{
  "name": "VantaWeb US state service-license website-presence dataset, 2026",
  "publisher": "VantaWeb",
  "author": "Hunter Spence",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "attribution": "VantaWeb, https://vantaweb.io/data/",
  "study": "https://vantaweb.io/blog/service-business-website-statistics/",
  "period": "2026-07-27",
  "source": "VantaWeb's database of US state and territory service-license records, snapshot 27 July 2026",
  "correction": "Corrected 18 October 2026. These are the first-version tables (27 July 2026), kept as a historical record. Every no-website share in them is the share of rows our discovery step labelled no working website, not the share of businesses without a website of their own: an audit of 385 random labelled records and a 100-record control found that label overstates absence by about 46 points. Audited estimate for the 1,705,674 business records: 49.2% (95% CI 44.5 to 54.0).",
  "audit": "https://vantaweb.io/data/service-business-websites-audit-2026-10.csv",
  "columns": [
    "table",
    "item",
    "metric",
    "value",
    "unit",
    "note"
  ],
  "rows": [
    {
      "table": "filter_funnel",
      "item": "All license rows",
      "metric": "rows",
      "value": "8297381",
      "unit": "rows",
      "note": "Whole US state and territory service-license database"
    },
    {
      "table": "filter_funnel",
      "item": "All license rows",
      "metric": "no website recorded",
      "value": "89.2",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "Mostly rows not yet checked, so not a measured absence"
    },
    {
      "table": "filter_funnel",
      "item": "Filter 1: rows with a completed website check",
      "metric": "rows",
      "value": "4542400",
      "unit": "rows",
      "note": "website_checked_at is not null"
    },
    {
      "table": "filter_funnel",
      "item": "Filter 2: rows with a genuine state or territory code",
      "metric": "rows",
      "value": "4070893",
      "unit": "rows",
      "note": "56 genuine US state and territory codes"
    },
    {
      "table": "filter_funnel",
      "item": "Filter 2: rows with a genuine state or territory code",
      "metric": "no working website",
      "value": "96.91",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "First-version label share, unaudited. The audit covered business entities only"
    },
    {
      "table": "filter_funnel",
      "item": "Filter 3: rows classified as business entities",
      "metric": "rows",
      "value": "1705674",
      "unit": "rows",
      "note": "Entity and trade tokens in the business name"
    },
    {
      "table": "filter_funnel",
      "item": "Filter 3: rows classified as business entities",
      "metric": "no working website (rows)",
      "value": "1630689",
      "unit": "rows",
      "note": ""
    },
    {
      "table": "filter_funnel",
      "item": "Filter 3: rows classified as business entities",
      "metric": "no working website",
      "value": "95.60",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "Corrected 18 October 2026: this is the share of rows the first version labelled no working website (1,630,689 of 1,705,674), not the share without a website of their own. The audited estimate is 49.2% (95% CI 44.5 to 54.0). The first version's source split for plumbing, HVAC, roofing and electrical records is withdrawn as unaudited"
    },
    {
      "table": "entity_buckets",
      "item": "Business entities",
      "metric": "rows",
      "value": "1705674",
      "unit": "rows",
      "note": ""
    },
    {
      "table": "entity_buckets",
      "item": "Business entities",
      "metric": "share of 56-state rows",
      "value": "41.90",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": ""
    },
    {
      "table": "entity_buckets",
      "item": "Business entities",
      "metric": "no working website",
      "value": "95.60",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "Corrected 18 October 2026: first-version label share, not the share without a website of their own. Audited estimate 49.2% (95% CI 44.5 to 54.0)"
    },
    {
      "table": "entity_buckets",
      "item": "Individuals",
      "metric": "rows",
      "value": "1262510",
      "unit": "rows",
      "note": "A floor: blank owner-name fields cannot be classified as individuals"
    },
    {
      "table": "entity_buckets",
      "item": "Individuals",
      "metric": "share of 56-state rows",
      "value": "31.01",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": ""
    },
    {
      "table": "entity_buckets",
      "item": "Individuals",
      "metric": "no working website",
      "value": "99.29",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "First-version label share, unaudited. The audit covered business entities only"
    },
    {
      "table": "entity_buckets",
      "item": "Undetermined",
      "metric": "rows",
      "value": "1102709",
      "unit": "rows",
      "note": ""
    },
    {
      "table": "entity_buckets",
      "item": "Undetermined",
      "metric": "share of 56-state rows",
      "value": "27.09",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": ""
    },
    {
      "table": "entity_buckets",
      "item": "Undetermined",
      "metric": "no working website",
      "value": "96.23",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "First-version label share, unaudited. The audit covered business entities only"
    },
    {
      "table": "entity_buckets",
      "item": "All 56-state rows",
      "metric": "rows",
      "value": "4070893",
      "unit": "rows",
      "note": ""
    },
    {
      "table": "entity_buckets",
      "item": "All 56-state rows",
      "metric": "no working website",
      "value": "96.91",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "First-version label share, unaudited. The audit covered business entities only"
    },
    {
      "table": "coverage_and_caveats",
      "item": "license_state values",
      "metric": "distinct values",
      "value": "199",
      "unit": "values",
      "note": "Expected about 51; the rest are non-state source tags and junk"
    },
    {
      "table": "coverage_and_caveats",
      "item": "SAM.gov rows",
      "metric": "rows",
      "value": "456363",
      "unit": "rows",
      "note": "Federal contractor registrations; excluded by Filter 2"
    },
    {
      "table": "coverage_and_caveats",
      "item": "SAM.gov rows",
      "metric": "no website",
      "value": "9.5",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "First-version label share, unaudited. Far below the other rows"
    },
    {
      "table": "coverage_and_caveats",
      "item": "Working sites matching a known builder signature",
      "metric": "share",
      "value": "8.85",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "The rest are unidentified, not evidence of hand-built sites"
    },
    {
      "table": "coverage_and_caveats",
      "item": "Wix",
      "metric": "share of working sites",
      "value": "8.69",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "Most common identifiable builder"
    },
    {
      "table": "coverage_and_caveats",
      "item": "Verification coverage: New York",
      "metric": "share of rows checked",
      "value": "20.1",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "Lowest state"
    },
    {
      "table": "coverage_and_caveats",
      "item": "Verification coverage: Alaska",
      "metric": "share of rows checked",
      "value": "99.8",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "Highest state"
    },
    {
      "table": "coverage_and_caveats",
      "item": "Verification coverage: Florida",
      "metric": "share of rows checked",
      "value": "38.5",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": ""
    },
    {
      "table": "coverage_and_caveats",
      "item": "Verification coverage: average across states",
      "metric": "share of rows checked",
      "value": "54.75",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": ""
    },
    {
      "table": "coverage_and_caveats",
      "item": "State no-website rate: low end of band",
      "metric": "no working website",
      "value": "93",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "First-version label rates, unaudited. Roughly 93% to 99.6% across states"
    },
    {
      "table": "coverage_and_caveats",
      "item": "State no-website rate: high end of band",
      "metric": "no working website",
      "value": "99.6",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": ""
    },
    {
      "table": "coverage_and_caveats",
      "item": "Michigan",
      "metric": "no working website",
      "value": "85.97",
      "unit": "percent",
      "note": "First-version label rate, unaudited. Unexplained outlier"
    }
  ]
}