Are you planning to start a business? Are you already a business owner but are looking for new markets into which to expand? Do you want to find out what the competition is up to? Reference USA is a database of information about American businesses. It provides in-depth data about businesses, including business names, addresses, zip codes, the number of employees, annual revenue, the names of managers or owners, business expenditures, nearby businesses, and more. You can limit results to businesses in your zip code, by company size, or other criteria. You can search using a number of different criteria, and either print your results or save them to a flash drive to study later.

Some introductory video tutorials are available on the Reference USA website, and they also have a series of webinars that anyone can sign up and take.

The two sections of Reference USA that hold business information are:

U.S. Businesses

This database of over 24 million U.S. businesses contains verified, accurate data and is updated monthly and enhanced with more than 20 million phone calls per year. Selection criteria include: company name, executive title, business type, sales volume, employee size, year established, and more.

U.S. New Businesses

Updated with more than 50,000 new businesses added each week. Use to research hot areas of economic development. These new businesses need a wide variety of goods and services. Selection criteria include: company name, contact information, business location type, business filing type.

More than Business data

Reference USA also has two more features, one a site to help job-seekers and another a standard white pages phone directory.

U.S. Jobs and Internships

Combines the power of Reference USA's business listings with the job site indeed.com. Find your next job with a state-of-the-art mapping tool and view results with detailed business profiles. Selection criteria include: job title, company name, business type, multiple geography options, and more.

U.S. Standard White Pages

Use this database of over 89 million U.S. residents to conduct market research, and locate friends and relatives. These records are continuously updated and processed against the USPS National Change of Address (NCOA) and Delivery Sequence File (DSF). Selection criteria include: name, address, telephone, median home value, median home income, and more.

Begin using Reference USA by clicking here or the image above