Saginaw, MI: a market profile for local advertisers

Income, homes and households

The metropolitan statistical area is centered on Saginaw, Michigan.

The median home is worth $152,800, 54 percent below the national figure, which shapes what homeowners will spend on repairs and upgrades. Income in Saginaw, MI: a median of $60,622 per household against $80,734 nationally, so 25 percent below the national figure. Together they say a good deal about the ticket sizes a local business can expect.

Unemployment in the civilian labor force is 6.4%, 1 points above the US share. Residents skew older than the national median: 41.2 years, 2.3 years above the national median. 74.1% of homes are lived in by their owners, 9 points above the US share. 24.4% of adults finished a four-year degree or more (11 points below the US share).

How does that compare with the state as a whole? Income in Saginaw, MI is 17 percent lower than the Michigan figure, the median home value is 34 percent lower than the Michigan figure, and business density is 5 percent thinner than the Michigan figure; the full numbers are on the Michigan page.

Competition, counted

The establishment count for Saginaw, MI is 4,092. Set against the population that is 21.7 per 1,000 residents, 13 percent below the national figure, against 25 nationally. The busiest category listed below is restaurants (314 establishments). The home-services trades that most often advertise locally number 196 establishments, a 4.8% share, about the same as the US share.

Ratio above 1.00: the trade holds a bigger share of the local business base than it does nationally; below 1.00, a smaller one.

Against the US mix, automobile dealers, physicians' offices, general automotive repair and child day care services are over-represented. Automobile dealers stand out with 31 locations, 1.4 times what the national mix would predict. Where the base is lighter: concrete contractors, road and paving contractors, real estate lessors and personal care services. Concrete contractors: 6 establishments, about half of the national share. Close to the national mix: plumbing and HVAC contractors, roofing contractors and electrical contractors.

Three categories dominate by count: restaurants at 314, physicians' offices at 144 and legal services at 72. Adjusted for population, restaurants are the thickest on the ground (166.4 per 100,000), with physicians' offices and legal services next. Taken as groups, the strongest relative to the US mix are automotive businesses (1.3 times the national share) and the weakest are trucking, storage, real estate and road construction (about 78% of).

Where the openings are

Because automobile dealers, physicians' offices and general automotive repair 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. Scarcity in concrete contractors, road and paving contractors and real estate lessors cuts the other way: fewer rivals per search, cheaper clicks, and a chance to become the default answer in the map results with a modest, steady effort. With a median age 2.3 years above the national median, the classic path of search, reviews and a phone call still carries most of the business. Homeownership of 74.1% is above the national share; more of the households that search for home services are also the ones that decide and pay. With household income 25 percent below the national figure, price transparency and financing matter more in the ad copy, and a phone call is usually the conversion to optimize for.