We analyzed Google Business Profile data for 380 local businesses ranking in the top three map pack positions across 37 U.S. cities. These are the businesses Google is currently showing first. Here's what their review profiles actually look like, broken down by industry.
The Numbers
| Industry | Average Reviews | Median Reviews | Sample Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| HVAC Contractors | 4,022 | 3,148 | 5 |
| Plumbers | 2,146 | 975 | 24 |
| Pest Control | 1,990 | 1,450 | 12 |
| Electricians | 1,066 | 511 | 31 |
| Tree Services | 340 | 243 | 26 |
| Roofers | 311 | 231 | 19 |
| Painters | 245 | 197 | 17 |
| Fence Contractors | 230 | 54 | 23 |
| Landscapers | 138 | 112 | 16 |
| Concrete Contractors | 78 | 43 | 21 |
The median is the more useful number — it tells you what the typical top-ranked business has, without being skewed by outliers with thousands of reviews.
Why the Variation Is So Extreme
HVAC companies in the map pack average over 4,000 reviews. Concrete contractors average 78. That's a 50x difference between two trades that often serve the same homeowners. What explains it?
Service frequency. HVAC companies, plumbers, and pest control services generate high volumes of repeat customers. An HVAC company with 500 monthly maintenance plan members has 500 review opportunities available at any given time. A concrete contractor who completes 8 driveways per month has 8. More customer interactions mean more review opportunities.
Customer base size. Plumbing and electrical problems are universal — every home and business needs these services eventually. Concrete, fencing, and landscaping serve smaller, more project-specific customer pools with longer gaps between jobs.
Recurring service models. Industries with subscription or recurring service models — pest control plans, HVAC maintenance agreements, lawn care programs — interact with the same customers repeatedly. Each touchpoint is a chance to ask for a review, and recurring customers are more likely to say yes because they have an established relationship.
Urgency of service. Emergency-driven services (plumbing, HVAC, electrical) generate higher emotional intensity. A homeowner whose AC was fixed on the hottest day of the year or whose burst pipe was repaired in an hour feels compelled to share that experience. Project-based work (fencing, concrete) produces satisfaction but less emotional urgency to review.
What This Means for Your Business
Stop Comparing Yourself to the Wrong Benchmark
A concrete contractor who reads "you need 200+ reviews to rank" is chasing a number that doesn't apply to their industry. With a median of 43 reviews among top-ranked concrete contractors, reaching 80 to 100 reviews would put you well above the competitive threshold.
Conversely, a plumber with 100 reviews who feels satisfied with that number is significantly below the median of 975 for top-ranked plumbing companies. In a competitive plumbing market, 100 reviews might put you in position seven or eight rather than the top three.
The right benchmark is always what the top-ranked businesses in your specific industry and city have — not a universal number that ignores industry dynamics.
Know Your Industry's Review Velocity
The total review count tells you where competitors are. Review velocity tells you how fast they're getting there — and how fast you need to go to keep up.
In high-review industries like plumbing and HVAC, the top companies are often generating 20 to 50+ new reviews per month. In lower-review industries like concrete and fencing, the leaders might be getting 3 to 5 per month. Your velocity target should exceed whatever your specific competitors are averaging.
Lower-Review Industries Have Lower Barriers to Entry
If you're a landscaper, fence contractor, or concrete company, the review data should be encouraging. The bar for competing is significantly lower than in plumbing or HVAC. A sustained effort to generate reviews — asking after every job, making it easy, being consistent — can put you at or above the competitive threshold within 12 to 18 months.
Higher-Review Industries Reward Systems
If you're a plumber, electrician, HVAC company, or pest control service, reaching competitive review counts requires a systematic approach — automated review requests, technician-driven asks, leveraging recurring customers. The companies with 1,000+ reviews didn't achieve that through occasional asking. They built review generation into their operational DNA.
Rating Patterns Across Industries
Across all 380 businesses in our dataset, the rating distribution is remarkably tight at the top:
- 80% have ratings of 4.8 or higher
- 96% have ratings of 4.5 or higher
- 27% have a perfect 5.0
This pattern holds across industries. Whether you're a roofer or a pest control company, the vast majority of top-ranked businesses maintain ratings between 4.7 and 5.0. Below 4.5, you're outside the range that Google typically shows in the map pack.
An interesting nuance: businesses with perfect 5.0 ratings average 206 reviews, while those below 5.0 average 743. Higher volume naturally produces a slightly lower rating, and that's perfectly fine — a 4.8 with 500 reviews is more impressive and more stable than a 5.0 with 50.
Photo Counts by Industry
While we're looking at industry benchmarks, photo counts are worth noting:
- Median across all industries: 111 photos
- 54% of top-ranked businesses have 100+ photos
- 34% have 200+ photos
The industries with the most visual work — roofing, landscaping, painting — tend to have higher photo counts, but the pattern of regular uploads matters more than the total. A profile with 50 well-chosen, recently uploaded photos outperforms one with 200 stale photos from three years ago.
How to Use This Data
Print the table at the top of this article. Find your industry. Note the median review count. Then search your primary keywords and count the actual review numbers of the businesses ranking above you in your city.
If the gap between your reviews and theirs is small (within 50), minor velocity improvements can close it. If the gap is large (200+), you need a systematic approach and realistic timeline — typically 12 to 24 months of consistent effort.
Either way, knowing the benchmark transforms review generation from an abstract goal ("I should get more reviews") into a specific target with measurable progress toward it.
About This Data
This analysis is based on Google Business Profile data for 380 local businesses ranking in the top three map pack positions across 127 search queries in 37 U.S. cities, collected in March 2026. Sample sizes vary by industry. Industries with smaller sample sizes should be interpreted as directional rather than definitive. As we expand our scanning, we'll update these benchmarks with larger datasets.