The State of Local Business — six metros
Six metros. One hard truth.
We scored 3,046 independent businesses across Central Kentucky, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, Columbus, and Indianapolis on verifiable public presence. 17% are effectively invisible online — no working website and no social channel. Only 293 earn the A-band.
The gap, by metro
Percent of ranked independents who are invisible online, by metro:
Every metro, at a glance
By niche — strongest presence first (all six metros)
median /100Methodology & use
Method. Every point is a verifiable public fact (working website 30 · own domain 10 · https 5 · social channels 10 each up to 3 · phone 10 · address 5 · hours 5 · email 5). Independents only; chains excluded; no engagement or follower data. Recomputed each monthly edition. Businesses are named on the public boards, never in this report. Full methodology: how we score. Machine-readable: feed.json.
Published by McLaren Visuals LLC. Cite freely with a link. Corrections: xavier@mclarenvisuals.studio.