How We Build the Local Website Competition Index and Every County Figure
Every number on our county pages comes from public U.S. Census Bureau data and is computed the same way for every county. This page explains the definitions, the formulas and what the numbers cannot tell you.
The index
What the Local Website Competition Index Measures
The index answers one question: in this county, how many small local businesses share the residents, and how fast are new ones arriving? It counts businesses, the kind that typically run on a small-business website. It does not count websites, visits or searches, and it says nothing about how good any site is.
Categories. We use the same fifteen local business categories everywhere, identified by NAICS code: law offices (541110), plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors (238220), roofing contractors (238160), electrical contractors (238210), residential remodelers (236118), landscaping services (561730), dentists (621210), physicians offices (621111), real estate agents and brokers (531210), insurance agencies and brokerages (524210), general automotive repair (811111), accounting and CPA firms (541211), beauty salons (812112), full-service restaurants (722511) and janitorial services (561720).
Four measures. Each county is placed against every U.S. county with 20,000 or more residents (1,822 counties) on four measures, and each placement is the share of those counties with a strictly lower value:
- Small local employers per 10,000 residents: establishments with fewer than 10 employees, summed over the fifteen categories, from County Business Patterns (2022) and the 2023 population estimate.
- Growth in employer establishments across every industry, 2017 to 2022. New businesses usually mean new websites.
- The share of the fifteen-category establishments that have fewer than 5 employees.
- The number of named places (cities, towns and census-designated places) with 2,500 or more residents. New York City boroughs, Washington, DC and independent cities skip this measure, and their score averages the other three.
The score. The index is the simple average of those percentiles, from 0 to 100. A score near 50 is a typical county. Counties under 20,000 residents are not scored because per-resident densities are too unstable at that size.
Other figures
How the Other Numbers Are Calculated
- Small-business crowding versus a typical county: a category’s locations with fewer than 10 employees per 10,000 residents, divided by the median of that category across the 1,822 counties. 1.0x is typical.
- Change since 2017: percentage change in employer establishments (in a category, in all fifteen combined, or in all industries) between the 2017 and 2022 County Business Patterns.
- Locations with 20+ staff: establishments in the size classes of 20 employees or more. We call them established because they usually have larger budgets and bigger websites; the share is that count divided by all establishments in the fifteen categories.
- Locations under 5 staff: establishments in the Census size class of fewer than 5 employees.
- New-home permits: housing units authorized by building permits from the Census Bureau’s Building Permits Survey, per 10,000 residents for 2025, plus a same-months comparison for the current year.
- Look-alike markets: for the 400 markets we cover, the six nearest on a standardized mix of population (log), income, small-employer density, share of 20+ staff locations, number of places and permits per 10,000 residents.
- Percentile bars on each page: the share of the 1,822 counties with a lower value (or, where we say “slower” or “lower”, the share with a higher one).
Sources
Where the Data Comes From
- U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates, Vintage 2023 (county and place totals)
- U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns, 2022 and 2017
- U.S. Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, 2023 (median household income)
- U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey (county annual and year-to-date files)
- U.S. Census Bureau, 2023 Gazetteer (county centers, used for distances)
Limits
What These Numbers Cannot Tell You
- They are not website data. The index counts businesses. It does not tell you which of them have a site, how good it is or how many people visit it, and we publish no traffic, ranking or conversion figures.
- They are not our results. We do not use client account data or publish GetPhound client results on these pages, because every business and market differs.
- Establishments are not all businesses. Sole proprietors without employees are not in County Business Patterns, and some counted businesses serve customers from outside the county.
- Connecticut is different. The Census Bureau replaced Connecticut’s eight counties with nine planning regions in its newest files, but most people still search by county. For Connecticut we use the historic counties with 2021 population and income estimates and 2021 business counts (compared with 2017), and we leave out permits. Pages say so.
- Data has a lag. Business counts are from 2022 and population from 2023. We note the year beside each figure and rebuild when the Census Bureau releases new files.
Found a mistake? Email hello@getphound.com and we will check it against the source.
Get in Touch
Want These Numbers Applied to Your Business?
Tell us what your business does and where. We will talk through what your website needs and send a custom quote. Call 610-825-4363 or email hello@getphound.com to set up a call with our CEO.