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Guide · Collecting businesses

How to Get a List of All Businesses in a City or Zip Code

To get a list of all businesses in a city, you need more than one Maps search, because one search stops at about 120 businesses. Ask Maps Scraper Pro's chat for up to 1,000 and it searches the area around the place too, or paste one search per zip code into Bulk.

By Vikram Aruchamy, founder of Maps Scraper Pro

Updated 9 min read

Coming soon to the Chrome Web Store
On this page
  1. The 120 limit
  2. Ask chat for up to 1,000
  3. Zip code by zip code
  4. Remove repeats
  5. Every kind of business
  6. A city business database
  7. Other lists
  8. Problems and fixes
  9. Questions people ask

Why one Maps search stops at about 120 businesses

A single Maps search lists about 120 businesses at most, however big the city. In a large city, that's only part of a trade, and scrolling further doesn't help: the list ends there.

To get more, you need more searches, each covering a different part of the city. Maps Scraper Pro gives you two ways to run them, and you can use both.

  • Chat's area search picks the searches for you, by distance from the place you name.
  • Bulk runs the searches you choose, such as one per zip code, and saves them as one list.

Getting past the 120 limit: ask chat for up to 1,000

When you ask chat for more businesses than one search lists, it searches the area around the place too. It searches again from points in rings 2 km apart around the businesses it found, nearest first, and skips the ones it already has.

  1. Step 1: Ask for the number, and how far to look

    Open the side panel, choose Chat and type the kind of business, the place and the number, such as "Find 1,000 dentists in Dallas, TX within 20 km". Without a distance, it looks about 4 km out.

    • One request collects up to 1,000 businesses.
    • The distance can be up to 20 km.
  2. Step 2: Let it work through the area

    After the first search, the panel shows Searching more of the area with a count, such as (3 of 19). Each further search waits a few seconds before it starts, so a large request takes a while.

    • Click Stop at any time. What it found so far is kept in History.
  3. Step 3: Read how it ended

    The last message says why it stopped. It reached your number, or it ran out of new businesses within the distance and says "That's all Maps lists within 4 km", with a wider area to try.

    • It also stops early when three searches in a row find nothing new.
You typeSearches after the first oneHow far out
Find 300 dentists in Dallas, TXUp to 18About 4 km
Find 300 dentists in Dallas, TX within 10 kmUp to 9010 km
Find 1,000 dentists in Dallas, TX within 20 kmUp to 33020 km
Each request stops sooner when it reaches its number, or when three searches in a row add nothing new.

The area search goes by distance, not by zip code or city line. So a request for more than a zip code lists looks past that zip code's edge, and how chat's area search works has the details.

Search zip code by zip code with Bulk

Bulk runs a list of Maps searches one after another and saves them as one list. Each search is collected to the end of its list, with no area search, so you decide exactly which zip codes are covered.

  1. Step 1: List the zip codes

    Write down the zip codes that make up the city, or the part of it you want. The USPS ZIP Code lookup finds them by city and state.

  2. Step 2: Run the first search on Maps

    Search Maps for the kind of business and the first zip code, such as "dentists 75201", and copy the address from the address bar.

  3. Step 3: Make one link per zip code

    Paste the address once for each zip code and change the zip code in each copy, or run each search on Maps and copy its address. Keep the links in a spreadsheet column when there are many.

  4. Step 4: Paste them into Bulk

    In the side panel, click Bulk scrape, then Many Maps searches at once. Choose Paste URLs for one link per line, or Upload file for a .csv with one link per row, then click Start collecting on Configure.

    • Review sites shows how many links Bulk kept. It keeps only links to Maps searches and sets the rest aside.
    • Leave contact details ticked for emails, and keep the Bulk tab open until the run finishes.

Collecting many searches with Bulk covers each of its screens.

Remove the businesses found twice

Two searches often list the same business, such as one near the edge of a zip code. Bulk leaves out only rows that match in every field, and a business's Maps link changes with the search that found it, so the same business can stay in the list twice.

To remove the repeats, open the list on the results page and ask chat to "remove repeats by Address". Chat keeps the first of each and hides the rest, and a download has only what the page shows.

  • Match on Address or Phone, not Business Name: a chain's branches share a name.
  • Rows with an empty Address aren't treated as repeats of each other, so they stay.
  • For up to 10 places, you can run the searches in chat and click the card that joins them, such as Combine the 3 searches into one table. It keeps each business once, matched by name and address, and adds a Location column.

In chat, a zip code search that lists fewer businesses than you asked for looks past the zip code's edge. For exact zip codes, Bulk is the better fit.

For files you've already downloaded, exporting a Maps search to Excel covers combining them and removing duplicates.

