Reference Solutions: Searching U.S. Businesses

Are you starting, managing, or trying to grow your business? Access information on 94 million U.S. Businesses and 300 million U.S. residents for your business or consumer research with Reference Solutions, formerly known as Reference USA. Reference Solutions contains 10 unique searchable databases: 7 business databases and 4 consumer databases. In today’s blog we’re going to discuss two of their most popular business databases: U.S. Businesses and U.S. New Businesses.

U.S. Businesses Database

This database has 43 million business records and 1.5 million closed businesses. Records are modified, updated, and added twice a month while out of business records are removed each day.

Quick Facts

• 16 million telephone verified
• 27 million pre-verified
• Ability of cross searching 183,000,000+ historical/archive records
• Files are updated on the 1st and 3rd Friday of each month
• Quality is assured throughout compilation, verification and update processes
• Ability to create personalized accounts and save searches

U.S. New Businesses Database

Thousands of businesses come into existence every week and you can search for these businesses and in some cases contact them before their doors are even open.

Quick Facts

• 1 million businesses annually
• 50,000 new businesses added weekly
• 900,000 total phone calls are made annually to verify
• Collected from over 250 sources including Secretaries of State, Department of Revenue, Utility companies, Business Journals, etc.

Whether using U.S. Businesses database or U.S. New Businesses Database, you can search for individual business names or executives in the quick search:

Under the Advanced Search tab you can do a more detailed search and select several option including Business Type and Geography.

You’re also able to select the type of records you’re looking for such as verified businesses which have been phone verified and quality checked, unverified businesses that are still in the process of going through the verification process so may not be fully accurate, and closed or out of business records.

Once you have finished selecting your criteria you’ll be presented with a table of results:

Some results will have a corporate tree option allowing you to see the business at a macro level and review its subsidiaries:

They also offer heat maps (macro density maps) by location, sales volume, and number of employees:

You can also view charts and graphs created from your search by location, sales volume, and number of employees. These can be downloaded, printed and are fully citable in APA and MLA formats.

You can also create a summary table of your search results which can be exported to MS Excel or printed.

Detailed Record View:

Reference Solutions also offers detailed information about individual businesses from your search results. You’re able to choose from the following criteria when you select a record to review:

Location Information:

Industry Profile:

Business Demographics:

Business Expenditures:

Nearby Businesses:

Competitor’s Report:

Exporting Information:

You can export information by downloading, emailing, or printing records. You can choose various formats, and levels of detail to export. Users can also create personalized accounts and save their search criteria. They can access their searches on the homepage, after logging in with their private username and password.

Reference Solutions is a great resource for entrepreneurs no matter what level of development your company is in. Get started today!