Pennsylvania: 13.02 million residents, 5th of 51 US states (with the District of Columbia). A count of the local trades and a read on where advertising is contested and where it is open.
The state contains 16 metro areas, from Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD (6.27 million people) down to the smallest listed at the end of this page.
Households here bring in a median of $77,971, 3 percent below the national figure. Home values tell their own story; here the median is $254,500, 24 percent below the national figure.
Unemployment 5.3%, about the same as the US share. The share of adults with a bachelor's or above is 35.2%, about the same as the US share. A older-than-average population: median age 40.9, 2 years above the national median. Homeownership is 69.3% here, 4 points above the US share; that is the pool of people who hire roofers, plumbers and landscapers rather than calling a landlord.
Compared with Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD: income is 15 percent lower than the Philadelphia metro figure, home values are 28 percent lower than the Philadelphia metro figure, and business density is 4 percent thinner than the Philadelphia metro figure.
How crowded is the market overall? Pennsylvania has 307,065 employer establishments. That works out to 23.6 businesses per 1,000 residents, 6 percent below the national figure (the national rate is 25 per 1,000). Home-services trades account for 15,424 of them (5% of all establishments, about the same as the US share). The busiest category listed below is restaurants (22,254 establishments).
| Business type | Establishments | Per 100k residents | Share ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highway, street and bridge construction | 361 | 2.8 | 1.06× |
| Self-storage facilities | 415 | 3.2 | 0.61× |
| Concrete foundation and structure contractors | 718 | 5.5 | 0.84× |
| Roofing contractors | 876 | 6.7 | 0.93× |
| Other specialty trade contractors (paving, asphalt, fencing) | 1,747 | 13.4 | 1.11× |
| Automobile dealers | 2,077 | 16 | 1.20× |
| Electrical contractors | 2,750 | 21.1 | 0.90× |
| Lessors of real estate (all) | 3,789 | 29.1 | 0.76× |
| Child day care services | 3,823 | 29.4 | 1.27× |
| Grocery and convenience retailers | 4,058 | 31.2 | 1.11× |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 4,154 | 31.9 | 1.02× |
| General freight trucking | 4,431 | 34 | 1.03× |
| General automotive repair | 4,533 | 34.8 | 1.45× |
| Dentists | 4,649 | 35.7 | 0.93× |
| Beauty salons | 4,846 | 37.2 | 1.57× |
| Landscaping services | 5,179 | 39.8 | 1.20× |
| Legal services | 5,829 | 44.8 | 0.88× |
| Personal care services (all) | 8,198 | 63 | 1.39× |
| Physicians' offices | 8,257 | 63.4 | 1.03× |
| Restaurants and other eating places | 22,254 | 170.9 | 0.98× |
Index: local share of all establishments divided by the US share; above 1 means the trade is more common here than nationally.
Where competition is thickest: beauty salons, general automotive repair, personal care services and child day care services all hold a larger share of the local base than they do nationally. Beauty salons are the clearest case: 4,846 establishments, 1.6 times the share they hold nationally. By contrast self-storage operators, real estate lessors and concrete contractors are comparatively scarce in Pennsylvania. Self-storage operators: 415 establishments, about 61% of the national share. Roughly where the national mix would put them: plumbing and HVAC contractors, roofing contractors and electrical contractors.
Per 100,000 residents: restaurants 170.9, followed by physicians' offices and personal care services. The most numerous of the listed trades: restaurants with 22,254 establishments, then physicians' offices (8,257) and personal care services (8,198). Sector view: automotive businesses index at 1.4 times the national share, trucking, storage, real estate and road construction at about the same as.
Advertisers in beauty salons, general automotive repair and personal care services 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. For self-storage operators, real estate lessors and concrete contractors 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 2 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. High homeownership (69.3%) means a large pool of people who pay for their own repairs, replacements and yard work, which favors the home-services trades in this market.
The services that fit this market, given the numbers above. Each links to the full description.
Billboard buys on digital boards in the market.
Google search ads for the exact services and towns, tracked to the phone call.
Listing management for the map results that most local searches start and end with.
Organic visibility for the searches that do not need an ad to win.
A clean, fast site with one job: make the call happen.
Retargeting so a visitor who left the site keeps seeing the business.
A short call, a free audit of your current listing and site, and a plan built on what actually competes in this market.
Data: US Census Bureau ACS 2024 5-year estimates and County Business Patterns 2023.