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The 2026 Underserved Towns Report

Name: Town Demand Underserved Towns Report 2026
Creator: Town Demand
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We scored 71 local service businesses in 386 US markets on real Google demand, what companies pay per click, and how strong the local competition is. 27,406 business-and-town pairs were measured; 9,874 had enough demand to score, and 43 are strong openings (50 or higher).

Data from October 2026. Updated monthly. Free to cite with a link (CC BY 4.0).

The 25 best openings in the US

Mid-size markets only (counties whose largest city has 50,000 to 300,000 people). At most 3 per business, so one trade does not fill the list. The single best opening this month is Garage door repair in Florissant, MO, scored 76.

#	Business	Town	Score	Searches/mo	Per click	Leader reviews
1	Garage door repair	Florissant, MO	76	1,470	$54.84	24
2	Septic pumping	San Bernardino, CA	70	1,110	$47.57	21
3	Garage door repair	Mableton, GA	67	1,160	$46.54	17
4	Garage door repair	Lakewood, CO	66	1,100	$71.50	59
5	Mold remediation	West Palm Beach, FL	64	1,270	$58.67	55
6	Water heater installation	Reno, NV	60	1,910	$39.69	111
7	Ac repair	New Brunswick, NJ	60	1,300	$73.62	106
8	Water heater installation	West Palm Beach, FL	60	1,930	$18.75	18
9	Water damage restoration	New Brunswick, NJ	60	570	$75.00	35
10	Foundation repair	Plano, TX	59	1,350	$68.75	58
11	Drain cleaning	Salt Lake City, UT	59	870	$68.71	39
12	Roof repair	Cambridge, MA	58	1,140	$34.70	28
13	Foundation repair	Round Rock, TX	57	580	$68.80	28
14	Mold remediation	Hempstead, NY	57	580	$52.17	14
15	Mold remediation	Troy, MI	56	990	$52.80	58
16	Water heater installation	San Bernardino, CA	55	2,360	$25.31	111
17	Ac repair	Yonkers, NY	55	820	$64.14	64
18	Bathroom remodeling	New Brunswick, NJ	53	750	$36.55	50
19	Bathroom remodeling	Salt Lake City, UT	52	1,260	$31.99	51
20	Termite treatment	St. Petersburg, FL	52	1,510	$30.70	69
21	Junk removal	Fort Lauderdale, FL	52	1,620	$21.61	62
22	Foundation repair	Sugar Land, TX	52	650	$64.05	46
23	Dryer vent cleaning	Fort Lauderdale, FL	51	860	$24.39	14
24	Bathroom remodeling	Fort Lauderdale, FL	50	1,350	$25.58	44
25	Dryer vent cleaning	West Palm Beach, FL	50	890	$30.85	46

Searches/mo: people in that county searching Google for the service each month. Per click: what local companies pay Google for one of those visitors. Search value/mo: a rough estimate of what that demand is worth to the businesses that win it. Leader reviews: median review count of the top 3 on Google Maps; lower means an easier market to break into.

The best bet in every state

The highest-scoring business and town in each state we cover.

State	Town	Business	Score	Searches/mo
Alaska	Anchorage	Roof repair	25	480
Alabama	Birmingham	Window replacement	42	560
Arkansas	Fayetteville	Ac repair	36	570
Arizona	Maricopa	Roof repair	32	520
California	San Bernardino	Septic pumping	70	1,110
Colorado	Lakewood	Garage door repair	66	1,100
Connecticut	New Haven	Ac repair	32	220
Delaware	Wilmington	Garage door repair	34	770
Florida	West Palm Beach	Mold remediation	64	1,270
Georgia	Mableton	Garage door repair	67	1,160
Iowa	Waterloo	Garage door repair	16	270
Idaho	Boise	Kitchen remodeling	46	720
Illinois	Waukegan	Garage door repair	54	1,870
Indiana	Hammond	Ac repair	42	710
Kansas	Topeka	Foundation repair	28	260
Kentucky	Owensboro	Garage door repair	16	200
Louisiana	Kenner	Ac repair	46	600
Massachusetts	Cambridge	Roof repair	58	1,140
Maryland	Bowie	Garage door repair	57	850
Maine	Portland	Garage door repair	26	370
Michigan	Troy	Mold remediation	56	990
Minnesota	Blaine	Garage door repair	59	1,050
Missouri	Florissant	Garage door repair	76	1,470
Mississippi	Southaven	Garage door repair	28	850
Montana	Great Falls	Porta potty rental	38	210
North Carolina	Gastonia	Garage door repair	41	450
North Dakota	Fargo	Concrete driveway	22	200
Nebraska	Bellevue	Ac repair	29	260
New Hampshire	Manchester	Garage door repair	33	540
New Jersey	New Brunswick	Ac repair	60	1,300
New Mexico	Rio Rancho	Garage door repair	39	410
Nevada	Reno	Water heater installation	60	1,910
New York	Rochester	Garage door repair	64	1,760
Ohio	Hamilton	Garage door repair	42	700
Oklahoma	Norman	Roof repair	28	450
Oregon	Hillsboro	Garage door repair	46	840
Pennsylvania	Harrisburg	Roof repair	31	630
Rhode Island	Providence	Ac repair	42	1,170
South Carolina	Charleston	Garage door repair	59	1,560
South Dakota	Sioux Falls	Bathroom remodeling	31	570
Tennessee	Chattanooga	Ac repair	44	1,070
Texas	Plano	Foundation repair	59	1,350
Utah	Salt Lake City	Drain cleaning	59	870
Virginia	Chesapeake	Roof repair	35	320
Washington	Vancouver	Garage door repair	59	1,210
Wisconsin	Oshkosh	Garage door repair	45	450
Wyoming	Casper	Concrete driveway	13	190

Most open businesses nationwide

Ranked by how many markets scored 50 or higher. Strong = markets at 50+.

#	Business	Strong	Scored	Median	Per click
1	Garage door repair	20	311	16.9	$39.15
2	Mold remediation	5	175	8.8	$24.61
3	Water heater installation	4	267	5.8	$13.59
4	Bathroom remodeling	3	170	22.2	$30.84
5	Foundation repair	3	95	14.9	$46.36
6	Roof repair	2	274	16.1	$27.97
7	Ac repair	2	307	12.2	$44.36
8	Dryer vent cleaning	2	196	8.6	$19.07
9	Water damage restoration	1	63	21.4	$58.14
10	Solar panel installation	1	90	13.7	$18.09
11	Septic pumping	1	191	10.9	$15.63
12	Junk removal	1	236	10.6	$14.86

Hardest to break into

Lowest median score among businesses scored in 30+ markets. Reviews = median review count of the local leaders.

#	Business	Median	Reviews	Per click
1	Water softener installation	0.0	141	$8.57
2	French drain installation	5.0	80	$5.62
3	Retaining wall	5.1	49	$2.12
4	Paver installation	5.5	53	$2.27
5	Pressure washing	5.7	100	$2.80
6	Water heater installation	5.8	499	$13.59
7	Ac replacement	6.7	573	$26.51
8	Countertop installation	7.0	49	$3.06
9	Shower door installation	7.6	58	$5.38
10	House painting	8.0	87	$6.58

Using this report

Quote any number here with a link back to this page. Suggested citation:

Town Demand, Underserved Towns Report, October 2026. https://www.towndemand.com/report/

Want the same numbers for one town? Look up any of the 386 markets from the home page, or see the full national list. How the score is built: methodology. Big cities (largest city over 300,000) are tracked but left out of these rankings, since demand alone pushes their scores up while competition is far tougher.

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