Home services
Remodelers (up 38.5 percent), roofing (37.1), plumbing and HVAC (22.0) and electrical (19.5) added locations fast. 88 of 100 remodeler locations have under 10 staff, so most are small shops competing on local trust and reviews.
Trade by trade 
5.0 Rating on Google
Maricopa County Business Landscape: Crowded Trades, Roomy Trades and a Slowing Build
The Maricopa County business landscape in the Census County Business Patterns shows 107,648 employer locations and 1,940,767 employees in 2022, with a few trades packed in far beyond the typical county and others with room. GetPhound is an online marketing company for businesses in the county, and this page reads each trade row for what it means for search, Maps and ads.
5.0 Rating on Google- 107,648Employer locations, 2022
- 1,940,767Employees, 2022
- 4,585,871Residents, 2023 estimate
- +3.6 percentChange since 2020
- $80,675Median household income
Where the count stands
Packed Trades, Roomy Trades and What Moved Since 2017
The fifteen-trade table below sets each Maricopa County trade against the median county with 20,000 or more residents. The pattern is lopsided. Real estate agents and brokers number 4,769 locations, 3.74 times the typical density, and the count is up 48 percent since 2017. Physician offices (1.79 times typical), law offices (1.70) and dentists (1.63) also sit well above the norm. At the other end, roofing contractors (0.74 times), landscaping services (0.75) and general automotive repair (0.83) sit below it.
Roomy does not mean easy, and crowded does not mean closed. Roofing added locations at 37.1 percent since 2017, so the room is filling. Real estate in Maricopa County, Arizona is crowded and growing at once, which makes a clear specialty and a strong Business Profile more important than another general page.
The fifteen trades
The Fifteen Trade Rows, Each Against the Median County
Locations are employer locations only, so sole proprietors are not counted. Read the versus-typical column for crowding and the last column for momentum.
| Trade | Locations | Per 10,000 residents | Versus typical county | Under 10 staff | With 20+ staff | Change since 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residential remodelers | 1,373 | 3 | 1 times | 88 of 100 | 62 | +38.5 percent |
| Roofing contractors | 288 | 0.6 | 0.7 times | 70 of 100 | 51 | +37.1 percent |
| Electrical contractors | 1,078 | 2.4 | 1 times | 73 of 100 | 177 | +19.5 percent |
| Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors | 1,558 | 3.4 | 1.1 times | 76 of 100 | 214 | +22 percent |
| Insurance agencies and brokerages | 2,048 | 4.5 | 1.2 times | 92 of 100 | 81 | +4.7 percent |
| Real estate agents and brokers | 4,769 | 10.4 | 3.7 times | 98 of 100 | 58 | +48 percent |
| Law offices | 2,290 | 5 | 1.7 times | 87 of 100 | 126 | +4.9 percent |
| Accounting and CPA firms | 795 | 1.7 | 1.3 times | 87 of 100 | 40 | +1.4 percent |
| Janitorial services | 807 | 1.8 | 1 times | 77 of 100 | 113 | +8.3 percent |
| Landscaping services | 1,149 | 2.5 | 0.7 times | 76 of 100 | 167 | +4.8 percent |
| Physicians offices | 3,383 | 7.4 | 1.8 times | 73 of 100 | 429 | -0.7 percent |
| Dentists | 2,143 | 4.7 | 1.6 times | 77 of 100 | 112 | +9.7 percent |
| Full-service restaurants | 2,784 | 6.1 | 0.9 times | 34 of 100 | 1,338 | +7.9 percent |
| General automotive repair | 994 | 2.2 | 0.8 times | 85 of 100 | 34 | +12.7 percent |
| Beauty salons | 1,148 | 2.5 | 1.3 times | 84 of 100 | 51 | +23.8 percent |
Census County Business Patterns 2022 (employer locations only, so sole proprietors are not counted) against 2017. Typical county means the median county with 20,000 or more residents.
Reading your row
Four Families of Trades, Four Marketing Jobs
Professional services
The most crowded family. Law offices are at 1.70 times typical, accounting 1.27 and insurance 1.24, and 98 of 100 real estate locations are under 10 staff. Standing out takes a specialty, a city focus and reviews, not more of the same.
