Which local markets has AI already decided?
We asked ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Perplexity to recommend a local business 540 times — 6 trades, 5 cities, 6 questions each, every answer saved. In some markets the same company comes back again and again. In others no two assistants agree on anyone. The difference turns out to depend far more on the trade than on the city.
Dental practices are unsettled in every city we measured.
Openness scores how much room is left in a market: how much of the answer set the leading business holds, how much of the shortlist all three assistants agree on, and how much of the market got named once and never again. Higher means less settled. The full formula is published, and the ranking below is per trade, averaged across all 5 cities.
- Dental practices 84.6 average · 80–90 across 5 cities · full study
- Law firms 68.4 average · 63–74 across 5 cities · full study
- HVAC companies 66.4 average · 61–72 across 5 cities · full study
- Med spas 63.2 average · 54–75 across 5 cities · full study
- Roofing companies 62.0 average · 59–67 across 5 cities · full study
- Plumbing companies 60.2 average · 52–69 across 5 cities · full study
The gap between dental practices at 84.6 and plumbing companies at 60.2 is wider than the gap between the best and worst city inside any single trade. That is the useful part: if you are a dental practice the assistants have not settled on anyone yet, and if you are one of the plumbing companies you are usually arguing with an incumbent the models already trust.
Most open first.
Each row links to the full result for that market: every business named, how many answers named them, which questions they won, and the sources the assistants cited to justify it.
- Dental practices in Tampa, FL
- Dental practices in Austin, TX
- Dental practices in Phoenix, AZ
- Dental practices in Denver, CO
- Dental practices in Las Vegas, NV
- Med spas in Tampa, FL
- Law firms in Austin, TX
- Law firms in Tampa, FL
- HVAC companies in Phoenix, AZ
- HVAC companies in Denver, CO
- Plumbing companies in Austin, TX
- Law firms in Denver, CO
- Roofing companies in Austin, TX
- HVAC companies in Tampa, FL
- HVAC companies in Austin, TX
- Law firms in Phoenix, AZ
- Law firms in Las Vegas, NV
- Med spas in Denver, CO
- Plumbing companies in Tampa, FL
- Roofing companies in Tampa, FL
- Med spas in Las Vegas, NV
- Med spas in Phoenix, AZ
- HVAC companies in Las Vegas, NV
- Roofing companies in Phoenix, AZ
- Roofing companies in Denver, CO
- Plumbing companies in Las Vegas, NV
- Roofing companies in Las Vegas, NV
- Plumbing companies in Denver, CO
- Med spas in Austin, TX
- Plumbing companies in Phoenix, AZ
Every trade we measured, city by city.
Las Vegas, NV
- Dental practices openness 80 · 60 named · 15.5% directories
- Law firms openness 63 · 45 named · 30.1% directories
- Med spas openness 62 · 36 named · 15.1% directories
- HVAC companies openness 61 · 45 named · 20.3% directories
- Plumbing companies openness 59 · 42 named · 21.2% directories
- Roofing companies openness 59 · 37 named · 25.8% directories
Tampa, FL
- Dental practices openness 90 · 57 named · 11.8% directories
- Med spas openness 75 · 49 named · 7.8% directories
- Law firms openness 74 · 48 named · 43.2% directories
- HVAC companies openness 65 · 50 named · 26.9% directories
- Plumbing companies openness 63 · 48 named · 24.3% directories
- Roofing companies openness 63 · 55 named · 16.5% directories
Denver, CO
- Dental practices openness 81 · 43 named · 15.4% directories
- HVAC companies openness 70 · 49 named · 23.4% directories
- Law firms openness 67 · 43 named · 40.1% directories
- Med spas openness 63 · 41 named · 8.7% directories
- Roofing companies openness 60 · 56 named · 9.6% directories
- Plumbing companies openness 58 · 42 named · 19.3% directories
Phoenix, AZ
- Dental practices openness 85 · 55 named · 12.7% directories
- HVAC companies openness 72 · 54 named · 16.6% directories
- Law firms openness 64 · 40 named · 36.9% directories
- Med spas openness 62 · 40 named · 12.8% directories
- Roofing companies openness 61 · 43 named · 26.9% directories
- Plumbing companies openness 52 · 37 named · 21.1% directories
Austin, TX
- Dental practices openness 87 · 59 named · 21.0% directories
- Law firms openness 74 · 50 named · 33.1% directories
- Plumbing companies openness 69 · 52 named · 24.4% directories
- Roofing companies openness 67 · 47 named · 21.1% directories
- HVAC companies openness 64 · 40 named · 20.0% directories
- Med spas openness 54 · 36 named · 9.7% directories
What this is not.
It is a dated snapshot, not a ranking. These models re-read the web constantly and do not answer identically twice, so the lists will move. Eighteen answers per market is enough to see who the assistants reach for repeatedly; it is not enough to separate two businesses one position apart, and we do not try.
Being named is not an endorsement. The assistants named the companies whose evidence was easiest to find and safest to repeat, which correlates with being well documented rather than with doing the best work. None of the businesses in this study are our clients and nobody paid to appear. The findings are fully documented and published under CC BY 4.0, so please reuse them with attribution — including to disagree.
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