Ranked 16th of 51 states (with the District of Columbia) in the United States, Massachusetts counts 7.04 million residents. People, homes, work, and the shape of the local business landscape, drawn from public data.
The state contains 6 metro areas, from Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH (4.95 million people) down to the smallest listed at the end of this page.
Households here bring in a median of $103,960, 29 percent above the national figure. The typical owner-occupied home is valued at $562,100, 69 percent above the national figure. For a business that sells to homeowners, that combination sets the ceiling on what a job is worth.
Ownership: 62.5% of households own their home, 3 points below the US share. Education: 47.3% with a bachelor's or higher, 12 points above the US share. The civilian labor force numbers 3,911,446 people with unemployment at 5.2%, about the same as the US share. A older-than-average population: median age 40, 1.1 years above the national median.
Relative to Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, household income in Massachusetts is 10 percent lower than the Boston metro figure, home values are 13 percent lower than the Boston metro figure, and businesses per 1,000 residents are 3 percent thinner than the Boston metro figure.
The business base: 183,767 establishments with employees. Relative to population, 26.1 per 1,000 residents, 4 percent above the national figure. The home-services trades that most often advertise locally number 11,928 establishments, a 6.5% share, 2 points above the US share.
| Category | Locations | Per 100k people | Local ÷ US share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Landscaping services | 4,555 | 64.7 | 1.76× |
| Electrical contractors | 2,640 | 37.5 | 1.44× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 3,098 | 44 | 1.41× |
| Beauty salons | 2,569 | 36.5 | 1.39× |
| Personal care services (all) | 4,648 | 66 | 1.32× |
| Child day care services | 2,309 | 32.8 | 1.28× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 3,069 | 43.6 | 1.26× |
| Dentists | 3,188 | 45.3 | 1.07× |
| Restaurants and other eating places | 14,609 | 207.4 | 1.07× |
| Automobile dealers | 1,067 | 15.1 | 1.03× |
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 207 | 2.9 | 1.02× |
| Legal services | 4,062 | 57.7 | 1.02× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 930 | 13.2 | 0.99× |
| General automotive repair | 1,806 | 25.6 | 0.97× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 2,549 | 36.2 | 0.85× |
| Self-storage facilities | 330 | 4.7 | 0.81× |
| Roofing contractors | 433 | 6.1 | 0.77× |
| Physicians' offices | 2,882 | 40.9 | 0.60× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 301 | 4.3 | 0.59× |
| General freight trucking | 1,252 | 17.8 | 0.49× |
Reading the index: 1.00 matches the national mix, 1.50 means half again as common here, 0.50 half as common.
Crowded categories in Massachusetts: landscaping services, electrical contractors, grocery stores and beauty salons. The sharpest example is landscaping services: 4,555 establishments, 1.8 times the share seen nationally. By contrast general freight trucking, concrete contractors, physicians' offices and roofing contractors are comparatively scarce in Massachusetts. General freight trucking are the thinnest at 1,252, about half of the national share. Specialty trade contractors, road and paving contractors and general automotive repair track the US share closely.
By raw count the largest categories here are restaurants (14,609), personal care services (4,648) and landscaping services (4,555). Adjusted for population, restaurants are the thickest on the ground (207.4 per 100,000), with personal care services and landscaping services next. By sector, the home-services trades are the most over-represented at 1.3 times the US share; trucking, storage, real estate and road construction are the least, at about 70% of.
For landscaping services, electrical contractors and grocery stores, expect the Google Ads auction to be contested: more advertisers per search means higher cost per click and a real premium on ad relevance, landing-page quality and call tracking that proves which keywords produce jobs. For general freight trucking, concrete contractors and physicians' offices the picture is the opposite. Fewer competing profiles means a complete listing, a fast site and a modest search budget can take a disproportionate share of the searches that exist. An older-than-average market (median age 1.1 years above the national median) responds to search results, review counts and a phone number that is answered; it is less swayed by feed advertising. Income 29 percent above the national figure means larger average jobs; the pitch should match, with premium options shown plainly.
A short list of services chosen for this market; the full range is on the services page.
A site assistant that answers questions and captures the lead at any hour.
Campaigns on Google fenced to the service area and judged on booked work.
Keeping the Business Profile complete, current and answered so it earns the map placement.
Organic visibility for the searches that do not need an ad to win.
Design and build of a site that turns local traffic into leads.
Review generation and monitoring across Google and the other places people check.
We will look at your Business Profile, your site and your current ads, then say plainly what to fix first.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023.