Website-quality benchmarks
Which local markets have the weakest websites
We track 50 niche × city markets covering 160,270 local businesses across 5 industries and 10 cities. On average 31.6% have no website or one weak enough to lose customers, and the typical site scores 41 on Lighthouse performance - well under the 50 that counts as passing.
The spread is what matters. plumbers in Berlin run at 62% weak, while real estate agencies in Toronto sit at 15%. Same effort, roughly 4.1× the density of prospects who actually need what you sell.
50
Markets tracked
160,270
Businesses
31.6%
Avg weak-website rate
41
Avg Lighthouse
Which industry to pick
Averaged across all 10 cities. Weak-website rate is the number that decides how much prospecting effort converts into a real conversation; the Lighthouse average tells you how strong your rebuild argument will be once you are in one.
| Industry | Businesses | Weak sites | Avg Lighthouse |
|---|---|---|---|
| plumbers | 15,345 | 62% | 38 |
| dentists | 28,985 | 35% | 41 |
| restaurants | 54,560 | 28% | 36 |
| law firms | 37,510 | 18% | 44 |
| real estate agencies | 23,870 | 15% | 46 |
plumbers lead at 62% and real estate agencies trail at 15%. A higher rate means more prospects with an obvious problem, not a better client - the niche teardowns on the blog weigh deal size and sales cycle against this.
Which city to pick
Averaged across all 5 industries. City matters less than industry, but it decides how many businesses sit behind each percentage point.
| City | Businesses | Weak sites | Avg Lighthouse |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 25,850 | 31.6% | 41 |
| Los Angeles | 19,740 | 31.6% | 41 |
| Chicago | 13,160 | 31.6% | 41 |
| London | 28,670 | 31.6% | 41 |
| Manchester | 8,930 | 31.6% | 41 |
| Toronto | 10,810 | 31.6% | 41 |
| Sydney | 12,690 | 31.6% | 41 |
| Paris | 15,040 | 31.6% | 41 |
| Madrid | 11,750 | 31.6% | 41 |
| Berlin | 13,630 | 31.6% | 41 |
All 50 markets, ranked
Sorted by weak-website rate. Open any row to see the live count for that market and three cold-email angles written for it.
How these numbers are produced
What counts as weak. A business is counted weak if it has no website at all, or if the site it has fails at least one of: loads on mobile in under four seconds, states what the business does above the fold, and offers a way to get in touch that is not a raw phone number. No website and a broken website are the same sales conversation, so they are one number here.
Lighthouse. The performance score only, on mobile emulation, averaged over the businesses in a market that have a site at all. Businesses with no site are excluded rather than scored zero - including them would make the weak-website rate count twice.
Business counts. Active listings in the named metro for that industry. Chains are counted once per location, because each location is a separate sale.
Freshness. Market rows show a stored baseline. Individual market pages re-check against live data when you open them, so a row here and the page behind it can differ by a few points.
What this is not. It is not a ranking of which clients pay best. Trades show the highest weak-website rates and the smallest projects; law firms show the lowest rates and the largest. Read it as where the work is easiest to start, then price accordingly.
Turn a row into a prospect list
Pick a market above, then pull the actual businesses behind the number - names, sites and contact details - with the free finder. No signup.