1.68 million people live in Jacksonville, FL, which places it 39th of the 387 metropolitan areas. Households, home values, education, business density, and which trades are already crowded, all from Census data.
Income in Jacksonville, FL: a median of $79,643 per household against $80,734 nationally, so in line with the national figure. Homes are valued at a median of $343,400 against $332,700 nationally, 3 percent above the national figure.
Three quick reads on the people of Jacksonville, FL. Among adults 25 and over, 36.5% have at least a bachelor's degree, about the same as the US share. A labor force of 844,505 carries an unemployment rate of 4.2%, 1 points below the US share. Jacksonville, FL has a median age of 39.3 (about the same as the national median). 66.5% of homes are lived in by their owners, 1 points above the US share.
How does that compare with the state as a whole? Income in Jacksonville, FL is 7 percent higher than the Florida figure, the median home value is 4 percent lower than the Florida figure, and business density is 9 percent thinner than the Florida figure; the full numbers are on the Florida page.
Start with the count: 44,152 establishments with payroll. Set against the population that is 26.2 per 1,000 residents, 5 percent above the national figure, against 25 nationally. The home-services slice is 2,477 establishments, 5.6% of the base, about the same as the US share. The single largest category in the table below is restaurants, with 3,018 locations.
| Trade (NAICS) | Count | Per 100,000 | Index vs US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurants and other eating places | 3,018 | 179.2 | 0.92× |
| Physicians' offices | 1,661 | 98.6 | 1.44× |
| Personal care services (all) | 1,111 | 66 | 1.31× |
| Legal services | 1,010 | 60 | 1.06× |
| General freight trucking | 830 | 49.3 | 1.34× |
| Landscaping services | 794 | 47.2 | 1.27× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 606 | 36 | 1.03× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 587 | 34.9 | 0.81× |
| Dentists | 580 | 34.4 | 0.81× |
| Beauty salons | 533 | 31.7 | 1.20× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 521 | 30.9 | 0.99× |
| Electrical contractors | 416 | 24.7 | 0.95× |
| Child day care services | 402 | 23.9 | 0.93× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 366 | 21.7 | 1.62× |
| General automotive repair | 338 | 20.1 | 0.75× |
| Automobile dealers | 253 | 15 | 1.02× |
| Roofing contractors | 158 | 9.4 | 1.17× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 137 | 8.1 | 1.11× |
| Self-storage facilities | 94 | 5.6 | 0.96× |
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 45 | 2.7 | 0.92× |
Index: local share of all establishments divided by the US share; above 1 means the trade is more common here than nationally.
Crowded categories in Jacksonville, FL: specialty trade contractors, physicians' offices, general freight trucking and personal care services. At the top of that list, specialty trade contractors number 366, 1.6 times the US share. The thin end of the table is general automotive repair, dentists and real estate lessors. General automotive repair are the thinnest at 338, about 75% of the national share. Close to the national mix: plumbing and HVAC contractors, electrical contractors and concrete contractors.
The most numerous of the listed trades: restaurants with 3,018 establishments, then physicians' offices (1,661) and personal care services (1,111). Relative to population the leaders are restaurants (179.2 per 100,000 residents), physicians' offices and personal care services. Across the groups, medical and dental practices run 1.2 times the US share and automotive businesses about 85% of.
Advertisers in specialty trade contractors, physicians' offices and general freight trucking 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 general automotive repair, dentists and real estate lessors 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 (about the same as the national median); they search, read reviews and call, which puts the weight on search, the listing and the phone.
The services that fit this market, given the numbers above. Each links to the full description.
Campaigns on Google fenced to the service area and judged on booked work.
Listing management for the map results that most local searches start and end with.
Search optimization aimed at the local queries that produce calls.
Design and build of a site that turns local traffic into leads.
Review generation and monitoring across Google and the other places people check.
A site assistant that answers questions and captures the lead at any hour.
Tell us the trade and the area; we will show you what the competition looks like and what it takes to be found.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023.