Commercial: What is the Commercial Site Selection tool?

Our Commercial Site Selection tool allows you to find the best area to locate a business, by examining demographic information such as population, income, behavior, spending, employment, and more. Begin by clicking the Research tab from any page of the website, then select Commercial Site Selection from the menu.

Step-by-Step Instructions

FAQs

Search for Listings

Search for commercial listings within the trade areas that most meet your criteria.

Display in a Report

You can include your analysis in a Trade Area Analysis Report to share with your client.

Trade Area Details

Click the View Trade Area Details link to see detailed socioeconomic and demographic data about the people within the selected trade area.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Click on the tabs below to see step-by-step instructions.

Step 1

Step 1 – Research tab

Click the Research tab from any page of the website, then select Commercial Site Selection from the menu.

Select Attributes

Enter a wide area that you would like to search within. For example, if you are looking for the best city, enter a county. You will have an opportunity to zoom in or out of the map to expand or narrow your trade area.
To find people that meet the spending and demographic characteristics that match your client’s business, select up to 5 attributes from the drop-down menus.
Begin with the first drop-down menu, then add additional criteria to further define and drill down your results.

Drill Down

Add More Criteria

Hover your cursor over the question marks, next to the selected attributes, to see the data source and update frequency.
Click Add more criteria at the bottom of the box, to select another attribute category and its’ attributes.
Click the Run Analysis button when you are finished adding attributes.

Step 2

Step 2 – Analysis Results

Map

The map will show your chosen area, with the areas that best meet your criteria shaded in the deepest purple.

Below the Map

Below the map, your results will show in Census Block Groups by default. You can change the geography in the left panel. For example, to Intermediate Neighborhoods and your results will change accordingly.

Left Panel

In the left panel, you can also adjust the parameters of your criteria by moving the slider to the left or right, your results will change based on your slider movement.
Hover your cursor over the question marks to see the source of the data and its’ update frequency.

Step 3

Step 3 – See Details

Choose shaded areas on the map to see details of the selected area.
In the box that appears, click View Trade Area Details to see demographic facts and stats for the trade area.
Use your back arrow to return to your analysis.

Select Areas

Select the areas that you are interested in based on the criteria results in the corresponding columns.
Keep in mind that the darkest color of purple indicates areas that best match your selected criteria.
Choose to:
- Search for commercial listings within the selected areas.
- Search public records
- Run an analysis on the areas selected.
- Choose to run a Trade Area Analysis Report to show the analysis results.