Hubertino
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How many businesses are in my area? Sizing a local market

By Doug Nielsen, Product Manager · Updated · first published

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To count the businesses in your area, search Google Maps one ZIP code at a time and dedupe the results on Google's place ID. One search won't do: the results feed stops at roughly 100–120 places, however many exist.

In our Google Maps scraper, ticking a city queues every one of its ZIP codes, so the whole count takes one job.

Key takeaways

  • Pin down the exact category before you count.
  • The splits, not the total, tell you which offer to lead with.
  • Quote the result as “listed on Google Maps”, not “registered businesses”.
On this page5

Why the obvious methods undercount

A single map search is capped, directories are stale, and government registries count legal entities, including dormant ones, while missing branches trading under one registration. Google Maps is the most current census of businesses actually open, because owners maintain their own listings.

The method: count ZIP code by ZIP code

  1. Define the category precisely

    “Restaurant” and “Italian restaurant” give very different counts; either can be right, so write down which you mean.

  2. Split the geography into ZIP codes

    Each ZIP code gets its own search, usually under the feed cap. Hubertino's location picker does the split; the ZIP-code guide explains it.

  3. Dedupe on place ID

    Neighboring ZIP-code searches overlap; Google's place ID collapses them reliably (see place IDs and CIDs).

  4. Segment the count

    Split by review count (zero-review businesses may be barely trading), website or none, ratings below 4.0, neighborhood, and chain versus independent from the domain column. The splits, not the total, tell you which offer to lead with.
Hubertino's scrape builder with the category "dentist", San Diego, CA split into 76 zip codes, and a live cost estimate
The ZIP-code split in practice: San Diego, CA as 76 separate searches. Google typically returns around 100 places per search, rarely more than about 120; Hubertino's own limit is 500 per search.

Get the whole list in one job

Tick the cities or ZIP codes and our Google Maps data extractor returns every business with its phone, website and rating, plus the email from its own site where one is published. One credit per business delivered.
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Reading the number you get

The number counts businesses listed and findable on Google Maps in this category and area: a real population, and the one your competitors sell to. The export doubles as your prospect list, which no market-size report gives you.

Watch out

Sanity-check the total

A common service category in a mid-sized US metro typically lands in the hundreds to low thousands. A count of 97 almost certainly means you hit a search cap, not the edge of the market.

Common questions

Does this count businesses that don't have a Maps listing?

No. For most consumer-facing local categories they're a small remainder; for B2B-only operations without a storefront they can be substantial.

How much does counting a city cost?

One credit per business delivered, so the cost is the size of the market. The 100 free signup credits can size one ZIP code or a small town first.

Written by

Doug Nielsen, Product Manager

Doug works on Hubertino; the guides on this site are published under his name. Last updated .

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Building a territory list for field sales reps

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Enough for a real lead list: phones, websites, ratings and the email from each business's own site where one is published. You pay only for businesses delivered.
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