Research
Open data on America's local businesses, built from 1,716,114 listings across all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Every study is free to read, cite and reuse.
For customers
What the ratings and review counts you see on Google actually mean when you hire.
What is a good Google rating? Benchmarks by trade
The median rating, the top-quarter line and the review count to expect for each kind of local business, so you know what a 4.6 really means.
Across 696,321 U.S. local businesses in our directory with 10 or more Google reviews, the median rating is 4.7 stars.
Read the studyGoogle vs. Yelp: how the same businesses score on each
Hundreds of thousands of businesses rated on both sites, compared side by side.
The same 219,439 businesses in our directory average 4.57 stars on Google and 4.06 on Yelp: 0.51 stars higher on Google.
Read the studyWhen are local businesses open? Weekends, evenings and 24/7 by trade
Which kinds of local business open on Saturdays, Sundays, evenings, early mornings and around the clock.
56.3% of the 189,201 businesses in our directory that publish hours on Google open on Saturdays, and 29.9% on Sundays.
Read the studyHow to check a local business before you hire
Seven checks, each backed by the numbers in these studies.
Read the checklist
Reviews and reputation
How many reviews local businesses have, how they are rated, and what it takes to stand out.
Google review benchmarks: how many reviews does a business need?
Median, top-quarter and top-10% review counts for every trade, and how many businesses have fewer than 10 reviews.
59.4% of 1,716,114 U.S. local businesses in our directory have fewer than 10 Google reviews; 37.6% have none at all.
Read the studyAverage Google rating by industry
The best- and worst-rated local trades in America, with the share rated 4.8 or higher.
The average local business in our directory with 10 or more Google reviews is rated 4.54 stars (696,321 businesses).
Read the study
Websites and online presence
Who has a website, what those sites track, and where businesses fall behind online.
The state of local business websites, 2026
What share of local businesses have a website, by trade, state, city size, rating and review count, and what those sites track.
69.9% of 1,716,114 U.S. local businesses in our directory list a website on their Google Business Profile; 30.1% list none.
Read the studyWhat local business websites run on: registrars, DNS and site builders
GoDaddy's share of local business domains, and how many sites run WordPress, Wix, Squarespace or Shopify, by trade.
GoDaddy is the registrar for 50.9% of the 918,421 local business domains in our directory; next come Network Solutions (11.3%), Tucows (6.2%) and Squarespace (incl. former Google Domains) (5.4%).
Read the studyThe local business visibility gap
The share of each trade's businesses below three simple benchmarks: a website, enough reviews and a 4.5+ rating.
22.4% of 1,380,848 U.S. local businesses in our directory meet all three benchmarks for their trade; 28.2% meet none.
Read the study
Markets and competition
Where it is hardest to stand out, and how states compare.
The most competitive local markets in America
Where a business needs the most reviews to reach the top quarter, and how concentrated reviews are in each trade.
The hardest local-service markets to stand out in: plumbers in Orlando, FL (830 reviews for the top quarter), locksmiths in Portland, OR (756 reviews for the top quarter) and plumbers in Salt Lake City, UT (692 reviews for the top quarter).
Read the studyBest cities to start a local service business
Cities of 100,000+ ranked for each trade by population growth, how many reviews it takes to compete, and how crowded the market is.
Across the trades we can measure, the best-scoring large cities to start a local service business are Tracy, CA, Palm Coast, FL, North Las Vegas, NV, Tuscaloosa, AL and Clovis, CA.
Read the studyLocal business ratings by state
How local businesses rate in every state, how many reviews they carry and how many have no website.
Highest-rated states: North Carolina (4.59), Florida (4.59) and New Hampshire (4.59).
Read the study
Industry reports
Every study's numbers for one trade, in one report
Real Estate
190,091 businesses
General Contractors
125,374 businesses
Attorneys
91,336 businesses
HVAC Contractors
73,178 businesses
Roofing Contractors
70,641 businesses
Electricians
64,624 businesses
Doctors & Clinics
64,193 businesses
Landscaping & Lawn Care
55,183 businesses
Cleaning Services
53,128 businesses
Auto Repair & Detailing
50,547 businesses
Handyman Services
41,799 businesses
Insurance Agencies
33,223 businesses
State reports
A data brief for every state
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
Use our data
Free to cite, chart and republish
Every table behind these studies can be downloaded as a CSV file from its study page, under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. You can use it in articles, reports, classes and your own charts. The one condition: credit “Page One Partner Research” and link to the study you used.
What the data covers. Every figure describes businesses listed in the Page One Partner directory: local businesses with a Google Business Profile, collected for each trade from its 400 largest U.S. cities. It is not a census. Businesses outside those cities, or without a Google Business Profile, can be missing, so counts are the businesses in our directory, not the total in a trade, state or city, and percentages describe our listings.
We publish aggregates only (averages, percentages and counts), never data about an individual business. Each study explains exactly how it was measured and what it leaves out. The numbers are recomputed weekly from the live directory; the current edition is from September 2026.
Press and data requests
Need a cut we have not published, such as one city, one trade or a custom breakdown? Ask. We answer reporters and researchers directly.
info@pageoneinsights.com · +1 (888) 272-1940
Published by Page One Insights LLC, Miami, FL. About Page One Partner · 1,716,114 businesses · 11 studies