# Who gets found in Washington DMV?

Aug 30 → Sep 8 2 page-one leaders changed hands 18 new pages in the top 5

THE SEARCH LEDGER · WASHINGTON DMV EDITION · TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2026

Every month, Washington DMV types 3,110,340 searches looking for a local business, and advertisers pay $3.35M chasing them. Somebody gets found. Somebody doesn't. This is the weekly ledger of who, at what price, and what's still up for grabs — refreshed weekly.

BY [SEO BANDWAGON](https://seobandwagon.com/about) · UPDATED WEEKLY · COLLECTED SEPTEMBER 8, 2026 · [METHODOLOGY](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/washington-dmv#methodology)

3,110,340

SEARCHES IN PLAY / MO

$3.35M

AD-EQUIV. VALUE / MO

1,200

LISTINGS TRACKED

7,293

KEYWORDS TRACKED

Washington DMV searches 8,147,950 times a month in total. The other 5,037,610 are branded or navigational — someone already knows where they are going, across 1,653 branded searches we track separately.

Source: [Google Ads](https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/) search volume and cost-per-click via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Washington DMV city geo-target, twelve-month averages · pulled September 8, 2026. "Searches in play" counts commercial and transactional intent only, classified by our own heuristics rather than by Google. Ad-equivalent value is Σ volume × CPC — one click priced for every tracked search, a ceiling on what the traffic would cost to buy, not spend and not revenue. Listings: [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps) results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Washington DMV city geo-target, deduped by place\_id · pulled September 8, 2026. Each category search returns at most 100 results, so this is a ceiling on what we see, not a census of the metro.

Free · sign in with Google · no credit card

## The demand

Before anyone wins a customer, the customer has to ask. Here is what Washington DMV asks Google for in an average month.

3,110,340

searches in an average month across the 2,720 keywords where a local business can actually be chosen — roughly **104,000 searches a day** for something, or someone, in Washington DMV.

### Where the demand goes

Each square is 1% of the addressable searches — the commercial and transactional ones a local business can win, 38% of everything Washington DMV searches.

Waffle chart of monthly search demand by vertical: Food & Dining 48 percent, Attractions 34 percent, Other 5 percent, Hotels & Lodging 5 percent, Travel & Transit 4 percent, Shopping 2 percent, Personal Care 1 percent, Health & Wellness 1 percent.

Source: [Google Ads](https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/) search volume and cost-per-click via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Washington DMV city geo-target, twelve-month averages · pulled September 8, 2026, bucketed by our own vertical classifier — Google supplies no category. Squares are percentages of the addressable set, not of all search, and are largest-remainder rounded to 100.

Food & Dining 48% Attractions 34% Other 5% Hotels & Lodging 5% Travel & Transit 4% Shopping 2% Personal Care 1% Health & Wellness 1%

WHERE THE DEMAND CONCENTRATES

Food & Dining is **48% of the addressable demand** in Washington DMV, against 34% for Attractions. The board in Chapter 2 prices every one of those searches.

### When the demand comes

Search interest by month, 0–100 per vertical. The pink outline marks each vertical's peak — the month the phones ring.

Source: Google Ads monthly search volume via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Washington DMV city geo-target · pulled September 8, 2026. Each row is indexed to its own peak month, so cells compare a vertical against itself and never against another row. Not a search count, and not [Google Trends](https://trends.google.com/).

