Google Maps Shows an Out-of-Town Plumber in 41.4% of Small-Town Searches vs 17.9% Overall

A pipe leaks in a small town. The homeowner searches Google Maps for a plumber and calls one of the first three results. In more than four searches out of ten, at least one of those three plumbers is based in a different town, one that drives in for the job. Ask ChatGPT the same question and the list is shorter than a big-city resident would get, and a few of the names turn out to be closed, missing or based in the next town over.

The top three Google Maps results, which Google calls the map pack, sit above the ordinary search results and take most of the calls, and AI assistants are becoming a second place where customers pick who to call. For a small-town business, a spot in either is often the difference between a busy week and a quiet one. When a spot goes to a business from the next town over, the local businesses have one fewer place to win.

Across 20 local services, 17.9% of small-town map packs include at least one business from another town. For services where the business travels to the customer, the rate more than doubles: 41.4% for plumbers, emergency plumbers and moving companies. For services the customer travels to, such as hair salons and restaurants, it is zero. ChatGPT names 10.6 businesses per answer in smaller cities against 12.6 in large ones, and 68.1% of its small-town picks are confirmed as operating and in the right city, against 74.6% in large cities.

On September 23, 2026 we analyzed Google Maps results for 20 local services, including plumber, dentist, electrician and hair salon, in each of 29 small US towns, from Lewiston, Maine to Bend, Oregon, 580 searches in all. We used the plain service name, without "near me", and recorded the address of each of the three businesses in the map pack. On September 23 and 24 we also asked ChatGPT and Gemini for the best businesses in 20 local services in 79 US cities, 50 large metros and 29 smaller cities, for 1,580 answers from each assistant, and counted the distinct businesses named in each answer.

A business counts as out of town when the city in its Google address differs from the town searched, and a map pack counts as including one when at least one of its three businesses is out of town. Rates by service cover that service's 29 searches, one per town; rates by town cover that town's 20 searches, one per service. To test the AI picks, we looked up 10,000 recommended businesses on Google Business Profiles: a pick counts as accurate when its profile is found, the business is operating, and it is located in the city the question asked about. We also recorded how many listings Google Maps returned for each search, as a measure of how many businesses each city has to choose from.

Counted spot by spot, 7.6% of all top-three places in small-town map packs go to out-of-town businesses, about one spot in thirteen. The effect is widespread: 27 of the 29 towns had at least one search where an outside business made the top three. Only Ames, Iowa and Cookeville, Tennessee had none.

In a small town, the best-rated or best-reviewed option is often one town over, and Google weighs those signals alongside distance. A business with a stronger profile in the next town can outrank a weaker one down the street, which means a small-town business is competing with its whole region, not only its neighbors.

Locksmiths follow at 34.5%, then HVAC companies, electricians, landscapers and veterinarians at 31% each. These are mostly businesses that come to the customer, so their location matters less than their reach, and Google treats a plumber serving the whole county as a fair answer in each of its towns.

Services the customer visits in person stay local. Hair salon and restaurant map packs never included an out-of-town business, and dentists, auto repair shops, gyms, personal injury lawyers, real estate agents and chiropractors each did so in one of 29 towns, 3.4%. Nobody drives to the next town for a haircut when there is a salon on Main Street, and Google reflects that.

Lewiston, Maine stands out: 65% of its searches showed a business from another town in the top three, the only town above half. Burlington, Vermont follows at 45%, then Beaufort, South Carolina, Hattiesburg, Mississippi and Sandpoint, Idaho at 30% each.

Towns with close neighbors share their map packs with businesses just across the line. More isolated towns keep their results to themselves. If your town sits next to another one, assume your competition includes theirs.

ChatGPT names 12.6 businesses per answer in large cities and 10.6 in smaller ones, with medians of 13 and 10, about two fewer chances per question for a small-town business to be named. Gemini's answers are much shorter everywhere, at about 2.7 businesses per answer in both groups, so the gap is a ChatGPT pattern.

Supply is part of the story. Google Maps returns 68 listings per search in smaller cities against 100 in large ones, so both Google and ChatGPT have fewer local businesses to draw on. Google fills the gap with strong businesses from the next town; ChatGPT, which builds its lists from reviews, directories, local news and business websites, gets a thinner online record to work from. Nearly a third of its small-town picks fail the accuracy check: the business is closed, cannot be found on Google, or sits outside the town the customer asked about.

The services that cross town lines most on Google Maps are also the ones ChatGPT struggles to fill in small towns. ChatGPT names 28% fewer house cleaning services per answer in smaller cities, followed by pest control (26%), plumbers and dentists (22% each) and veterinarians (20%). Restaurants show no gap: ChatGPT names as many in a small town as in a big city, just as Google Maps never sends a small-town diner to another town.

Home-service businesses in small towns often run on word of mouth, with little online presence beyond a Google listing. Restaurants, by contrast, are reviewed and written about everywhere, so both Google and ChatGPT find plenty of them close to home.

If you are a plumber, mover, locksmith or other trade that drives to customers, the neighboring towns' map packs are within reach. Set your Google Business Profile service area to the towns you actually serve, and add a page to your website for each one, with the jobs you have done there, local reviews and photos. That also helps AI assistants answer for the right town instead of reaching for a business in the next one.

If you are losing top-three spots to a business from the next town, compare the two profiles side by side: review count, recent reviews, photos, business categories and whether a website is linked. Where the outside business has the stronger profile, every one of those gaps can be closed. In AI answers, fewer small-town businesses are named, so each slot is easier to win once ChatGPT can confirm you are open and in the town people ask about: keep the same name, address and phone number on your Google Business Profile, website and directory listings, and build the record it reads through reviews, local directories and local news.

Businesses customers visit in person, such as salons and restaurants, compete mostly with their own town, so the fight is with local rivals. Our local seo packages help small-town businesses win the map pack in their own town and the ones next door.

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