Internet Marketing Services
5.0 Rating on GoogleReading the numbers
The Census count of employer locations shows 33,343 places of business in Wayne County and 645,807 employees on payroll, but those totals hide the shape. Manufacturing is the largest employer of residents at 17.9 percent, health care follows at 15.4 percent, and retail comes third at 10.4 percent. The trades below are the local-service side of that economy: the ones whose customers search online for a nearby provider.
The Wayne County business landscape described here is the county as a whole. A business that serves Dearborn, Taylor or Livonia competes in a smaller pool, and a Detroit business competes in another, so use them as a starting point for a conversation about your cities, not as a verdict on your trade. They are meant for Wayne County businesses weighing where to spend marketing money, across Wayne County, Michigan and the Detroit metro around it. The counts are from County Business Patterns 2017 and 2022, which count employer locations and omit sole proprietors.
All fifteen trades
| Trade | Locations | Locations per 10,000 people | Compared with a typical county | Share with fewer than 10 staff | Locations with 20 or more staff | Count against 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential remodelers | 453 | 2.6 | 0.8 times | 92 of 100 | 6 | +37.3 percent |
| Roofing contractors | 43 | 0.2 | 0.3 times | 77 of 100 | 6 | +10.3 percent |
| Electrical contractors | 180 | 1 | 0.4 times | 74 of 100 | 25 | +3.4 percent |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 297 | 1.7 | 0.5 times | 74 of 100 | 35 | -1 percent |
| Insurance agencies and brokerages | 349 | 2 | 0.6 times | 92 of 100 | 7 | -12.5 percent |
| Real estate agents and brokers | 318 | 1.8 | 0.7 times | 95 of 100 | 7 | +25.2 percent |
| Law offices | 483 | 2.8 | 0.9 times | 86 of 100 | 32 | -9.9 percent |
| Accounting and CPA firms | 162 | 0.9 | 0.7 times | 83 of 100 | 11 | -12 percent |
| Janitorial services | 245 | 1.4 | 0.8 times | 76 of 100 | 31 | +11.9 percent |
| Landscaping services | 370 | 2.1 | 0.6 times | 89 of 100 | 15 | +13.8 percent |
| Physicians offices | 924 | 5.3 | 1.3 times | 70 of 100 | 106 | -6.6 percent |
| Dentists | 588 | 3.4 | 1.2 times | 69 of 100 | 36 | -5.8 percent |
| Full-service restaurants | 1,154 | 6.6 | 1 times | 48 of 100 | 382 | +2.3 percent |
| General automotive repair | 467 | 2.7 | 1 times | 93 of 100 | 8 | -5.3 percent |
| Beauty salons | 346 | 2 | 1 times | 86 of 100 | 13 | +3.6 percent |
Source: Census County Business Patterns, 2022 against 2017, employer locations only. A typical county is the median among counties with 20,000 residents or more.
Crowded and quiet
Physicians offices are the most crowded trade against the typical county, at 5.3 locations per 10,000 residents, or 1.3 times the typical county. Dentists come next at 1.2 times, and beauty salons are the third. For those trades in Wayne County, a business is competing against many others for the same Maps spots, so reviews, a complete Business Profile and paid search are part of the first quarter.
At the other end, roofing contractors have 0.2 locations per 10,000 residents, 0.3 times the typical county. Only 43 are counted, though many roofers work as sole proprietors and are not in employer data. Electrical contractors and plumbing, heating and air-conditioning firms also sit well below the typical density. For them, well-built city pages can move faster than in a crowded lane.
Growth and loss
Residential remodelers grew most, up 37.3 percent to 453 locations, followed by real estate agents and brokers at 25.2 percent, landscaping services at 13.8 percent and janitorial services at 11.9 percent. More competitors arriving usually means more people searching for the same terms and more reviews to match.
Meanwhile insurance agencies and brokerages fell 12.5 percent, accounting and CPA firms 12 percent and law offices 9.9 percent. A trade that is shrinking in count is not necessarily shrinking in demand, but it does mean fewer businesses are competing for the same households. Population also moved: the county's estimate fell 2.4 percent between 2020 and 2023, so Wayne County, Michigan, is not a market that grows by itself.
