Vermont ranks #1 state for small business support

States and Cities Searching for Small Businesses

Which states and cities supported small businesses the most in 2022 based on how often residents searched for related terms.

All but one of the top five most supportive states were in the eastern half of the U.S., including:

1. Vermont
2. North Carolina
3. South Carolina
4. Georgia
5. Colorado

However, many cities in the Midwest and West also seemed interested in shopping small. Texas is home to six of the top 25, ranking as follows by search volume:

• Dallas (No. 5)
• Houston (No. 10)
• Fort Worth (No. 12)
• Austin (No. 14)
• San Antonio (No. 16)
• Arlington (No. 17)

Commonly Searched Small Business Categories

U.S. small businesses that likely had the most customer support last year, let’s see which small business types had the most search interest overall.

Based on 2022 nationwide search volume, Etsy shops were the most popular small businesses searched for in the U.S. The next most commonly searched category was clothing, but despite interest in clothing boutiques rising, Americans searched more for fast fashion. Since 2019, searches for big fast fashion brands have increased by 70%.

Trending by State

Most searched business categories by state to see where they got the most interest last year.

The small business category that had search interest from the most states was home improvement contracting. Services like these tend to be carried out by small companies and independent proprietors, which might explain why it was the top small business search in these seven states:

1. Connecticut
2. Maryland
3. Montana
4. New Jersey
5. Pennsylvania
6. Virginia
7. West Virginia

Business Category Preference by City

Let’s narrow it down even further and see which small business categories were the most popular across major U.S. cities.

Of all the small business categories we studied, home renovation services topped the list in more cities than any other. Of these six cities, two are in California and two in Florida:

1. Long Beach, CA
2. Miami, FL
3. Phoenix, AZ
4. San Antonio, TX
5. San Diego, CA
6. Tampa, FL

Contrasting with our state-by-state breakdown, home improvement contractors only had the most searches in two cities: Virginia Beach, VA, and Philadelphia, PA. These two categories might sound similar, but renovations are more specific. For example, home renovations are just one category of service a contractor might offer.

Small Business Searches Over Time

Now that we know the top search groups in both cities and states, let’s see how searches related to small businesses have changed in volume over time.

Between 2019 and 2022, the volume of these small business searches increased by 267%. And despite inflation, they increased 33% over the course of 2022 alone. And for the most part, this reflects the month-to-month and quarterly trends as well.

When we aggregated yearly data between 2019 and 2022, we saw search volume drop in February before nearly doubling over the following two months. However, this dip could be due to the government reopening after a long shutdown letting up at the end of January 2019.

Good News for American Small Business

We saw a steady increase in the demand for goods and services produced by small businesses over the past few years based on search trends. If that’s any indication of what we can expect in the coming year, that’s good news for small-business owners — especially Etsy sellers and home improvement contractors. Interest in these products and services has remained strong, even in the face of a possible recession. Hopefully, that means a strong future for small businesses.