RootOptics · the United States

Locksmiths — the public record

Locksmiths · the United States

Where this industry stands

MeasureValue
Net establishment formation, 5yr+0.99%
Standing among all industries64th of 287
Reads asforming faster than it is dying
Signal strength, backtestedρ 0.57 over 4 windows

Among 287 industries, this one sits at the 64th percentile on net establishment formation over 2019-2023 — it is forming faster than it is dying. That signal carries a measured rank correlation of 0.57 with the following decade's growth across 4 backtested windows, separating top and bottom deciles by 42.6 percentage points. It describes the INDUSTRY, not a business in it, and it was calibrated against establishment growth rather than returns to an operator.

The market

MeasureValue
Operators3,202
People employed13,560
Pay per employee$52,783
What the work isSecurity and Fire Alarm Systems Installers
Median wage, that occupation$59,230
Licensed in24 jurisdictions

What the public record can and cannot evidence

DimensionWeightEvidencePredicts?
O1 · Demand density and recurrence25evidencedpredictive
O2 · Payment evidence15partialnot backtested
O3 · Licence gate favourability15evidencednot backtested
O4 · Labour availability15evidencednot backtested
O5 · Incumbent weakness10no producernot backtested
O6 · Margin structure10partialnot backtested
O7 · Ceiling10evidencedDESCRIPTIVE ONLY

65 of 100 rubric points are evidenced, 25 partially, 10 have no producer. No total score is rendered from that. PREDICTS is a separate question from EVIDENCE: a dimension can rest on a real sourced figure and have no measured relationship with what happens next.

Can you borrow to buy one

MeasureValue
Acquisition loans approved238
Median loan$99,700
Mean rate7.57%
Mean term118 months
Charged off5.7%

5.7% of resolved SBA acquisition loans in this industry were charged off, across 123 loans that have actually reached an outcome. Cohorts from FY2021 onward are EXCLUDED from this rate: a loan approved recently has not had time to fail, and counting it would make every industry look safe. SBA 7(a) FOIA data, FY2010–FY2026. Loans to acquire an EXISTING business, separated from start-up lending by the SBA's own business-age field. Charge-off is measured on RESOLVED loans only — a loan approved last year has not had time to fail.

What firms here actually earn

Revenue band ($000)FirmsShareLabour share of revenue
<10070418.1%29.7%
100-4991,84947.6%29.5%
500-99973518.9%31.6%
1,000-2,49945411.7%31.3%
2,500-4,9991002.6%30.4%
5,000-7,499250.6%32.0%
7,500-9,99980.2%35.3%
10,000-14,99970.2%34.8%
100,000+60.2%36.6%

Payroll is 30.4% of receipts industry-wide across 3,888 firms. LABOUR SHARE, NOT MARGIN: Census publishes receipts and payroll and never cost of goods, so gross margin cannot be derived and is not claimed here. Enterprise receipts — a firm counted once at its total size, not per location. Census SUSB 2022.

What we do not hold

Gap
licence titles in this scope — none matched 'Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installers', though it is licensed in 24 jurisdictions nationally. The title differs locally, or the record is held municipally.
occupation mix for NAICS 561622 — the labour statistics carry no rows at this level, so everything about occupations here, including the defining occupation and its licence gate, is measured at NAICS 561620, a broader grouping. Establishment counts are for 561622 itself.
licence coverage — the register holds 54 of 56 US licensing jurisdictions, and 2,504 of its records carry no jurisdiction at all. A count of 24 is out of 54 searched, not out of 56. The unsearched jurisdictions are not evidence of no licence.
bonding_required_usd — no producer, and not estimated

Stated rather than filled. An absence of match is not an absence of fact.

Verification

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Issued 04 October 2026 at 09:13 UTC · rubric O1.0-20260804

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Computed from United States federal public records. Census County Business Patterns, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, the CareerOneStop occupational licence register, Census Business Dynamics Statistics and USASpending. Licence data derives from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the US Department of Labor, ETA.

Research against public records — not investment, legal, tax or accounting advice. No figure here is a prediction about your business. Figures describe an INDUSTRY; a business within it may do better or worse for reasons no public dataset records. Gaps are stated rather than filled: where a dimension has no evidence it is marked absent rather than estimated.

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