Each extra percentage point of pool share went with 1.39 more 561790 businesses per 10,000 houses, or about 139 per 10,000 extra pool homes (PC&S calculation). Without Miami the slope falls to 0.63, about 63 per 10,000 pool homes (PC&S calculation).

Houston had 142.6 NAICS 561790 businesses per 10,000 pool homes and Dallas-Fort Worth 124.9 in 2023 to 2024 (PC&S calculation; Census Nonemployer Statistics; Census County Business Patterns). Texas has no state pool builder license (PC&S license requirements analysis), so these Census counts are the only uniform supply measure for Houston and Dallas.

Phoenix had 62.3 NAICS 561790 businesses per 10,000 pool homes, the lowest of the 34 metros, while Miami had 252.0 (PC&S calculation; Census Nonemployer Statistics; Census County Business Patterns).

How many pool companies are there in the US: what each count measures

No federal statistic counts pool companies. Each available number measures something different: market research models, a broad Census category, a distributor’s customer list or state licenses. They should not be added together.

IBISWorld estimated 22,731 swimming pool construction businesses in 2026 (IBISWorld) and 78,817 swimming pool cleaning businesses in 2025 (IBISWorld). Both are model estimates.

Pool Corporation, which describes itself as the world’s largest wholesale distributor of swimming pool supplies, reported approximately 125,000 customers in its 2025 10-K, ‘the majority of whom are small, entrepreneurial, family-owned businesses’ (Pool Corporation 10-K). The company says they operate as ‘independent contractors, professional pool servicers or specialty retailers’, so the figure is broader than pool contractors.

Market totals are covered in pool industry market size and the installed base in number of swimming pools in the US.

Why Google Maps listing counts do not measure pool market saturation

Counting map listings is a tempting shortcut for judging a crowded market. A 34-metro test shows two problems: pool-specialist listings filled at least 23 of the first 30 slots in every metro, and a large share of results returned through a location-targeted API came from other states.

PC&S requested the first 30 ‘pool service’ listings and the first 10 ‘pool builder’ listings for the principal city of each of 34 metros on October 14, 2026 (Google Maps via Serper). The sample returned 992 ‘pool service’ listings, of which 965 carried a pool-specialist category.

In 14 of 34 metros, every ‘pool service’ listing returned (up to 30) had a pool-specialist category, and no metro fell below 89.7% (Google Maps via Serper). Boston and Kansas City, with low pool shares, reached 100% like Phoenix. Listing depth therefore does not separate a crowded market from a thin one.

Of 1,011 listings that carried a street address, 31.3% were in a different state than the city requested (PC&S calculation; Google Maps via Serper). A re-test with the city named in the query returned 13 of 13 addressed listings in the right state.

Consolidation pressure in pool service markets

Florida and California, the two largest rosters in this report, also lead the PC&S acquisitions registry. Consolidation reduces the number of independent firms without changing the number of pools.

The PC&S acquisitions registry counted 10 entries naming Florida, 9 naming California, 7 naming Arizona, 6 naming Texas and 1 naming Nevada from 2015 to October 6, 2026 (PC&S acquisitions registry).

SPS PoolCare reported more than 220 acquisitions since its 2021 founding and more than 50,000 weekly recurring customers across Texas, Florida, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia as of July 7, 2026 (SPS PoolCare).

Deal-level detail is in pool industry acquisitions; route sales are covered on pool routes for sale.

Scenarios we modeled

Download the calculation sheet (CSV)

What the comparison shows

• Florida had 2,904 distinct businesses holding an active pool/spa construction license on October 14, 2026 (Florida DBPR).
• California had 2,839 distinct C-53 swimming pool contractor businesses on October 14, 2026 (California CSLB).
• Riverside-San Bernardino had 26.1 licensed pool businesses per 10,000 pool homes in 2026, the highest of the five metros with metro-level pool data (PC&S calculation; California CSLB; PC&S homes-with-pools analysis).
• Phoenix had 17.5 licensed pool businesses per 10,000 pool homes in 2026, a Saturation Index of 84, below the five-metro baseline (PC&S calculation; Arizona ROC).
• Per resident, Phoenix had 19.4 licensed pool businesses per 100,000 people in 2026, 2.0 times Los Angeles at 9.7 (PC&S calculation; Census population estimates).
• Las Vegas builders handled an estimated 19.7 new pools each in 2025, against 3.5 in Los Angeles and 2.0 in San Diego (PC&S calculation; PC&S permit analysis; Nevada State Contractors Board).
• Of 1,011 Google Maps listings with an address in a 34-metro sample on October 14, 2026, 31.3% sat in a different state than the city requested (Google Maps via Serper).
• Texas has no state pool builder license (2026), so Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth can only be measured with Census business counts (PC&S license requirements analysis; Texas Governor’s Office).