| VERTICAL | JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Attractions | 41 | 41 | 79 | 98 | 91 | 89 | 100 | 93 | 63 | 56 | 46 | 54 |
| Shopping | 40 | 38 | 67 | 64 | 69 | 87 | 100 | 71 | 57 | 61 | 63 | 68 |
| Food & Dining | 63 | 69 | 98 | 98 | 94 | 92 | 100 | 96 | 83 | 88 | 74 | 71 |
| Hotels & Lodging | 58 | 61 | 88 | 97 | 92 | 99 | 100 | 84 | 82 | 88 | 73 | 68 |
| Entertainment | 80 | 74 | 100 | 86 | 70 | 74 | 74 | 68 | 71 | 96 | 73 | 90 |
| Real Estate | 80 | 80 | 100 | 99 | 97 | 96 | 94 | 97 | 83 | 83 | 69 | 68 |
| Travel & Transit | 64 | 64 | 91 | 85 | 100 | 87 | 87 | 74 | 75 | 86 | 83 | 82 |
| News & Media | 80 | 70 | 88 | 63 | 63 | 73 | 73 | 100 | 83 | 78 | 60 | 57 |
| Personal Care | 62 | 72 | 84 | 83 | 93 | 93 | 92 | 100 | 85 | 85 | 69 | 68 |
| Home Services | 67 | 74 | 85 | 80 | 77 | 82 | 76 | 88 | 100 | 88 | 73 | 68 |
| Legal | 53 | 50 | 63 | 53 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 100 | 80 | 69 | 47 | 40 |
| Jobs & Careers | 100 | 76 | 83 | 77 | 68 | 80 | 74 | 82 | 83 | 67 | 58 | 67 |
| Professional Services | 87 | 100 | 87 | 66 | 30 | 53 | 36 | 64 | 53 | 43 | 42 | 41 |
| Education | 80 | 73 | 100 | 85 | 63 | 75 | 72 | 83 | 82 | 72 | 60 | 68 |
| Health & Wellness | 90 | 81 | 94 | 94 | 87 | 93 | 91 | 93 | 100 | 95 | 76 | 85 |

### Climbing fastest

The steepest risers in Washington DMV over the last twelve months of Google Ads volume (Aug 2025 – Jul 2026). Growth compares each keyword's last three months against its own twelve-month average, so it tops out at 300% by construction.

nationals v diamondbacks ▲ 296% BREAKOUT

memorial day dc parade ▲ 291% BREAKOUT

4th of july parade dc ▲ 290% BREAKOUT

nats single game tickets ▲ 290% BREAKOUT

dc 4th of july events ▲ 286% BREAKOUT

Source: Google Ads monthly search volume via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Washington DMV city geo-target, Aug 2025 – Jul 2026. Not [Google Trends](https://trends.google.com/), and not a weekly series — the window closes one to two months before the pull.

### Where the demand sits

Priced keywords that name one of the places we mine for Washington DMV — its seed suburbs plus the boroughs Maps returned at least twice — grouped by that name. A metro is not one market. This ranks the places we look for, not every place that exists — a landmark or district we do not mine is absent however much demand names it, and a metro can miss a place that would have ranked near the top. 11 more clear the bar below these.

Northwest Washington NEIGHBORHOOD 75,970/mo

27 keywords · $19.1K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Arlington SUBURB 47,260/mo

72 keywords · $71.5K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Downtown NEIGHBORHOOD 41,390/mo

86 keywords · $68.3K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Alexandria SUBURB 18,670/mo

42 keywords · $14.2K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Southwest Washington NEIGHBORHOOD 14,870/mo

7 keywords · $4.8K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Bethesda SUBURB 13,300/mo

31 keywords · $23.5K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Noma NEIGHBORHOOD 13,290/mo

15 keywords · $28.4K/mo in ad-equivalent value

West End NEIGHBORHOOD 13,130/mo

13 keywords · $9.3K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Embassy Row NEIGHBORHOOD 8,070/mo

7 keywords · $9.4K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Old Town NEIGHBORHOOD 7,990/mo

10 keywords · $7.4K/mo in ad-equivalent value

Source: Computed from Google Ads search volume × CPC via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Washington DMV city geo-target, September 8, 2026 — keywords grouped by the place name they contain. Rows are grouped by NAME CONTAINMENT, not by place: a keyword joins every row whose name it contains, so it is counted in both when it names two places AND when one row's name sits inside another's. So a shorter name sitting inside a longer one carries the longer one’s keywords too, and those two rows are not independent places. Rows rank names and do not sum to a metro total. Ad-equivalent value is Σ volume × CPC — a ceiling on what the traffic would cost to buy, not spend and not revenue.

