Data from 16 cities · 15 industries

Small Business Website Quality Report: 2026

We analyzed 40,387+ small businesses across 16 cities and 15 industries. Here’s what we found.

40,387+

Businesses analyzed

41%

Score below 80

69%

Have a website

16

Cities covered

Top 10 Cities With the Worst Small Business Websites

Ranked by the percentage of business websites scoring below 80/100 on mobile performance.

1 Phoenix, AZ
45% 2,566 businesses
2 Miami, FL
45% 2,527 businesses
3 San Diego, CA
44% 2,606 businesses
4 Chicago, IL
43% 2,434 businesses
5 Atlanta, GA
43% 2,556 businesses
6 Denver, CO
43% 2,580 businesses
7 Dallas, TX
42% 2,565 businesses
8 New York, NY
41% 2,475 businesses
9 Houston, TX
41% 2,568 businesses
10 Nashville, TN
41% 2,567 businesses

Industries With the Lowest Website Quality

All 15 industries ranked by percentage of websites scoring below 80.

1 Real Estate Agents
47%
2 Dentists
46%
3 Plumbers
45%
4 Landscaping Companies
43%
5 Personal Injury Lawyers
43%
6 HVAC Companies
42%
7 Cleaning Services
42%
8 Restaurants
41%
9 Hair Salons
41%
10 Electricians
40%
11 Roofing Companies
40%
12 Pest Control Companies
39%
13 General Contractors
38%
14 Gyms
37%
15 Auto Repair Shops
34%

Key Findings

  • 41% of small business websites score below 80/100 on mobile performance. Nearly half of all business websites need improvement.
  • Phoenix and Miami tie for the worst average website quality of any major metro, with 45% of businesses scoring below 80.
  • Real Estate Agents and Dentists have the lowest average website quality of any industry at 47%.
  • Only 69% of small businesses have a website at all, meaning 31% are completely invisible online.

What This Means for Web Designers & Agencies

If you sell web design, SEO, or digital marketing services to local businesses, this data tells a clear story: nearly half of all small business websites are underperforming, and about a third of businesses don’t have a website at all. That’s a massive addressable market hiding in plain sight.

The cities at the top of this list (Phoenix, Miami, San Diego, Chicago) represent the highest-opportunity markets for cold outreach. A web designer targeting real estate agents in Phoenix would find that 45% of their prospects already have websites that need improvement. That’s not a cold pitch; it’s a warm conversation.

Want to find these businesses yourself? Browse leads by city and industry, or use our free website scoring tool to evaluate any business website instantly. Read our guide on how to find web design clients for a step-by-step process.

Methodology: Data based on aggregated website quality analysis across 40,387+ small businesses in 16 cities and 15 industries. Website scores reflect mobile performance, SSL status, responsiveness, analytics tracking, schema markup, and page load time. Scores range from 0–100 where higher is better. A score below 80 indicates significant room for improvement.

Stop searching. Start closing.

Find local businesses that need your services. Score websites, unlock contacts, and reach out with proof.