“How much does site-selection data cost?” has no single answer, because it is not one product. It is a ladder that runs from free to $50,000+ a year, and where you belong on it depends entirely on how many decisions you are making — not on how much data exists.
The short version. Demographics are free (US Census). Packaged, cited reports run $0–$75. Affordable subscription tools sit around $49–$149/month. Measured foot-traffic platforms start around $12,000/year. Most single-location owners never need to climb past the bottom two rungs. For a one-page version, see our answer on what foot-traffic data costs.
The price ladder
Prices are as of July 2026; confirm current vendor pricing before relying on any figure.
| Tier | Typical cost | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free public data (US Census ACS, County Business Patterns) | $0 | Population, income, age, and establishment counts — the raw layer paid tools resell |
| One-shot / free cited reports | $0–$75 | A packaged, sourced demographics + competition report for one address |
| Affordable subscription tools | ~$49–$149 / month | Repeatable trade-area research, scores, and reports across many addresses |
| Enterprise foot-traffic platforms | ~$12,000+ / year | Modeled visit estimates and trade areas from mobile-location panels |
Rung 1: free demographics do more than people expect
The US Census publishes the American Community Survey (population, income, age, households) and County Business Patterns (business counts by area) for free. This is not a stripped-down teaser — it is the same demographic foundation most commercial tools build on. For a single lease, free demographics plus a competitor count you can map from open data answers the core question: is there enough of the right demand here, and how many competitors already serve it?
Rung 2: packaged, cited reports
The gap free data leaves is packaging. A lender or landlord wants a clean, sourced document, not a spreadsheet you assembled. That is what a one-shot report buys — the same public facts, organized and cited, for anywhere from free to around $75. It is the cheapest way to turn free data into something you can hand across a desk.
Rung 3: affordable subscriptions
Once you are evaluating many addresses — a broker running client sites, an operator scouting a region — a subscription around $49–$149/month pays off, because you are amortizing the tool across dozens of decisions instead of one.
Rung 4: enterprise foot-traffic platforms
The top rung sells something the lower rungs cannot: measured foot traffic, modeled from mobile-location panels. That data is genuinely expensive to license and clean, which is why it comes as annual contracts starting around $12,000. It is the right tool for a chain optimizing a portfolio where a single bad site costs six figures. For one owner and one lease, it is almost always more than the decision requires.
How to pick your rung
Match the spend to the decision volume, not to the fear of missing data:
- One address, tight budget: rungs 1–2 (free to ~$75).
- Many addresses, professional use: rung 3 (~$49–$149/month).
- Portfolio optimization, six-figure site risk: rung 4 (enterprise).
The most common mistake is buying rung 4 for a rung-1 problem. Start at the bottom, climb only when your decision volume — not your curiosity — justifies it.