**Northwest Washington** alone carries 75,970 searches a month across 27 keywords, worth $19.1K a month at Google's posted prices. If your pages only ever say "Washington DMV", that is demand you are not addressing.

## The money

Attention in this city has a spot price, and Google publishes it: the cost per ad click. Here's what a customer's attention trades for in Washington DMV.

"BICYCLE ACCIDENT ATTORNEY WASHINGTON DC" · COST OF ONE AD CLICK

$448.76

One click. Not a customer — a *click*. That's what a single visit from this search trades for in Washington DMV right now.

### Every keyword has a price tag

The 6,464 of 7,293 tracked keywords Google Ads returns a cost-per-click for, on a log scale. Amber gets deeper as the click gets pricier.

Strip plot of 6464 tracked keywords by cost per click, log scale. Cheapest: nats park suites at $0.01. Most expensive: bicycle accident attorney washington dc at $448.76.

### The price board

The 6,464 of 7,293 tracked keywords Google Ads returns a cost-per-click for. Volume and CPC are twelve-month averages, so neither moves week to week.

| # | KEYWORD | CPC | SEARCHES/MO | COST TO BUY ALL | Δ VS. LAST PULL |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | bicycle accident attorney washington dc · LEGAL | $448.76 | 10 | $4.5K | — |
| 2 | personal injury lawyer near me · LEGAL | $304.54 | 390 | $118.8K | — |
| 3 | product liability lawyers washington dc · LEGAL | $263.89 | 10 | $2.6K | — |
| 4 | dc accident attorney · LEGAL | $261.95 | 40 | $10.5K | — |
| 5 | exterminator near washington dc · HOME SERVICES | $209.71 | 10 | $2.1K | — |
| 6 | injury lawyer dc · LEGAL | $195.83 | 320 | $62.7K | — |
| 7 | accident attorney in dc · LEGAL | $195.83 | 320 | $62.7K | — |
| 8 | flooring contractor washington dc · HOME SERVICES | $173.21 | 10 | $1.7K | — |
| 9 | washington dc window replacement · OTHER | $140.09 | 70 | $9.8K | — |
| 10 | ac washington dc · OTHER | $121.80 | 10 | $1.2K | — |
| 11 | basement remodel washington dc · HOME SERVICES | $118.51 | 20 | $2.4K | — |
| 12 | bathroom remodeling dc · HOME SERVICES | $113.47 | 110 | $12.5K | — |
| 13 | plumbers in dc area · HOME SERVICES | $113.09 | 10 | $1.1K | — |
| 14 | bathroom remodel washington dc · HOME SERVICES | $110.35 | 30 | $3.3K | — |
| 15 | car accident lawyer dc · LEGAL | $109.68 | 210 | $23.0K | — |
| 16 | moving companies near washington dc · OTHER | $105.00 | 10 | $1.1K | — |
| 17 | moving and storage companies dc · OTHER | $102.94 | 10 | $1.0K | — |
| 18 | water heater repair washington dc · OTHER | $97.63 | 10 | $976 | — |
| 19 | masonry repair washington dc · OTHER | $96.06 | 10 | $961 | — |
| 20 | solar companies dc · OTHER | $95.23 | 20 | $1.9K | — |
| 21 | appliance repair dc area · HOME SERVICES | $92.20 | 10 | $922 | — |
| 22 | washington dc home improvement · OTHER | $89.66 | 10 | $897 | — |
| 23 | hvac repair dc · HOME SERVICES | $88.06 | 50 | $4.4K | — |
| 24 | johnnie cochran law firm washington dc · LEGAL | $86.59 | 10 | $866 | — |
| 25 | emergency plumber washington dc · HOME SERVICES | $83.65 | 50 | $4.2K | — |
| 26 | bee removal washington dc · OTHER | $83.36 | 10 | $834 | — |
| 27 | emergency plumber near me · HOME SERVICES | $81.79 | 170 | $13.9K | — |
| 28 | moving and storage dc · OTHER | $81.40 | 20 | $1.6K | — |
| 29 | concrete contractors washington dc · HOME SERVICES | $80.83 | 10 | $808 | — |
| 30 | ac repair in dc · HOME SERVICES | $79.54 | 30 | $2.4K | — |
| 31 | best pest control washington dc · HOME SERVICES | $79.32 | 50 | $4.0K | — |
| 32 | accountant near me · PROFESSIONAL SERVICES | $76.80 | 70 | $5.4K | — |
| 33 | locksmith dc ne · HOME SERVICES | $76.14 | 20 | $1.5K | — |
| 34 | rodent control washington dc · OTHER | $75.51 | 10 | $755 | — |
| 35 | list of lawyers in washington dc · LEGAL | $73.88 | 10 | $739 | — |
| 36 | professional movers dc · OTHER | $72.41 | 10 | $724 | — |
| 37 | accounting for dc · PROFESSIONAL SERVICES | $71.36 | 20 | $1.4K | — |
| 38 | dc movers and packers · OTHER | $71.29 | 10 | $713 | — |
| 39 | succotash washington dc · OTHER | $67.91 | 3,600 | $244.5K | — |
| 40 | dui lawyer dc · LEGAL | $65.91 | 390 | $25.7K | — |
| 41 | air conditioning repair dc · HOME SERVICES | $65.68 | 30 | $2.0K | — |
| 42 | washington dc real estate agent · REAL ESTATE | $65.34 | 170 | $11.1K | — |
| 43 | hvac repair near me · HOME SERVICES | $63.74 | 70 | $4.5K | — |
| 44 | concrete washington dc · OTHER | $63.58 | 10 | $636 | — |
| 45 | dc home remodeling · HOME SERVICES | $62.20 | 50 | $3.1K | — |
| 46 | dc bed bugs · OTHER | $61.22 | 30 | $1.8K | — |
| 47 | concrete repair dc · OTHER | $60.14 | 10 | $601 | — |
| 48 | apartment movers dc · REAL ESTATE | $59.66 | 10 | $597 | — |
| 49 | ac repair near me · HOME SERVICES | $56.35 | 210 | $11.8K | — |
| 50 | locksmith 20009 · HOME SERVICES | $54.65 | 10 | $547 | — |

