17.4% of the local businesses ChatGPT and Gemini recommend for a US city are located in a different city from the one in the question. In Cleveland and Detroit, more than half of AI's local picks are outside the city.
Analysis of 7,921 AI-recommended businesses with confirmed addresses in 79 US cities · ChatGPT and Gemini answers and Google Business Profiles, September 2026
Key Findings
- 1.17.4% of the local businesses ChatGPT and Gemini recommend for a US city are located in a different city from the one asked about, about one pick in six.
- 2.ChatGPT and Gemini are equally prone to it: 17.3% of ChatGPT's local picks and 17.9% of Gemini's are outside the city in the question.
- 3.In Burlington, Vermont, 60% of the local businesses AI recommends are outside the city, the highest of 79 cities, followed by Cleveland at 58.4% and Detroit at 58.1%.
- 4.In 15 of 79 US cities, at least 30% of the local businesses AI recommends are located in another city.
- 5.In El Paso, 0% of the local businesses AI recommends are outside the city, and in San Antonio 0.8%.
Summary
A family in Cleveland asks ChatGPT for the best dentist in Cleveland. The answer lists a handful of practices with glowing reviews. Look up their addresses and several are in the suburbs around Cleveland, not in the city at all.
For customers, that means an AI answer to "the best dentist in my city" can quietly become "the best dentist in my metro area". For businesses, it changes who you compete with: a practice inside city limits is up against the suburbs around it, and a suburban business can win recommendations for a city it is not in.
17.4% of the businesses ChatGPT and Gemini recommend for a city are located in a different city. In Burlington, Cleveland and Detroit the share passes 58%, while in El Paso and San Antonio it is close to zero.
What we measured
On September 23 and 24, 2026 we asked ChatGPT and Gemini for the best businesses in 20 local services, from plumbers and dentists to restaurants and gyms, in 79 US cities. For 7,921 recommended businesses we found a Google Business Profile with a confirmed address, and compared the city on that profile with the city in the question.
If the two differ, the pick counts as outside the city. The five New York City boroughs count as New York. As a cross-check, we also read the city straight from the address on 34,710 ChatGPT business listings, without the Google lookup.
One pick in six is in another town
That is 1,376 of 7,921 businesses. The rate barely moves between assistants or city sizes: 17.3% for ChatGPT and 17.9% for Gemini, 17.3% in the 50 large cities and 17.5% in the 29 smaller ones. The addresses on ChatGPT's own business listings give the same figure, 17.5%.
AI assistants treat a city name as a region more than a boundary. They find businesses that serve the area, are reviewed by people who live there, or appear on lists for the metro, and recommend them regardless of the address. For a customer who wants someone nearby, that can mean a longer drive; for a customer who wants a business inside city limits, it can mean the wrong answer.
Tight city limits mean more suburban picks
Burlington, Vermont has the highest share, with 60% of AI's local picks outside the city, followed by Cleveland (58.4%), Detroit (58.1%) and Lewiston, Maine (55.4%). In 15 of the 79 cities, at least 30% of picks are in another city. The median city has 14.3% of its picks elsewhere.
Source: Suff Digital analysis of 7,921 AI-recommended businesses with confirmed addresses in 79 US cities · ChatGPT and Gemini answers and Google Business Profiles, September 2026
The pattern follows geography more than size. Cleveland, Detroit, Boston and Milwaukee have tight city limits surrounded by large, separately named suburbs, so many of the businesses that serve the city sit just outside it. Burlington and Lewiston are small cities whose businesses spread into neighboring towns.
Cities that cover a large area keep AI picks in town
At the other end, 11 cities have fewer than 5% of picks outside the city. El Paso has none, and San Antonio, Tucson and Austin are under 1%. These cities cover large areas and absorbed much of their growth inside their own limits, so the businesses AI finds for them are almost all inside the city.
Large and small cities appear at both ends of the list, which is why the overall rate barely differs between the two groups. What matters is where a city's boundary sits relative to where its businesses are.
What this means for local and service-area businesses
If you are based in a suburb, you can be recommended for questions about the nearby city, and it happens often. Name the city and the towns you serve on your website and Google Business Profile, so AI assistants can connect you to them.
If you are inside a city with many suburbs, expect to compete with businesses from the surrounding towns in AI answers. A clear city address, a page that names your neighborhood and city, and reviews that mention where you are all help AI assistants place you correctly.
Suff Digital's local seo packages make it clear to Google and AI assistants which city you are in and which towns you serve.
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<p style="font:14px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif">Source: <a href="https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-recommends-business-wrong-city">AI Recommends a Business Outside the City You Asked About 17.4% of the Time - Suff Digital</a></p>
Cite this study
Suff Digital. (2026). AI Recommends a Business Outside the City You Asked About 17.4% of the Time. https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-recommends-business-wrong-city
AI Recommends a Business Outside the City You Asked About 17.4% of the Time - Suff Digital - https://www.suffdigital.com/resources/data-studies/ai-recommends-business-wrong-city
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