Every kind of business, not one trade

Maps searches one kind of business at a time, so there's no single search for every business in a city. "All businesses" means a list of searches: one per kind of business, in each part of the city.

Start with the kinds that matter to you, then add more. The table groups common searches by sector.

SectorSearches to run
Healthdentists, doctors, chiropractors, physical therapists, pharmacies
Food and drinkrestaurants, cafés, bars, bakeries
Tradesplumbers, electricians, HVAC contractors, roofers
Personal serviceshair salons, gyms, dry cleaners, auto repair shops
Professional serviceslawyers, accountants, real estate agents, insurance agents
Shopsgrocery stores, florists, hardware stores, clothing stores

Put every search in one .csv file, one Maps link per row, and upload it to Bulk. Five kinds in 10 zip codes is 50 searches, run one after another, so leave the computer on and the Bulk tab open.

Similar searches can find different businesses: "dentists" and "dental clinics" may each list some the other misses. When the list must be complete, run both and remove the repeats.

For one trade across several cities rather than one whole city, lead lists for clients shows the city-by-city way.

Build a business database for a city

A business database for a city is this guide's lists joined up: one search per kind of business in each part of the city, combined and cleaned of repeats. Build it kind by kind, and keep each run in History so the next one adds to it instead of starting over.

Treat "10,000 leads in one click" with care. One Maps search lists about 120 businesses, one chat request collects up to 1,000 by searching the area around a place, and Bulk takes as many searches as you give it, one after another, in a tab you keep open. A whole city is hours of runs, not a click.

History keeps 500 lists, so download a combined file as you go: a database you can open in Excel beats one spread across lists. Exporting to Excel covers joining the files and removing the repeats, and counting your competitors in a city shows what to ask a finished list.

Other lists of a city's businesses

Some cities publish every registered business as open data, free to download. These lists include businesses Maps may not show, such as home-based ones, but they have no phones, emails or ratings.

SourceWhat it hasWhat it lacks
Los Angeles, Listing of Active BusinessesAbout 632,800 businesses registered with the city's Office of Finance, with name, address, zip code and industry code, updated monthlyPhones, emails, websites and ratings
Chicago, Business Licenses, Current ActiveAbout 53,400 active business licenses, with name, address, license type and map position; one business can hold severalPhones, emails, websites and ratings
A Maps list from Maps Scraper ProThe businesses Maps lists for each search, with phone, website, rating and the emails on each websiteBusinesses with no Maps listing
Open-data figures as each city published them on October 28, 2026.

Open data fits when you need every registered business, or a count by industry. A Maps list fits when you need to reach the businesses: compare the Los Angeles list and the Chicago list with what you need.

To find out whether your city publishes one, search its open-data portal for "business licenses" or "active businesses". You can then match the two lists by address in a spreadsheet.

Problems and fixes

What happenedWhyWhat to do
Chat said "That's all Maps lists within 4 km"It ran out of new businesses before your numberAsk again with a wider area, such as "within 10 km"
Chat said "1,000 is the most one request collects"One chat request stops at 1,000 businessesSplit the city: one request per part, or one Bulk search per zip code
The side panel closed during a chat runThe search under way finishes and is kept in History, but the rest of the area isn't searchedOpen the list from History, then ask again for the part that's missing
Bulk left some links outIt keeps only links to Maps searches, from the main Maps addressCopy each link from a Maps search, not from a country's own Maps address
Bulk dropped a line of wordsBulk needs links, not search wordsRun the search on Maps once and paste its address instead
Maps shows a verification pageMaps wants to check that you're a personComplete it in the tab, then run the search again

Questions people ask

How do I find a list of all businesses in my area?

Run one Maps search per kind of business and collect them with Maps Scraper Pro, or check whether your city publishes its registered businesses as open data. The open data lists every registered business, and the Maps list has the phones, websites and emails.

Can a Maps scraper get more than 120 results?

Yes, by running more than one search. Maps Scraper Pro's chat does it for you, up to 1,000 businesses a request, by searching the area around the place.

How do I get a list of businesses by zip code?

Run one Maps search per zip code, such as "plumbers 75201", and paste the links into Bulk. It collects each search to the end of its list and saves them all as one list.

Is there a free list of all businesses in a city?

Many cities publish one as open data, free, but without phones or emails. Maps Scraper Pro is free too, and gives you the contact details for each kind of business you search.

How long does a whole city take?

It depends on how many businesses there are, because each one is collected in turn and each further area search waits a few seconds first. Start a large request and let it run in its tab; what it finds is kept in History as it goes.

Keep reading

All guides

Turn your next Maps search into a lead list.

Install it, type the businesses and the city you want, and download the list.

Coming soon to the Chrome Web Store