Source: [Google Ads](https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/) search volume and cost-per-click via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Washington DMV city geo-target, twelve-month averages · pulled September 8, 2026. Bar length is CPC on a linear scale. "Cost to buy all" is searches × CPC — what the traffic would cost at Google's posted price if every search became a click, which is a ceiling, not a forecast. Δ compares each keyword's CPC against the Aug 30 pull; Google refreshes these figures roughly monthly, so most rows do not move between weekly pulls.

### Why would anyone pay $449 a click?

The businesses bidding here keep bidding. Here's the math that makes a $449 click rational, using legal industry benchmarks.

100 clicks bought −$44,876

15 become phone calls (15% call rate, benchmark)

3 become signed cases (20% close, benchmark)

Revenue from those 3 signed cases +$75,000 · 1.7× the spend

Call and close rates are vertical benchmarks, not promises. But the principle sets every price on the board: **a click costs what the customer behind it is worth.** Bounce rate is priced in.

ONE CUSTOMER FUNDS

How many clicks a single customer's revenue buys back, at that keyword's CPC. Customer values are industry benchmarks.

bicycle accident attorney washington dc

~$25,000 case fee (benchmark) · $448.76/click

55 clicks

flooring contractor washington dc

~$9,500 job value (benchmark) · $173.21/click

54 clicks

washington dc real estate agent

~$9,000 commission (benchmark) · $65.34/click

137 clicks

mgm national harbor resort and casino

~$1,800 customer value (benchmark) · $0.01/click

180,000 clicks

Source: CPC: [Google Ads](https://ads.google.com/home/tools/keyword-planner/) search volume and cost-per-click via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Washington DMV city geo-target, twelve-month averages · pulled September 8, 2026. Call rate, close rate and customer value are industry benchmarks hardcoded in this page — not measured for this metro, and not for your business. Spend, revenue and the multiple are all products of that one CPC and those assumptions.

