Retail sales in three Bay Area counties comprised nearly 14 percent of retail sales in California in the third quarter of 2019, according to the latest available data.
Retail sales in Santa Clara, Alameda and San Francisco counties amounted to 13.9 percent of the $181.3 billion in retail sales statewide in the fall quarter of last year, according to data from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.
In last year’s third quarter, retail sales in Santa Clara County comprised more than 6 percent of sales in the state and more than 25 percent of the $41.3 billion of retail goods sold in the region.
Here’s how the counties ranked by retail sales in the third quarter of 2019. 1. Santa Clara County — $11.4 billion2. Alameda County — $8.7 billion3. San Francisco — $5.1 billion4. Contra Costa County — $4.5 billion5. San Mateo County — $4.5 billion6. Sonoma County — $2.6 billion7. Solano County — $2.1 billion8. Marin County —- $1.4 billion9. Napa County — $0.95 billionSan Francisco chief economist Ted Egan said the coronavirus is expected to have an impact on retail sales.
“We’re expecting that they’ll drop,” Egan said.
Restaurants are expected to suffer and San Francisco gets a lot of tax revenue from restaurants, he said. Revenue from the hotel tax is also expected to be down.
To the extent that this is a broad-based economic slowdown, Egan said, San Francisco could see tax declines in all areas except grocery stores and pharmacies.
Source: California Department of Tax and Fee Administration; San Francisco Office of the Controller, San Francisco Office of Economic Analysis