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Camera stores in America, by the numbers

We mapped every walk-in camera business we could verify in the United States: 1,832 camera stores, film labs, repair shops and community darkrooms, holding 248,871 customer reviews between them, across 51 states and 1,021 towns and cities. This page is the top-level picture. Everything on it is free to cite.

1,832Camera businesses
5.4Per million people
96.8%Independent
0States with none

What counts as a camera business here

This directory deliberately excludes photographers, security-camera installers, phone-repair shops and drugstore photo counters. It includes four things, because they serve the same person on the same afternoon:

TypeCountShare
Camera store 987 53.9%
Film lab 693 37.8%
Camera repair shop 127 6.9%
Community darkroom 25 1.4%

A film lab is not a shop you can buy a camera in, and we never describe one as though it is.

Camera businesses per million residents, by state

Counts normalised against US Census Vintage 2024 population estimates. National average: 5.4 per million.

#StateBusinesses PopulationPer million
1 Utah 38 3,503,613 10.8
2 Vermont 7 648,493 10.8
3 Oregon 42 4,272,371 9.8
4 California 378 39,431,263 9.6
5 Massachusetts 63 7,136,171 8.8
6 District of Columbia 6 702,250 8.5
7 Wyoming 5 587,618 8.5
8 New York 154 19,867,248 7.8
9 New Jersey 74 9,500,851 7.8
10 New Hampshire 11 1,409,032 7.8
11 Colorado 46 5,957,493 7.7
12 Rhode Island 8 1,112,308 7.2
13 Connecticut 26 3,675,069 7.1
14 Montana 8 1,137,233 7
15 Maine 9 1,405,012 6.4
16 Kansas 18 2,970,606 6.1
17 Idaho 12 2,001,619 6
18 Washington 45 7,958,180 5.7
19 New Mexico 11 2,130,256 5.2
20 Florida 120 23,372,215 5.1
21 Tennessee 36 7,227,750 5
22 North Dakota 4 796,568 5
23 Delaware 5 1,051,917 4.8
24 Minnesota 27 5,793,151 4.7
25 Pennsylvania 61 13,078,751 4.7
26 Nevada 15 3,267,467 4.6
27 Illinois 58 12,710,158 4.6
28 Georgia 47 11,180,878 4.2
29 Ohio 50 11,883,304 4.2
30 Alabama 21 5,157,699 4.1
31 Alaska 3 740,133 4.1
32 Hawaii 6 1,446,146 4.1
33 Arizona 30 7,582,384 4
34 Michigan 40 10,140,459 3.9
35 Arkansas 12 3,088,354 3.9
36 Texas 116 31,290,831 3.7
37 Virginia 33 8,811,195 3.7
38 Wisconsin 22 5,960,975 3.7
39 Oklahoma 15 4,095,393 3.7
40 Louisiana 15 4,597,740 3.3
41 Kentucky 15 4,588,372 3.3
42 Iowa 10 3,241,488 3.1
43 Nebraska 6 2,005,465 3
44 South Carolina 16 5,478,831 2.9
45 North Carolina 31 11,046,024 2.8
46 Indiana 18 6,924,275 2.6
47 Missouri 16 6,245,466 2.6
48 South Dakota 2 924,669 2.2
49 Maryland 13 6,263,220 2.1
50 Mississippi 6 2,943,045 2
51 West Virginia 2 1,769,979 1.1

Download CSV — camera businesses per capita by state

The interesting result is that camera retail does not follow the usual small-state pattern, where a small population divided into a handful of shops produces a big rate. California — the most populous state in the country — leads at 9.6 per million on 378 businesses. Camera stores cluster where the imaging industry, the film scene and the photo-school population already are, not where rent is cheap. Treat the smallest states with caution though: at single-digit counts, one shop opening or closing moves a state several places.

America's densest camera-store cities

Camera businesses per 100,000 residents, for cities of 100k or more with at least 3 of them. City population, not metro area — which is why compact cities inside big metros rank high.

#CityBusinesses PopulationPer 100k
1 Burbank, CA 11 103,533 10.6
2 Salt Lake City, UT 12 217,783 5.5
3 Carlsbad, CA 5 113,575 4.4
4 Miami, FL 20 487,014 4.1
5 Glendale, CA 7 187,823 3.7
6 Pasadena, CA 5 137,195 3.6
7 Pittsburgh, PA 11 307,668 3.6
8 Huntington Beach, CA 7 193,151 3.6
9 Berkeley, CA 4 121,749 3.3
10 Tacoma, WA 7 228,202 3.1
11 Stamford, CT 4 139,134 2.9
12 Torrance, CA 4 139,576 2.9
13 Santa Rosa, CA 5 177,524 2.8
14 Bend, OR 3 106,926 2.8
15 Portland, OR 17 635,749 2.7
16 Costa Mesa, CA 3 109,131 2.7
17 Manchester, NH 3 116,386 2.6
18 Provo, UT 3 115,479 2.6
19 Knoxville, TN 5 198,722 2.5
20 Salinas, CA 4 160,783 2.5
21 Birmingham, AL 5 196,357 2.5
22 Ann Arbor, MI 3 122,925 2.4
23 Thousand Oaks, CA 3 124,229 2.4
24 Concord, CA 3 124,016 2.4
25 Lakeland, FL 3 124,990 2.4

Download CSV — densest camera-store cities

Burbank, CA tops the list at 10.6 per 100,000 — 11 camera businesses in a city of 103,533. Cities like this sit inside a much larger metro and carry its camera trade on a small resident population, so the rate is real, but it describes the industry's footprint rather than how many locals own cameras.

Where there are almost none

The thinnest coverage in the country, per capita.

StateBusinessesPopulationPer million
West Virginia 2 1,769,979 1.1
Mississippi 6 2,943,045 2
Maryland 13 6,263,220 2.1
South Dakota 2 924,669 2.2
Missouri 16 6,245,466 2.6
Indiana 18 6,924,275 2.6
North Carolina 31 11,046,024 2.8
South Carolina 16 5,478,831 2.9
Nebraska 6 2,005,465 3
Iowa 10 3,241,488 3.1

The three deeper datasets

Each is its own analysis, with its own downloadable CSV.

Film Developing Price Index

What labs actually charge to develop a roll — and how far under the drugstore counter that sits.

The Camera Store Survival Map

Where independents survived the chain collapse, the oldest shops still trading, and the states left with nothing.

Service Coverage Index

What share of camera businesses develop film, repair gear, rent, print or run a darkroom — state by state.

Method, and please cite freely

Journalists, bloggers and researchers: use this. All of it is free to quote, chart and republish under CC BY 4.0, with a link to camerastores.net/camera-store-stats/. The CSVs on this page and its three sub-pages are the same numbers you see rendered.

How the directory is built. Businesses come from public listings and are filtered to genuine walk-in camera retail, film-developing labs, camera repair shops and community darkrooms. Photographers, security-camera installers, phone-repair shops, AV production houses and drugstore photo counters are excluded. Every service attribute is proven by the business's own website or by what customers describe in their reviews — never assumed from a category label.

Population. US Census Bureau Vintage 2024 estimates (POPESTIMATE2024), the same vintage for state and city figures alike.

What this can't tell you. A directory is a census of what is publicly findable, not a business register. Shops with no web presence are undercounted, and a business that closed last month may still be listed. Where a sample is too small to support a number we say so instead of publishing it — the film-price page is the clearest example. Data compiled 2026-07-24.

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