Same market, different economies. This is why "is $X a click expensive?" has no answer without knowing what a customer is worth to *you*.

### What owning a vertical costs

Monthly ad-equivalent value of all clicks in each vertical — what you'd pay Google to buy the demand you could rank for.

Food & Dining $820,000/mo

Attractions $670,000/mo

Home Services $404,000/mo

Legal $380,000/mo

Hotels & Lodging $341,000/mo

Health & Wellness $213,000/mo

Ranking organically doesn't pay that bill — it makes it someone else's.

## The fight

A market this valuable doesn't sit unclaimed. Here's who holds Washington DMV's front page, who's climbing, who's slipping — and where the seats are still empty.

31%

of Washington DMV's tracked page-one slots are held by one of the 40 national directories we name — www.yelp.com, www.opentable.com, www.facebook.com — their share is large, and it is beatable: Google prefers a good local answer when one exists. The other 69% is everything else — local businesses, and national brands we do not classify.

Waffle chart: 31 of 100 tracked page-one slots held by one of 40 named national directories, 69 by everything else.

out-of-town directories · 31 everything else · 69

Source: Google organic results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), 21 tracked keywords anchored on the Washington DMV coordinate · pulled September 8, 2026. "Directory" means the domain's registrable label matches one of 40 named national directory brands; everything else is counted as the remainder, which includes national brands we do not classify.

### Two pulls of "pizza near me"

Page-one position, last pull vs. this one: **wethepizza.com moved ▼ 5 spots**. The chart grows a column with every pull as the archive builds.

Bump chart of page-one positions for pizza near me between Aug 30 and Sep 8: wethepizza.com moved from position 2 → 7.

### This week's movers

Biggest changes between the Aug 30 and Sep 8 pulls.

▼ 15

Echo Box Karaoke & Bar | Dupont

map rank for "bar"

#4 → #19

▲ 14

Goodlove

map rank for "bar"

#20 → #6

▼ 5

wethepizza.com

pizza near me

#2 → #7

▼ 5

dclocksmithsquad.com

2 queries — locksmith in dc · locksmith near me

0 up · 2 down

NEW

www.yelp.com

locksmith in dc · new to page one

— → #2

NEW

bencrump.com

dc accident attorney · new to page one

— → #2

▲ 229

Fogo de Chão Brazilian Steakhouse

reviews

20,544 → 20,773

▲ 177

Unconventional Diner

reviews

9,237 → 9,414

▲ 14

Bobby Van’s Steakhouse

map rank for "steakhouse"

#19 → #5

▼ 11

i’l campione, an Italian spot. (Inside of Squash On Fire 3rd Floor)

map rank for "pizza"

#7 → #18

Movement = week-over-week snapshot diff · arrows and signed numbers, always

### Most contested keywords

Who currently leads the top 6 fights worth having. Leader = top organic result; OPEN RACE = no [map pack](https://seobandwagon.com/seo-glossary#local-pack) on the page.

restaurants near me

673,000 searches/mo

dc.eater.com LOCAL

natural history museum dc

135,000 searches/mo

naturalhistory.si.edu OPEN RACE

washington dulles airport dc

110,000 searches/mo

www.flydulles.com OPEN RACE

grocery store near me

60,500 searches/mo

local.safeway.com LOCAL

pizza near me

49,500 searches/mo

www.eatandyspizza.com LOCAL

museum of bible dc

27,100 searches/mo

www.museumofthebible.org OPEN RACE

NO MAP PACK

**9 of the 21 keywords we track show no map pack at all.** Google is answering those with links, not a map — so the way in is a page, not a profile. [See what that takes](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/washington-dmv#move).

### What page one is made of

Share of 21 tracked keywords showing each [SERP feature](https://seobandwagon.com/seo-glossary#serp-feature).