Results

1. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA had 761 licensed pool businesses for an estimated 292,032 pool homes in 2026, 26.1 per 10,000 (PC&S calculation; California CSLB).
2. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA had 1,249 licensed pool businesses and 22.4 per 10,000 pool homes in 2026, an index of 108 with a range of 95 to 124 (PC&S calculation; California CSLB).
3. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL had 1,014 licensed pool businesses and 21.4 per 10,000 pool homes in 2026, an index of 103 (PC&S calculation; Florida DBPR).
4. Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ had 541 licensed pool builders for an estimated 579,999 pool homes, or 1,072 pool homes per builder, as of the July 20, 2026 roster (PC&S calculation; Arizona ROC).
5. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA had 1,143 pool homes per licensed builder and an index of 74 in 2026 (PC&S calculation; California CSLB).
6. Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV had 93 licensed pool builders in the Nevada directory on October 14, 2026, 8.9 per 10,000 pool homes on a state-level pool share (low confidence) (PC&S calculation; Nevada State Contractors Board).
7. Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL had 36.0 licensed pool businesses per 100,000 residents in 2026, the most of 14 roster metros (PC&S calculation; Florida DBPR; Census population estimates).
8. Cape Coral issued 1,229 new residential pool permits in 2025, which scales to an estimated 20.4 new pools per licensed builder in the metro (PC&S permit analysis; PC&S calculation).
9. Los Angeles issued 1,093 new pool permits in 2025, a lower bound of 1.13 permits per licensed builder in the metro and a scaled estimate of 3.5 (PC&S permit analysis; PC&S calculation).
10. Across 25 metros, NAICS 561790 businesses per 10,000 houses rose with the AHS pool share (Pearson r 0.72, 2023 to 2024 business data) (Census Nonemployer Statistics; Census County Business Patterns; PC&S calculation).
11. Miami had 83.9 NAICS 561790 businesses per 10,000 houses in 2023 to 2024, more than any other of the 34 metros (Census Nonemployer Statistics; Census County Business Patterns).
12. The United States had 146,860 nonemployer businesses in NAICS 561790 in 2024, the category that includes swimming pool cleaning (Census Nonemployer Statistics).
13. Pool Corporation estimated just below 60,000 new in-ground pools were built in the United States in 2025, down from 62,000 in 2024 (Pool Corporation 10-K).
14. IBISWorld estimated 22,731 swimming pool construction businesses in the United States in 2026 (IBISWorld).

Questions owners ask

Prices and rules used

• 2026-10-14Florida DBPR construction licensee extract, California CSLB C-53 and D-35 lists and the Nevada contractor directory were downloaded on October 14, 2026 (Florida DBPR; California CSLB; Nevada State Contractors Board).
• 2026-07-20Arizona ROC posting list dated July 20, 2026 used; the live file returned HTTP 403 on October 14, 2026, so the Wayback Machine copy was used (Arizona ROC).
• 2026-07-07SPS PoolCare reported more than 220 acquisitions since its 2021 founding and more than 50,000 recurring customers (SPS PoolCare).
• 2026-06Census Nonemployer Statistics 2024 county file (file date June 4, 2026) is the latest release used (Census Nonemployer Statistics).
• 2026-02-26Pool Corporation’s 10-K for 2025 put new in-ground pool construction at just below 60,000 units (Pool Corporation 10-K).
• 20252025 is the latest full year of city pool permit counts (PC&S permit analysis). County Business Patterns 2023 is the latest CBP release; CBP 2024 was not posted on October 14, 2026 (Census County Business Patterns).

More questions

Evidence tiers

Tier 1: primary and government sources (22)

• Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR): Construction Industry Licensee extract CONSTRUCTIONLICENSE_1.csv (downloaded Oct 14, 2026)
• Florida DBPR: Construction Industry Licensing Board: public records downloads and file layout
• Florida Legislature: Florida Statutes, section 489.105 Definitions
• Arizona Registrar of Contractors: ROC Posting List: Current Active Contractor Licenses, file created Jul 20, 2026 (Wayback Machine capture)
• Arizona Registrar of Contractors: License Classifications (Wayback Machine capture, Aug 17, 2026)
• California Contractors State License Board (CSLB): Public Data Portal: List of Contractors by Classification, C-53 and C-61/D-35 (downloaded Oct 14, 2026)
• California CSLB: C-53 Swimming Pool Contractor classification
• California CSLB: D-35 Pool and Spa Maintenance Contractor classification
• Nevada State Contractors Board: Active Directory of Licensed Contractors, classifications A and AB, all counties (current as of Oct 14, 2026)
• Nevada Legislature: Nevada Administrative Code Chapter 624 (subclassification A-10)
• Office of the Texas Governor, Business Permit Office: Texas Licenses and Permits Guide 2026-2027
• U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year, Table B25024 Units in Structure (summary file)
• U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year, Table B25002 Occupancy Status (summary file)
• U.S. Census Bureau (OMB definitions): Core based statistical areas and counties, February 2013 delineation (list 1)
• U.S. Census Bureau: 2020 ZCTA to County Relationship File
• U.S. Census Bureau: County Population Totals, Vintage 2025 (co-est2025-alldata)
• U.S. Census Bureau: Nonemployer Statistics 2024, county and U.S. files (NAICS 56179)
• U.S. Census Bureau: County Business Patterns 2023, county and U.S. files (NAICS 561790)
• U.S. Census Bureau: 2022 NAICS Index File and Descriptions (561790 Other Services to Buildings and Dwellings)
• Pool Construction & Service research desk (Census/HUD AHS and EIA RECS microdata): Percentage of Homes With Pools (AHS 2015 metro tabulation; EIA RECS 2024 state tabulation)
• Pool Construction & Service research desk (city open-data permit files): Pool Construction Statistics (city permit counts, 2015 to 2025)
• Pool Construction & Service research desk: Pool Contractor License Requirements by State

