2021 US Business Locations & Summary data

Esri Methodology Statement, June 2021

Esri extracts its business data from a comprehensive list of businesses licensed from Data Axle®. This list contains data for around 13 million U.S. businesses—including the company name, location, franchise code, industry classification code, number of employees, and sales volume. The industry data in the Business Summary dataset is current as of January 2021. Business locations are current as of April 2021. However, depending on the product or data delivery mechanism, location data may be updated more frequently throughout the calendar year.[1] 


Data sources and content

In maintaining and adding to its business database, Data Axle references numerous sources, including directory listings such as Yellow Pages and business white pages; annual reports; 10-K and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) information; federal, state, and municipal government data; business magazines; newsletters and newspapers; and information from the U.S. Postal Service. To ensure accurate and complete information, Data Axle conducts annual telephone verifications with each business listed in the database.

Esri provides reports and file extracts from the business database that include the number of businesses by industry classification and employment size or sales volume; total employment; and, when available and applicable, information about total sales. Also included are both versions of industry classification—the former four-digit Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system and the updated and expanded six-digit 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). In addition to the typical SIC and NAICS summary-level codes, the database also includes Data Axle's proprietary six-digit SIC and eight-digit NAICS industry codes and a special industry code for select industries. These codes provide more detailed information such as the number of rooms in hotels or motels or the number of beds in hospitals and nursing homes.

Data Axle's sales data for private companies must be modeled, since this sensitive information is proprietary and virtually impossible to obtain. Its primary source data to model this variable comes from the U.S. Department of Commerce. Data Axle's total annual sales volume is estimated by applying a county-level six-digit NAICS industry sales per employee multiplier to its location employment data and corresponding six-digit NAICS industry code. Furthermore, a corporate sales volume is only available on records coded as a parent or subsidiary headquarters. The data reflects actual sales compiled from annual reports, newspapers, and periodicals. If this information is not available, sales estimates are inferred by using a median value of existing reported sales data across the different combinations of employee size classes and industry classifications. Finally, total annual sales volume data is reported in thousands of dollars for all business locations.


Business Locations 

An address list of businesses is compiled by Data Axle from its sources and telephone verifications. These addresses are geocoded to assign latitude and longitude coordinates to the business site and append census geographic codes via spatial overlay. ArcGIS StreetMap Premium was used for geocoding addresses. In addition to improved address matching logic, the locators leverage up-to-date reference data from authoritative sources, including community, commercial, and governmental providers. The quality of address matching varies depending on the quality of the input address as well as the availability of reference data in the area. Overall, around 94 percent of all business addresses were geocoded to a ranged street centerline or detailed address location such as the center of a building or parcel.

Esri also uses the geographic codes to report business data for summary areas such as states, counties, census tracts, and block groups. Aggregations by ZIP Codes are created from the business database. ZIP Codes from Data Axle may differ from the residential ZIP Codes in the Esri demographic databases because Data Axle includes business-only ZIP Codes that are unique to particular establishments and include no residential area.

Lastly, records for ATMs, electric vehicle charging stations, and addresses with post office box numbers or missing entries have been omitted from the geographic summary files. However, these records remain in the Business Locations database.


Endnotes

[1] Please consult the product release notes or view the  current business data vintages .


Data resources

For more information about business data, visit  esri.com/esri_data  or call 1-800-447-9778.


Esri, the global leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, offers the most powerful mapping and spatial analytics technology available.

Since 1969, Esri has helped customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Today, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations including the world's largest cities, most national governments, 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri engineers the most advanced solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (loT), and location analytics to inform the most authoritative maps in the world. Visit us at  esri.com 


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About Esri's data development team

Led by chief demographer Kyle R. Cassal, Esri's data development team has more than a 40-year history of excellence in market intelligence. The team's economists, statisticians, demographers, geographers, and analysts produce independent small-area demographic and socioeconomic estimates and forecasts for the United States. The team develops exclusive demographic models and methodologies to create market-proven datasets, many of which are now industry benchmarks, such as Tapestry™ Segmentation, Consumer Spending, Market Potential, and annual Updated Demographics. Esri® Demographics power ArcGIS® through dynamic web maps, data enrichment, reports, and infographics.

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