California Craft Brewers Economic Footprint

January 2018 – According to the California Craft Brewers Assn. (CCBA), the state is home to more breweries than any other state in the nation. As of December 2017, there were more than 900 craft breweries.

In 2016, craft breweries contributed $7.3 billion to the state’s economy, up from $6.5 in 2014, and provides employment to more than 43,308 individuals across the state.

In 2016, California Craft Brewers paid $1.49 Billion in taxes. Of these, $868 million were paid in state and local taxes, and $617 million in federal taxes. In addition, the industry paid $66.6 million in state and federal excise taxes in that year.

The craft brewers’ association notes the 1.17 million barrels exported from California exceeds the total production of 44 individual states. Of that number San Diego craft breweries — not including corporate-owned interests Ballast Point Brewing, Saint Archer Brewery, or 10 Barrel Brewing — produced 900,000, more than 25 percent of the California total.

The number of breweries in California has tripled since 2012, rising to more than 900 statewide, or 15 percent of all the breweries in the nation.