Health and beauty
Physician offices are the only trade here that lost locations since 2017 (down 0.7 percent) and 429 of them have 20 or more staff. Dentists are at 1.63 times typical and beauty salons added 23.8 percent.
Hospitality and auto
Restaurants number 2,784 locations, 1,338 with 20 or more staff, so many are large operations, while only 34 of 100 have fewer than 10. Auto repair sits at 0.83 times typical and added 12.7 percent.
The growth front
Building Permits Since 2021: The Pace of New Homes
New residential units authorized by permit are the clearest measure of the building boom behind many of these trades.
| Year | New residential units authorized |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 42,123 |
| 2022 | 40,550 |
| 2023 | 38,292 |
| 2024 | 36,380 |
| 2025 | 31,097 |
Census Building Permits Survey, new privately owned housing units authorized by permit.
The lens
A Growth Front That Is Slowing but Still Large
Permits slid in every year of the series, from 42,123 in 2021 to 31,097 in 2025. That is still tens of thousands of new homes a year across Maricopa County, so the growth front is cooling and not stopped, and new households keep arriving at the edges. We report the permit counts and do not claim to know why they moved.
For marketing in Maricopa County, Arizona, the shift matters in two ways. Trades tied to new construction, such as remodelers, electrical and landscaping, may see a different mix of work, with more from existing homes. And every new household still needs a plumber, a dentist and a lawyer it has not met. If you sell to them, your SEO and Maps presence are what they find first, and paid search fills the gaps.
Leaders
Where the Table Leans: Most Crowded, Fastest Growing and Largest
Three rankings drawn from the same fifteen rows. Real estate shows up in all three, which is why it needs a narrow specialty more than a broader page.
| Most crowded (versus typical) | Fastest growing (since 2017) | Most locations |
|---|---|---|
| Real estate agents and brokers, 3.74 times typical | Real estate agents and brokers, +48 percent | Real estate agents and brokers, 4,769 locations |
| Physicians offices, 1.79 times typical | Residential remodelers, +38.5 percent | Physicians offices, 3,383 locations |
| Law offices, 1.70 times typical | Roofing contractors, +37.1 percent | Full-service restaurants, 2,784 locations |
| Dentists, 1.63 times typical | Beauty salons, +23.8 percent | Law offices, 2,290 locations |
| Beauty salons, 1.31 times typical | Plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors, +22 percent | Dentists, 2,143 locations |
Who works here
The Largest Employment Sectors Behind the Trade Rows
County Business Patterns counts employer locations, and the American Community Survey counts workers by sector. Together they show that health care and retail lead the workforce, with education, finance and professional services close behind, so the customer base for many of the fifteen trades is itself a business or a health system.
| Sector | Workers | Share of workers |
|---|---|---|
| Health care and social assistance | 268,010 | 12.3 percent |
| Retail trade | 259,366 | 11.9 percent |
| Education | 181,275 | 8.3 percent |
| Finance and insurance | 171,120 | 7.9 percent |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 168,481 | 7.7 percent |
| Manufacturing | 168,248 | 7.7 percent |
Census ACS 5-year estimates 2018-2022, workers 16 and older by industry.
Size and sector
Large Employers and Small Shops Need Different Marketing
Counting locations hides how large they are. Of the 2,784 full-service restaurants in Maricopa County, 1,338 have 20 or more staff, while 88 of every 100 residential remodeler locations have fewer than 10. The first group competes through brand, hours and menus, and the second through reviews, trust and a quick reply. The right website and Business Profile for each look different even when both sit in the same city.
Health care and social assistance is the largest sector by workers, and physician offices are the largest professional group by location count after real estate. Dentists, with 2,143 locations, sit at 1.63 times the typical density. A practice in this crowd wins by being specific about who it serves, where it is and how to book, and local SEO for Maricopa County businesses is where that specificity shows up on the map.
Using the numbers
Finding and Reading Your Own Trade Row
Find your row and your density
Look at the versus-typical column for your trade in Maricopa County. Under 1.00 means fewer locations per resident than the typical county; above it means more.
