Compare Two Markets Side by Side for Site Selection

Drop a Distance Radius around each town in Map Tools, then click the first ring and open Customize Metrics in the pop-out. Under Demographic Data, add population, median household income, and age with Add to Proximity Details. Because the fields carry across every radius, the second town shows the same metrics as soon as you click it. Keep both rings the same size so the numbers cover equal ground, then read the two pop-outs one field at a time to see which market comes out ahead.

Draw a matching radius on each town and add population through Customize Metrics under Demographic Data. The pop-out for each ring lists the people inside it, so you compare the two totals directly instead of guessing from a spreadsheet. If your target is narrower than a headcount, add an age band or a household field to both rings and read those numbers side by side. For a regional view, shade ZIP codes or counties by population in the Boundary Tool so the denser market shows in a deeper color on the key.

Yes. Add median household income to each radius through Customize Metrics, and both pop-outs list the income for the area inside the ring. Keep the two rings the same size so the figures are comparable, then read one against the other. To see income across the whole region, open the Boundary Tool, pick ZIP codes or counties, set the fill to Demographic Census Data, and choose an income metric. The map colors each area by income, and the stronger town lands in a higher range on the legend.

Upload your list of hospitals and universities as markers, then open the Location Finder and center it on each town to surface the closest of those points. The panel lists the nearest locations to each candidate, so you count what falls near one market against the other. You can also draw a radius around each town and read how many of those POI markers sit inside the ring. Either way, you compare access to the same set of hospitals and universities across both candidate markets.

A Distance Radius is a straight-line ring of a set mile or kilometer size, which is best when you want both markets measured on the same even scale. A Drive Time Polygon covers the area reachable within a set number of minutes from a town center, based on perfect driving conditions rather than live traffic. Use the radius when the question is raw distance, and the drive-time area when the question is how far people can actually travel to reach a site. Both read demographics the same way through Customize Metrics.

Yes. Add a radius for each town you are weighing, give every ring its own color and name, and the demographic fields you set through Customize Metrics carry across all of them. Click each ring in turn to read its population, income, and age, then line the pop-out numbers up against each other. For a shortlist of several markets, the Boundary Tool fill is the faster read, since it colors every ZIP code or county at once and lets the shortlist sort itself by shade.

No. Drawing a radius is a click on the map, and adding demographics is a set of menu choices under Customize Metrics, so you build the comparison without GIS training or code. Upload your candidate list as an Excel file, CSV, or Google Sheet, and the geocoder places the towns and fixes messy addresses for you. The Location Finder and Boundary Tool run the same way, from dropdowns rather than scripts, so most people have two markets compared in their first session.

The population, income, and age figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau and Statistics Canada and are built into the platform, so you read the official published numbers without importing or updating anything. A growing library of market data adds spending and household detail alongside the census figures. Because the data is built in rather than sitting in your file, every radius and every shared view reads from the same source, so a comparison you send a colleague shows the same numbers when they open the link.

Yes. Customize Metrics has a region toggle between the United States and Canada, so you set one radius to read U.S. Census data and another to read Statistics Canada data on the same map. The pop-out fields line up, so you compare population and income across the border from one workspace. The Boundary Tool covers both, with U.S. boundary sets and Canadian FSAs for a color-shaded regional read.

Once both markets are on the map, share it with a password-protected link, a public link, or a one-line HTML embed, or present it in presentation mode. Export the map as a PNG or PDF, up to a large poster size, to drop into a deck. To hand over the raw numbers, export the locations inside each radius to Excel, CSV, or TSV.