New homes
| Year | Units permitted |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,240 |
| 2022 | 2,381 |
| 2023 | 1,904 |
| 2024 | 2,629 |
| 2025 | 3,912 |
Source: Census Building Permits Survey, privately owned housing units authorized. Annual totals for the county.
What the permit counts suggest
Permits fell to 1,904 in 2023 and rose to 2,629 in 2024, then reached 3,912 in 2025, the highest of the five years shown and well above the 2,240 in 2021. The county holds 792,169 housing units, so new construction is small next to the existing stock, and most home-service demand still comes from older houses that need repair, remodeling and replacement.
Residential remodelers grew faster than any trade in this table, which agrees with that picture. For a contractor in Wayne County, the useful reading is that older-home work is the bigger market, while new-home activity matters most for landscaping, cleaning, real estate and finish trades in the cities where permits concentrate.
Households
| Measure | Wayne County | Typical Michigan county | Typical U.S. county |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $57,223 | $59,467 | $60,522 |
| Median age | 37.7 | 43.6 | 41.4 |
| Renter households | 36 percent | 19.2 percent | 26.1 percent |
| Foreign-born residents | 9.4 percent | 1.8 percent | 2.7 percent |
| Residents below the poverty line | 20.2 percent | 13.4 percent | 13.5 percent |
| Workers who work from home | 10.5 percent | 7.4 percent | 7 percent |
Source: Census ACS 5-year estimates for 2018 to 2022. Typical means the median county in that group.
What it means
Physicians, dentists and law offices have the highest locations per resident among the trades, and several lost locations since 2017. Reviews, Business Profile quality and distinct service pages for each city set one practice apart from another.
Plumbing, electrical and roofing are thinner than the typical county, while remodelers grew sharply. Build pages by city and service first, and add paid ads when a service is urgent or seasonal.
Restaurants have the largest count and the most locations with 20 or more staff, while auto repair and salons are small shops. Maps, photos and review responses carry most of their local search work.
Real estate agents grew while insurance agencies and accountants shrank. Content, local pages and reviews support referrals, and each should name the cities and neighborhoods the agent knows.
Plan fit
Once you know where your trade sits in the Wayne County business landscape, the plan follows. A dense lane such as clinics or salons usually starts on Organic Growth Silver at $1,495 a month when the website is sound, or Gold at $2,495 when a managed website is needed. A thinner lane such as roofing or electrical can begin with RankGuarantee™ landing pages at $495 a month and add more later. Paid ads management begins at $895 a month for one platform, with ad spend paid to the platform. Every plan is month to month, with no setup fee and no contract.
Questions
Reading the counts is part of our planning. The work itself is priced per plan: $495 monthly for RankGuarantee™ landing pages, $1,495, $2,495 or $3,495 for Organic Growth, and $895 or more for paid ads management, plus ad spend. Nobody pays a setup fee or signs a contract.
They are survey years, not live data. County Business Patterns is 2017 and 2022, the household figures are ACS 2018-2022, and permits cover 2021 to 2025. They are good for comparing trades and spotting direction, but a local search check is better for today's competition.
No. It means more businesses compete for the same Maps spots and search results, so a plan should lean on reviews, profile quality and often paid ads. A dense trade can still be profitable for a business that is clearly the better choice for a city or service.
The counts are employer locations only, and many roofers work as sole proprietors or small crews with no payroll, so they do not appear. The low figure signals less competition from large employer firms in Wayne County, not that nobody does roofing here. A roofer should still check the Maps results in each city.
Not in this table. These are fifteen local-service trades. Manufacturing is the largest employer of residents in the Census count, but a plant supplier needs a different comparison, usually by capability, by certification and by the Wayne County cities near its customers.
The data do not say why, and we do not guess. Consolidation, retirements, mergers and moves can all reduce location counts. For marketing in Wayne County, it means the remaining offices compete for the same patients and clients, so findability on Maps and in search matters more.
Yes. Send us the trade and the cities you serve, and we can look at the local search results and Maps listings directly, city by city, in Wayne County and the neighboring counties. The fifteen-trade table is a starting set, not a limit, and a trade that is not in it can still be studied.
Explore more
Get in Touch
We will compare how crowded your trade is in your cities and suggest which service to start with. Month to month, no setup fee, no contract. Call 610-825-4363 or email hello@getphound.com.