Inside the Reseller Score: What Goes In and What Stays Out
Every county page on this site leans on one number, the Local Ad Reseller Index, and on a few derived figures such as roster math. This page shows the inputs, the weights and the places where the data runs out, so an agency can judge the work for itself.
The question
What the Index Is Trying to Answer
An agency deciding where to prospect needs a quick read on a county: are there enough local advertisers, are they big enough to pay a monthly fee, and is the pool growing or standing still? LARI compresses those questions into a score so counties can be compared. It describes the opening for a reseller in general, not the result any one client will see.
The pool
Nine Categories Treated as Paid-Search Buyers
We count employer locations in nine categories that commonly advertise to local customers: home remodelers, roofing contractors, electrical contractors, plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors, law offices, dentists, physicians' offices, general automotive repair and real estate agents and brokers. Four of them are trades, four are professional offices and one is auto service. We call the total the advertiser pool.
This is a judgment about who buys, not a count of who actually runs ads. Census files do not say which businesses advertise, and sole proprietors without employees are absent from them, so the real pool in every county is larger than the one we show.
The ingredients
Six Lines, Five Questions, One Score
| Line in the formula | Weight | Question it answers | Where the number comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pool density | 30% | How many advertiser locations are there for each 1,000 residents? | CBP employer counts (2022) with Vintage 2023 population |
| Larger advertisers per resident | 25% | How many pool locations employ at least ten people, per 10,000 residents? | CBP employer counts, by employee-size class |
| Larger-advertiser share | 15% | What portion of the pool is made up of those larger sites? | CBP employer counts, by employee-size class |
| Pool growth | 15% | How did the pool change between 2017 and 2022? | CBP employer counts for both years |
| Household income | 10% | What does the middle household earn? | Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates |
| Town count | 5% | How many places have 2,500 or more residents? | Place population estimates (in-county part only) |
Every line is first ranked against all 1,822 counties of 20,000-plus residents, then weighted. The staffing lines add the 10-to-19 and 20-or-more employee classes together.
Scoring
Percentiles, Scaling and Missing Pieces
Ranking works by position. A county's percentile on a line is the portion of the 1,822 ranked counties that fall below it, so all six lines land on one 0 to 100 scale. Weighted together they give the LARI score, and counties are ordered by it twice: against every ranked county and against the 400 markets on this site.
Some lines do not exist everywhere. Connecticut's income and growth come from older files, so its income line is left out. City-type markets such as independent cities, the five New York boroughs and Washington, DC have no meaningful town count. Where the 2017 pool had fewer than 20 locations, growth is dropped as too noisy. The remaining weights are scaled up to add to 100%.
Derived figures
Roster Math, Look-Alikes and Permits
Roster math divides 2, 5, 10 and 20 clients by the county's pool and by its larger advertisers to show how much of the market a roster would use. The discount column reflects GetPhound's published volume tiers. Look-alike counties are the six of our 400 markets that sit closest on population, income, score, larger-advertiser share, pool growth and density. Permit figures count housing units approved for construction, expressed per 10,000 residents for 2025 beside a January to August comparison of 2025 and 2026. Connecticut shows up under its eight historic counties, using 2021 data and no permits.
What the data cannot say
Limits Worth Keeping in Mind
- No ad data. We do not know what advertisers spend, what clicks cost, how many people search or who ranks. None of it is in public Census files.
- No client results. No GetPhound account feeds any figure on these pages.
- No forecast. A strong score means more to work with, not more clients won or more leads delivered.
- Your own market knowledge comes first. If you already know your territory, trust that over a county average.
- Timing. The business counts describe 2022 and the population figures 2023, and each county page labels its years. Spotted an error? Email hello@getphound.com.
Sources
Public Census Files
Inputs are the Census Bureau's 2023 population estimates, County Business Patterns for 2022 and 2017, SAIPE income for 2023, the Building Permits Survey and the 2023 Gazetteer. The fee figures belong to GetPhound's own white label price sheet.
Talk to us
Want to Check the Math on Your Territory?
Name the counties your clients sit in and we will check these figures against your own territory knowledge. Reach our CEO at 610-825-4363 or hello@getphound.com.