Check the momentum
The last column shows whether the trade added or lost locations since 2017. Fast growth means rivals are arriving, even in a roomy trade.
Look at size
The under-10-staff share and the 20-plus column show whether you compete with small shops or large operators. That changes what your site and reviews must prove.
Pick your first channel
For a business in Maricopa County, crowded, call-led trades usually start with a clear specialty and Google Ads in the cities they serve; roomier trades can win more from pages and Maps. We read this with you before any money moves.
Questions
Owner Questions About Reading the Trade Rows
Why do the roofing counts look so low for a county this size?
County Business Patterns counts employer locations only, so sole proprietors and many crews that work as subcontractors are not in it. Roofing still shows 288 locations at 0.74 times the typical density, and the count is up 37.1 percent since 2017. Treat it as a measure of employer firms, not of every roofer.
Do these counts include businesses without employees?
No. The series covers establishments with paid employees, so freelancers and one-person businesses are missing. The real number of competitors you face in search in Maricopa County is usually higher than the table shows, especially in trades like landscaping and remodeling, where many small crews have no employees.
My trade sits at three or four times the typical density. Is it worth entering search at all?
Yes, but with a narrower target. Real estate is at 3.74 times typical, and the way in is a clear specialty, a city or a type of customer, and a strong Business Profile with real reviews. Broad terms are crowded; specific ones are where a newer page can compete.
Does a crowded trade cost more to market than a roomy one in Maricopa County?
Our monthly plan prices do not change by trade: RankGuarantee™ landing pages at $495, Organic Growth at $1,495, $2,495 and $3,495, and paid ads management at $895, $1,595 and $2,295 with ad spend separate. In a crowded trade, ad spend tends to be where the cost rises. No setup fee and no contract.
Why did permits fall each year if the county kept growing?
The Census series counts permits authorized and does not say why they moved. The population estimate for 2023 is still 3.6 percent above 2020, so households keep arriving, though builders have been authorizing fewer homes each year. We report both numbers and avoid guessing at the cause.
Are these live counts or older survey years?
They are survey years, not live counts: County Business Patterns 2017 and 2022, the American Community Survey 2018-2022, population estimates for 2020 and 2023 and the Building Permits Survey through 2025. They describe the shape of the market and do not replace your own call and invoice history.
The fastest-growing trades are real estate, remodeling and roofing. Should I follow them?
Fast growth also means fast new competition, so following it is not automatically wise. Look at your own strengths and at the density column. A trade that is growing and still below typical, as roofing is, has more room than one that is growing and already crowded.
Explore more
More Ways Local Businesses Get Found Here
Start Here
- Search Engine OptimizationSearch engine optimization, SEO company and agency help, built around the names Valley customers type.
- Digital MarketingThe order of work for a trade, a professional office and a storefront in a Valley of new households.
- Online MarketingA surface-by-surface check of how a stranger finds, judges and reaches your business.
- HomeSearch engine optimization first, then paid search, Maps and the website, for businesses across the Valley.
Get Found in Search
Paid Advertising
- Google Ads ManagementCampaigns drawn around cities, freeways and the Valley calendar, not the county line.
- PPC ManagementWhen paid beats waiting, across Google, Bing, Meta and early ChatGPT tests.
- Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram)Reaching newcomers, renters and event crowds on Facebook and Instagram before they search.
Website and Content
- Lead GenerationCalls, forms and bookings from pages, listings and ads that you own. We sell no leads, only the work that produces them across the Valley.
- Website DesignOne managed website with a real page for each city and service you cover, built for a phone call or a set of directions from a car.
- Content MarketingArticles and guides tied to the Valley calendar: triple-digit summers, monsoon storms, winter visitors and the newcomers who ask first.
Around the County
- Marketing by AreaA city-by-city reading of the Valley and its edges, with an order for covering them in search, on Maps and in ads.
- Local Business Landscape (you are here)Fifteen trades against the typical county: which are packed, which have room, who added locations since 2017 and how new-home permits have moved.
Get in Touch
Read Your Own Trade Row With Us
Tell us your trade and we will show where it sits against the typical county and what that means for the first marketing move. Call 610-825-4363 or email hello@getphound.com.