Small Business Website Statistics 2026: Data From 42,985 Local Businesses
How common is it for local businesses to have no website listed in 2026? ProspectGrid analyzed Google Places data across five U.S. cities and five local-business industries to measure how often businesses had no website listed.
The dataset contains 43,914 city-category records representing 42,985 unique businesses, identified by unique Google CIDs.
Across the category-level records, 18,246 had no website listed in their Google Places profile.
The results show that website-listing patterns vary substantially by industry and local market. Auto repair businesses had the largest website gap among the five industries studied, while roofing contractors had the smallest.
Key statistics
- 42,985 unique local businesses were included in the dataset.
- 18,246 category-level records had no website listed in Google Places.
- 47.7% of auto repair records had no website listed.
- 24.1% of roofing contractor records had no website listed.
- Philadelphia had the largest five-industry average website gap at 39.5%.
- Phoenix had the smallest five-industry average website gap at 28.1%.
- The highest individual city-industry rate was 55.8% for auto repair businesses in Philadelphia.
These figures describe the businesses observed in this study. They should not be interpreted as estimates for all small businesses in the United States.
Listed website presence by industry
The strongest difference in the dataset appears between industries.
| Industry | Records analyzed | No website listed | Share with no website listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto repair | 29,976 | 14,293 | 47.7% |
| Electricians | 3,076 | 999 | 32.5% |
| HVAC | 4,196 | 1,268 | 30.2% |
| Plumbers | 2,680 | 724 | 27.0% |
| Roofing contractors | 3,986 | 962 | 24.1% |
Nearly half of auto repair records had no website listed
Auto repair stands out clearly from the other industries in the study.
Of 29,976 auto repair records, 14,293 — 47.7% — had no website listed.
That is more than 15 percentage points above electricians, the industry with the second-highest rate.
The finding was not limited to a single city. Auto repair produced a comparatively large website gap across the markets studied, including:
- 55.8% in Philadelphia
- 50.9% in Houston
- 39.4% in Phoenix
This makes auto repair the clearest example in the dataset of an established local-service industry where a substantial share of Google business listings still lack a website link.
Electricians: 32.5% had no website listed
Among 3,076 electrician records, 999 had no website listed, for a rate of 32.5%.
Electricians therefore showed a considerably smaller website gap than auto repair businesses, but a larger one than HVAC contractors, plumbers and roofing contractors.
For example, the rate reached 35.9% in Philadelphia and 34.3% in Phoenix.
HVAC: 30.2% had no website listed
ProspectGrid analyzed 4,196 HVAC records. Of these, 1,268 — 30.2% — had no website listed.
The city results varied. In Houston the figure was 29.0%, while Philadelphia reached 34.1%.
Plumbers: 27.0% had no website listed
Of 2,680 plumber records, 724 had no website listed, representing 27.0% of the category-level records analyzed.
Plumbing also produced one of the largest city-to-city differences in the dataset. In Philadelphia, 38.5% of plumber records had no website listed, compared with just 19.3% in Phoenix.
That Phoenix result was the lowest city-industry percentage observed anywhere in the study.
Roofing contractors had the smallest website gap
Roofing contractors had the highest level of listed website presence among the five industries examined.
Of 3,986 roofing records, 962 — 24.1% — had no website listed.
The rate was 33.2% in Philadelphia, compared with 21.5% in Phoenix and 20.9% in Houston.
While roughly one in four roofing records in the full category dataset lacked a website listing, the industry was substantially more likely to have a website listed than auto repair.
Website gaps also vary by city
Industry is only part of the picture. The study also compared Charlotte, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia and Phoenix.
Because the number of businesses differs substantially between industries — particularly because auto repair contributes far more records than the other categories — ProspectGrid compared cities using the unweighted average of the five industry percentages.
This prevents a city's auto repair market from dominating its overall result simply because the category contains more listings.
| City | Average no-website-listed rate |
|---|---|
| Philadelphia | 39.5% |
| Chicago | 34.5% |
| Houston | 31.7% |
| Charlotte | 28.6% |
| Phoenix | 28.1% |
Philadelphia had the largest average website gap
Across the five industries, Philadelphia had an average no-website-listed rate of 39.5%, the highest of the five cities.
Several Philadelphia categories were also individually high:
- Auto repair: 55.8%
- Plumbers: 38.5%
- Electricians: 35.9%
- HVAC: 34.1%
- Roofing: 33.2%
The pattern suggests that the website gap in the dataset is not explained by one unusually weak industry alone.
Phoenix had the smallest average gap
Phoenix had the lowest five-industry average at 28.1%.
Its plumber market was particularly notable: just 19.3% of the plumber records analyzed had no website listed.
