Research
Research and practical guides for location analysis
Explore studies of real places, comparisons of existing store networks and guides for analyzing your own sites. Each article explains the question, presents the results and links to the methods behind them.
Start here
Understand the methodology
The methodology page explains the data sources, geographic calculations and validation checks used by MarketGround. It also describes how population, employment and business information are combined for a selected area.
Studies
Explore studies of real places
Read the question behind each study, compare the results and explore the accompanying maps. Some studies also include a dataset you can download.
Compare daytime population, jobs and listed businesses within the same radius around four Northern Virginia employment centers.
Compare ten-minute driving areas and similarly sized circles around four locations.
Explore how household income varies within one Virginia ZIP area and compare two smaller site areas.
See how overlapping territories change the combined population estimate for two Plano locations.
Case studies
Compare existing locations and potential sites
These independent studies use public data to examine business locations and potential expansion areas. The companies did not commission the analyses and are described by industry.
See how grouping 248 hardware stores by their surrounding markets changed the comparison of five potential Denver locations.
Compare five potential Phoenix locations and two existing restaurants using the operator's published site criteria.
See how market fit and overlap with existing locations affected the comparison of six Chicago franchise candidates.
Compare the populations, household characteristics and fitness businesses around three studios in different markets.
Guides
Apply the methods to your locations
Follow practical guides to drawing a trade area, comparing local businesses and evaluating candidate sites.
Learn how to choose a starting point, draw a driving area and review its population estimate.
Compare business categories, brands and population per listed business using real locations.
Review the population, demographics, businesses and geographic overlap around a retail site.
Using this work
Use the research in your work
You are welcome to cite these articles with a link. Each study includes sources and location details so readers can review the analysis. Contact us if you would like to discuss a place or question for a future study.
If you would rather start from your own industry, the industry pages describe the product from eight points of view, and trade area analysis explains how an area becomes numbers in the first place.
Explore a location relevant to your work
Draw an area and review its population, demographics and businesses. Use the results to develop a clearer picture of the surrounding market.