Florida: 22.42 million residents, 3rd of 51 US states (with the District of Columbia). Households, home values, education, business density, and which trades are already crowded, all from Census data.
Statewide numbers first; the 22 metro pages linked below carry the same breakdown for each market. The biggest of them, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL, holds 6.25 million residents.
Homes are valued at a median of $359,000 against $332,700 nationally, 8 percent above the national figure. A $74,568 median household income puts Florida 8 percent below the national figure.
Who lives here matters as much as how many. A older-than-average population: median age 42.6, 3.7 years above the national median. Ownership: 67.6% of households own their home, 2 points above the US share. The civilian labor force numbers 11,016,578 people with unemployment at 4.8%, about the same as the US share. 34.1% of adults over 25 hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 2 points below the US share.
Set against its largest metro (Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL), household income here is 3 percent lower than the Miami metro figure, the median home value is 19 percent lower than the Miami metro figure, and the business base per resident is 19 percent thinner than the Miami metro figure.
By the Census Bureau's count Florida supports 645,575 employer establishments. Relative to population, 28.8 per 1,000 residents, 15 percent above the national figure. The table breaks out the categories that spend the most on local advertising; restaurants is the biggest of them at 39,216. Home-services trades account for 35,050 of them (5.4% of all establishments, about the same as the US share).
| Business type | Establishments | Per 100k residents | Share ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 491 | 2.2 | 0.69× |
| Self-storage facilities | 1,581 | 7.1 | 1.10× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 1,823 | 8.1 | 1.01× |
| Roofing contractors | 2,215 | 9.9 | 1.12× |
| Automobile dealers | 3,427 | 15.3 | 0.94× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 4,497 | 20.1 | 1.36× |
| Child day care services | 4,651 | 20.7 | 0.73× |
| General automotive repair | 5,203 | 23.2 | 0.79× |
| Electrical contractors | 6,492 | 29 | 1.01× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 7,058 | 31.5 | 0.91× |
| General freight trucking | 7,449 | 33.2 | 0.82× |
| Beauty salons | 7,534 | 33.6 | 1.16× |
| Dentists | 9,039 | 40.3 | 0.86× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 9,353 | 41.7 | 1.09× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 10,640 | 47.5 | 1.01× |
| Landscaping services | 10,670 | 47.6 | 1.17× |
| Personal care services (all) | 13,212 | 58.9 | 1.06× |
| Legal services | 19,257 | 85.9 | 1.38× |
| Physicians' offices | 21,322 | 95.1 | 1.27× |
| Restaurants and other eating places | 39,216 | 174.9 | 0.82× |
The last column divides the local share of establishments by the national share (1.00 = the same mix as the US).
The market over-indexes on legal services, specialty trade contractors, physicians' offices and landscaping services. Legal services stand out with 19,257 locations, 1.4 times what the national mix would predict. By contrast road and paving contractors, child day care services, general automotive repair and restaurants are comparatively scarce in Florida. With 491 locations, road and paving contractors sit at about 69% of the national share. In line with the country: plumbing and HVAC contractors, roofing contractors and electrical contractors.
The most numerous of the listed trades: restaurants with 39,216 establishments, then physicians' offices (21,322) and legal services (19,257). Adjusted for population, restaurants are the thickest on the ground (174.9 per 100,000), with physicians' offices and legal services next. Sector view: legal services index at 1.4 times the national share, automotive businesses at about 85% of.
Advertisers in legal services, specialty trade contractors and physicians' offices should assume high competition on Google Ads and put equal weight on the free real estate: an accurate Business Profile, steady new reviews, and pages that match the local searches word for word. A business in road and paving contractors, child day care services and general automotive repair enters a lightly contested auction. That is the time to build organic visibility and a review base before the category fills in. Residents here are older than the US median (3.7 years above the national median); they search, read reviews and call, which puts the weight on search, the listing and the phone.
Six places to begin in Florida; the complete list is one click away.
Search campaigns built around the searches people in Florida actually type, with the geography fenced to where the work is.
The map listing, kept accurate, photographed and posted to every week.
Organic visibility for the searches that do not need an ad to win.
A website that loads fast, states the offer and gets the visitor to the phone.
Content for the site, planned around what people search.
Retargeting so a visitor who left the site keeps seeing the business.
Start with the free audit: it checks the listing, the site and the tracking before anyone spends anything.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023.