What a lead really costs — and how I know

The short version

For your ZIP and trade, I show cost-per-lead on four channels: Google Ads, Google Local Services Ads (LSA), Facebook, and Organic. The three paid numbers start from published industry benchmarks and get nudged to your local market. Organic is a flat $7 — what I pay to turn an anonymous visitor on your site into a lead you own, through ConsentResolve. Everything is an illustration of market rates, not a promise about your results.

How each number is built

Google Ads — live-adjusted to your market

I start from LocaliQ’s published cost-per-lead for your trade, then adjust it for your market. The adjustment comes from real Google Keyword Planner data (via DataForSEO): I pull the average cost-per-click for your trade’s search terms in your state and nationally, and take the ratio. If your state runs 20% hotter than the national average, the benchmark moves up 20%.

Why a ratio and not the raw click cost? Keyword Planner’s cost-per-click estimates run 3–5× higher than what advertisers actually pay. Used as an absolute, they’d spit out $600 leads. Used as a ratio, that inflation sits on both the top and bottom of the fraction and cancels out — leaving a clean read on how pricey your market is.

Google LSA & Facebook — sourced benchmarks, scaled to your market

LSA and Facebook don’t publish per-ZIP pricing, so these are published industry benchmarks scaled by the same local factor. Where a trade isn’t eligible for LSA at all (solar, most concrete/paving), the card reads N/A — never a made-up number.

Organic — the $7 you can own

Organic leads carry no per-click auction fee. The only cost is resolving anonymous traffic into named leads, which I do through ConsentResolve at about $7 a lead — and unlike every rented channel, you keep them.

My sources

• Google Ads — LocaliQ Home Services Search Benchmarks 2025 (3,211 US campaigns, Apr 2024 – Mar 2025). Source →
• Google LSA — SearchLight Digital LSA CPL by Trade 2026 (888 contractors, 126,650 leads). Source →
• Facebook Ads — LocaliQ Facebook Advertising Benchmarks 2025 (Home & Home Improvement, $41 CPL). Source →

Primary studies only, pulled from the original articles (re-citations of the same study routinely misreport the numbers). LSA figures reconciled to SearchLight’s 2026 audited dataset where a trade is broken out.

How solid is each number?

Every figure in the table below is tiered so you know how much weight to give it:

The full table (per trade)

All cost-per-lead figures, national baseline, reviewed 2026-08. Your calculator result takes these and applies your market’s local factor.

Where I’d tell you to squint

• It’s state-level. Google Keyword Planner prices by state/metro, not by literal ZIP — so two ZIPs in the same state show the same market factor.
• Benchmarks aren’t your account. Your real cost-per-lead depends on your offer, your reviews, your speed to the phone, and your close rate. These are market averages.
• Sanity-bounded. Nothing ships outside Google Ads $40–$350, LSA $15–$200, Facebook $10–$120 without a second source.
• Seasonality is real. Storm-driven roofing and summer HVAC swing hard; a spring benchmark can mislead in December.
• Proxies are labeled. A few trades (gutters, siding, flooring, fencing) borrow a close cousin’s number because no trade-specific study exists. They’re marked Proxy so you can weight them accordingly.