Michigan: 10.08 million residents, 10th of 51 US states (with the District of Columbia). People, homes, work, and the shape of the local business landscape, drawn from public data.
The state contains 15 metro areas, from Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI (4.38 million people) down to the smallest listed at the end of this page.
A $72,875 median household income puts Michigan 10 percent below the national figure. The typical owner-occupied home is valued at $231,600, 30 percent below the national figure.
Owners occupy 73.2% of homes, 8 points above the US share. The median resident is 40.2 years old, 1.3 years above the national median. Unemployment 5.7%, about the same as the US share. 32.4% of adults over 25 hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 3 points below the US share.
One more comparison, this time with Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI: median income 5 percent lower than the Detroit metro figure, median home value 7 percent lower than the Detroit metro figure, business density 3 percent thinner than the Detroit metro figure.
The establishment count for Michigan is 229,564. Density runs 22.8 businesses for every 1,000 residents, 9 percent below the national figure. The table breaks out the categories that spend the most on local advertising; restaurants is the biggest of them at 16,941. Home-services trades account for 10,981 of them (4.8% of all establishments, about the same as the US share).
| Trade | Establishments | Per 100,000 residents | vs US mix |
|---|---|---|---|
| General freight trucking | 4,045 | 40.1 | 1.26× |
| Landscaping services | 3,797 | 37.7 | 1.17× |
| Automobile dealers | 1,507 | 15 | 1.17× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 1,336 | 13.3 | 1.14× |
| Physicians' offices | 6,747 | 66.9 | 1.13× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 718 | 7.1 | 1.12× |
| General automotive repair | 2,549 | 25.3 | 1.09× |
| Dentists | 3,795 | 37.7 | 1.02× |
| Restaurants and other eating places | 16,941 | 168.1 | 1.00× |
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 244 | 2.4 | 0.96× |
| Beauty salons | 2,170 | 21.5 | 0.94× |
| Child day care services | 2,090 | 20.7 | 0.93× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 2,527 | 25.1 | 0.92× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 2,661 | 26.4 | 0.87× |
| Electrical contractors | 1,960 | 19.4 | 0.86× |
| Legal services | 4,135 | 41 | 0.83× |
| Personal care services (all) | 3,436 | 34.1 | 0.78× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 2,849 | 28.3 | 0.76× |
| Roofing contractors | 509 | 5.1 | 0.73× |
| Self-storage facilities | 312 | 3.1 | 0.61× |
Index: local share of all establishments divided by the US share; above 1 means the trade is more common here than nationally.
More common here than nationally: general freight trucking, landscaping services and automobile dealers. The sharpest example is general freight trucking: 4,045 establishments, 1.3 times the share seen nationally. Under-represented categories: self-storage operators, roofing contractors, real estate lessors and personal care services. Self-storage operators are the thinnest at 312, about 61% of the national share. Plumbing and HVAC contractors, electrical contractors and concrete contractors sit near their national proportions.
Per resident the densest are restaurants at 168.1 per 100,000 people, then physicians' offices and legal services. Three categories dominate by count: restaurants at 16,941, physicians' offices at 6,747 and legal services at 4,135. Across the groups, automotive businesses run about the same as the US share and legal services about 83% of.
Because general freight trucking, landscaping services and automobile dealers are over-represented, a new entrant in those categories competes for a fixed pool of searches against many established profiles. Reviews, photos, response time and a page that answers the exact query are what move the needle; simply outbidding is expensive. In self-storage operators, roofing contractors and real estate lessors, the shortage of local establishments is an opening: the searches are there, the competition for them is not, and a listing that ranks plus a page that converts can own the category quickly. Homeownership of 73.2% is above the national share; more of the households that search for home services are also the ones that decide and pay. Residents here are older than the US median (1.3 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 Michigan; the complete list is one click away.
Listing management for the map results that most local searches start and end with.
Site structure, pages and citations that earn organic placement in Michigan.
A site built to convert a local search into a phone call or a form.
Content for the site, planned around what people search.
Display and retargeting across the sites people in Michigan read.
Search advertising that pays for intent, not impressions.
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.