Phoenix auto repair was substantially higher at 39.4%, illustrating why industry-level data remains important even within markets that perform relatively well overall.
Charlotte had the second-smallest five-industry average
Charlotte's five-industry average was 28.6%, only slightly above Phoenix.
The difference between Charlotte and Philadelphia reinforces one of the main findings of the research: a national percentage alone can conceal substantial differences between individual local markets.
Why these numbers differ from national small-business website estimates
Statistics about small-business website adoption often attempt to answer a broad question such as: “What percentage of small businesses have a website?”
This study answers a narrower question.
It examines whether businesses appearing in Google Places searches for selected local industries and cities had a website listed in their Google business data at the time of collection.
The dataset does not include every type of small business. It focuses on five local-service categories:
- Auto repair shops
- Electricians
- HVAC contractors
- Plumbers
- Roofing contractors
And it covers five U.S. cities:
- Charlotte
- Chicago
- Houston
- Philadelphia
- Phoenix
The results therefore should not be extrapolated into a national estimate such as “X% of all U.S. small businesses do not have websites.”
Instead, they provide direct observations of website-listing status within specific local-business markets.
What “no website listed” means
A record was classified as having no website listed when the Website field returned for the business was empty.
This does not necessarily prove that the business has no website anywhere on the internet.
For example, a business could have a website that:
- is not connected to its Google listing;
- was launched after the data was collected;
- appears under a different business identity;
- was temporarily absent or incorrectly configured in the listing.
For that reason, ProspectGrid uses the wording “no website listed” rather than claiming that every such business definitively operates without a website.
For sales prospecting, individual businesses should always be verified before contact.
Methodology
ProspectGrid collected the data on October 2–3, 2026 using Google Places data.
The research covered five cities and five business categories, producing 25 city-industry datasets.
The five cities were Charlotte, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia and Phoenix.
The five industries were auto repair, electricians, HVAC, plumbers and roofing contractors.
The collected datasets contained 43,914 category-level records.
Businesses were also identified using their Google CID. After deduplicating businesses appearing across datasets, the research contained 42,985 globally unique Google CIDs.
The industry statistics in this article use category-level records because a business may legitimately appear in more than one category.
City comparisons use the unweighted average of the website-gap percentage for each of the five industries rather than pooling every record in the city. This gives each industry equal influence on the city comparison.
Limitations
This study is intended to measure observable patterns in selected local markets, not to provide a census of U.S. businesses.
Google Places coverage is not a complete business registry. Businesses without a Google listing, businesses missed by the search methodology and some service-area businesses may not appear.
Category assignments can overlap. A company may provide several services or appear under more than one relevant business category.
A missing Website field does not conclusively mean a business has no website. It means no website was listed in the data used for this study.
The study covers five industries and five cities. Results should not be generalized to all industries, cities or U.S. small businesses.
Business listings change over time. Companies launch and close websites, update Google profiles and change business information, so the figures represent the dataset as collected on October 2–3, 2026.
What the data tells us
The most important conclusion is not that there is one universal percentage of local businesses with no website listed.
The data suggests the opposite.
Website-listing patterns vary substantially by both industry and geography.
- 47.7% of auto repair records had no website listed.
- Only 24.1% of roofing records did.
- Philadelphia averaged 39.5% across the five industries.
- Phoenix averaged 28.1%.
- Philadelphia auto repair reached 55.8%.
- Phoenix plumbers were at 19.3%.
For web designers, local SEO agencies and other businesses serving local companies, this means market selection matters.
A national statistic can indicate that a market opportunity exists. City- and industry-level data can show where that opportunity is concentrated.
Citing this research
These statistics may be cited in articles, reports, presentations and other publications with attribution to ProspectGrid and a link to this page.
Source: ProspectGrid, October 2026
Suggested citation:
ProspectGrid, “Small Business Website Statistics 2026: Data From 42,985 Local Businesses,” October 2026.
Examples of findings that may be cited:
ProspectGrid analyzed 42,985 unique local businesses across five U.S. cities and found substantial differences in listed website presence by industry.
In ProspectGrid's 2026 dataset, 47.7% of auto repair records had no website listed, compared with 24.1% of roofing contractor records.
ProspectGrid found that Philadelphia had a 39.5% average no-website-listed rate across five local-business industries, compared with 28.1% in Phoenix.
Please link to this page when citing the data.
Related ProspectGrid research
For the full methodology and broader analysis, see The Local Business Website Gap Study.
For detailed comparisons across individual markets and industries, see Local Business Website Gap by City and Industry.
Find local businesses without a listed website
Search Google Places by industry and location, then identify businesses with relevant website and local-search signals for further qualification.
Data collected October 2–3, 2026. Last updated October 8, 2026.