Tier 2: trade bodies, public companies, market research (4)

• Pool Corporation (SEC EDGAR): Pool Corporation Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025
• IBISWorld: Swimming Pool Construction in the US: Number of Businesses
• IBISWorld: Swimming Pool Cleaning Services in the US
• Pool Construction & Service research desk (primary disclosures): Pool Industry Acquisitions registry (2015 to Oct 6, 2026)

Tier 3: journalism and expert commentary (2)

• SPS PoolCare via PR Newswire: SPS PoolCare celebrates five years, 50,000 recurring customers (press release, Jul 7, 2026)
• Serper.dev (Google Maps results): Google Maps listings returned by the Serper.dev /places API, PC&S sample of 34 metros (Oct 14, 2026)

References

1. Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). Construction Industry Licensee extract CONSTRUCTIONLICENSE_1.csv (downloaded Oct 14, 2026). Accessed 2026-10-14.
2. Florida DBPR. Construction Industry Licensing Board: public records downloads and file layout. Accessed 2026-10-14.
3. Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes, section 489.105 Definitions. Accessed 2026-10-14.
4. Arizona Registrar of Contractors. ROC Posting List: Current Active Contractor Licenses, file created Jul 20, 2026 (Wayback Machine capture). Accessed 2026-10-14.
5. Arizona Registrar of Contractors. License Classifications (Wayback Machine capture, Aug 17, 2026). Accessed 2026-10-14.
6. California Contractors State License Board (CSLB). Public Data Portal: List of Contractors by Classification, C-53 and C-61/D-35 (downloaded Oct 14, 2026). Accessed 2026-10-14.
7. California CSLB. C-53 Swimming Pool Contractor classification. Accessed 2026-10-14.
8. California CSLB. D-35 Pool and Spa Maintenance Contractor classification. Accessed 2026-10-14.
9. Nevada State Contractors Board. Active Directory of Licensed Contractors, classifications A and AB, all counties (current as of Oct 14, 2026). Accessed 2026-10-14.
10. Nevada Legislature. Nevada Administrative Code Chapter 624 (subclassification A-10). Accessed 2026-10-14.
11. Office of the Texas Governor, Business Permit Office. Texas Licenses and Permits Guide 2026-2027. Accessed 2026-10-14.
12. U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year, Table B25024 Units in Structure (summary file). Accessed 2026-10-14.
13. U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year, Table B25002 Occupancy Status (summary file). Accessed 2026-10-14.
14. U.S. Census Bureau (OMB definitions). Core based statistical areas and counties, February 2013 delineation (list 1). Accessed 2026-10-14.
15. U.S. Census Bureau. 2020 ZCTA to County Relationship File. Accessed 2026-10-14.
16. U.S. Census Bureau. County Population Totals, Vintage 2025 (co-est2025-alldata). Accessed 2026-10-14.
17. U.S. Census Bureau. Nonemployer Statistics 2024, county and U.S. files (NAICS 56179). Accessed 2026-10-14.
18. U.S. Census Bureau. County Business Patterns 2023, county and U.S. files (NAICS 561790). Accessed 2026-10-14.
19. U.S. Census Bureau. 2022 NAICS Index File and Descriptions (561790 Other Services to Buildings and Dwellings). Accessed 2026-10-14.
20. Pool Construction & Service research desk (Census/HUD AHS and EIA RECS microdata). Percentage of Homes With Pools (AHS 2015 metro tabulation; EIA RECS 2024 state tabulation). Accessed 2026-10-14.
21. Pool Construction & Service research desk (city open-data permit files). Pool Construction Statistics (city permit counts, 2015 to 2025). Accessed 2026-10-14.
22. Pool Corporation (SEC EDGAR). Pool Corporation Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025. Accessed 2026-10-14.
23. IBISWorld. Swimming Pool Construction in the US: Number of Businesses. Accessed 2026-10-14.
24. IBISWorld. Swimming Pool Cleaning Services in the US. Accessed 2026-10-14.
25. Pool Construction & Service research desk (primary disclosures). Pool Industry Acquisitions registry (2015 to Oct 6, 2026). Accessed 2026-10-14.
26. SPS PoolCare via PR Newswire. SPS PoolCare celebrates five years, 50,000 recurring customers (press release, Jul 7, 2026). Accessed 2026-10-14.
27. Serper.dev (Google Maps results). Google Maps listings returned by the Serper.dev /places API, PC&S sample of 34 metros (Oct 14, 2026). Accessed 2026-10-14.
28. Pool Construction & Service research desk. Pool Contractor License Requirements by State. Accessed 2026-10-14.