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Choose a named release and keep its limits
The Census 2023 County Business Patterns user guide describes how to select geography and industry records. It also says the programme does not provide company lists or sales/receipts data. Use that dated documentation for what it establishes, rather than treating a count as a directory of prospects.
At the 15 November 2026 review, Census’s overview warns that its information is no longer current while methodological changes are evaluated. Check the current release notice and the documentation attached to the file you actually use. This guide supplies no latest count or assumption that an old method still governs new releases.
A group can have many sites and one purchasing team
Fictional example: management’s separately verified list contains 200 customer sites. Eighty belong to ten groups; the other 120 are assumed to be independent, single-site businesses. If each group buys centrally, there would be 130 buying organisations under those assumptions—not 200.
The real answer could differ if branches buy independently, share regional contracts or use an outside facilities manager. Aggregate Census records cannot supply that private buying map. Establish the purchasing route separately.
Narrow the research universe without pretending it is demand
Document exclusions. An employment-size category or industry code may be a useful filter without proving that every included site has the problem you solve.
| Question | Evidence needed |
|---|---|
| Which sites fit the service? | The actual equipment, premises or work the offer can address. |
| What does the record count? | The release’s establishment, geography, industry and coverage definitions. |
| Who can purchase? | The operating company, parent, site or external manager controlling the work. |
| Can the U.S. team serve them? | Service area, access, staffing and support evidence. |
| Why would a buyer change? | A real problem, buying process and reason to select this offer. |
Give the owner the count and the unanswered question
Show the dataset version, query, units and exclusions beside the customer hypothesis. A missing, withheld or incomparable value stays missing; do not substitute zero because the spreadsheet needs a number.
Use the count to decide where to investigate next. Approve customer research or delivery quotations against the specific uncertainty, rather than approving a revenue forecast made by multiplying sites by a hoped-for contract value.
Scope
- A research method with a fictional buying-map example. The 2023 documentation is historical and the current Census overview carries a methodology warning; no current release, company list, demand total or time-series comparability is established.
Next step
Use Market comparison to record the dated site-count evidence, exclusions and actual purchasing questions. Keep the query and independent buyer mapping in the research file.
Sources & review notes
U.S. Census Bureau
Passage, dates and research notes
official-data-documentation · Guide updated 16 July 2025: FAQs, definitions and geography/industry filters
Read the FAQs, definitions and extraction guidance. This is a dated 2023-release example, not a claim that its method or data is the latest available.
U.S. Census Bureau
Passage, dates and research notes
official-data-documentation · Current notice, programme coverage, establishment statistics and reference-year context
The retrieved page warns that its information is no longer current while Census evaluates methodology changes. The article preserves that warning and makes no current dataset or noise-method claim.
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