People Also Ask 95%

Map pack 57%

Source: Google organic results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), 21 tracked keywords anchored on the Washington DMV coordinate · pulled September 8, 2026. Feature presence as Google returned it; a featured snippet appeared on none of these SERPs and paid results on 2%, so neither is charted.

[People Also Ask](https://seobandwagon.com/seo-glossary#people-also-ask) boxes show on **95%** of these searches — answer those questions and you're on page one twice.

ANATOMY OF A #1

Ingle Korean Steakhouse

Top-rated of 85 tracked Steakhouse

Rating 5.0 ★ (cat. median 4.4)

Reviews 888 (median 1,123)

Source: [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps) results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Washington DMV city geo-target, deduped by place\_id · pulled September 8, 2026. Each category search returns at most 100 results, so this is a ceiling on what we see, not a census of the metro.

None of this is magic. It's a rating edge and steady reviews. The playbook is public.

### Ranking with no website

Of the 1,200 businesses we track in Washington DMV's map results, **84** have no website at all — 7% of the field, showing up on reputation alone.

84

BUSINESSES RANKING WITHOUT A SITE

The most-reviewed of them has **39,117 reviews** and a 4.4 rating. If they are beating you, it is not because of their website.

Source: [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps) results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Washington DMV city geo-target, deduped by place\_id · pulled September 8, 2026. Each category search returns at most 100 results, so this is a ceiling on what we see, not a census of the metro. "No website" is the absence of a site link on the Google listing.

### Who holds the map pack

27 businesses hold the 36 pack seats across the 12 tracked keywords that return a map pack. # is the best position each held; seats counts the keywords they appear on.

#1

Cohen & Cohen Personal Injury Lawyers - Washington D.C. Accident and Injury Lawyers

4.9 ★ · 549 reviews

4 SEATS

#1

Chaikin, Sherman, Cammarata & Siegel Personal Injury Lawyers - Washington, D.C.

4.9 ★ · 230 reviews

4 SEATS

#1

D&A 24/7 Locksmiths - Washington, DC

4.5 ★ · 169 reviews

2 SEATS

#1

The Locksmith DC Company

5.0 ★ · 25 reviews

2 SEATS

#3

Gelb & Gelb, P.C.

4.9 ★ · 275 reviews

2 SEATS

#1

Safeway

4.1 ★ · 1,500 reviews

1 SEAT

#1

Grazie Nonna

4.2 ★ · 1,100 reviews

1 SEAT

#1

Duccini's Pizza

4.3 ★ · 1,100 reviews

1 SEAT

A DIFFERENT POOL

**17 of the 27 businesses holding these seats never appear in the category rosters we pull for Washington DMV.** That gap is a property of OUR roster, not of Google: every metro pulls the same 14 categories, and where they do not overlap the tracked keywords the share runs to 100% before Google is consulted. It says these packs were not measured by our category pull — not that categories do not matter.

Source: Google local pack via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), 12 tracked keywords anchored on the Washington DMV metro coordinate, September 8, 2026. Rank is position within the pack as returned, not a ranking claim. Businesses are keyed on the cid Google returns; ratings and review counts are the listing's own, read once and not averaged.

### Nobody has claimed these

Of the 1,200 businesses we track in Washington DMV's map results, **75** are ranking on a listing no owner has claimed — 6% of the field, with nobody able to edit the hours, the category or the photos.

75

UNCLAIMED LISTINGS RANKING TODAY

The most-reviewed of them has **1,888 reviews** and a 4.9 rating and still nobody controls the profile. Claiming one is free.

Source: [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps) results via [DataForSEO](https://dataforseo.com/), Washington DMV city geo-target, deduped by place\_id · pulled September 8, 2026. Each category search returns at most 100 results, so this is a ceiling on what we see, not a census of the metro. "Unclaimed" is Google's own flag on the listing.

## The city itself

Search demand doesn't come from nowhere. What follows is the rest of what we track about Washington DMV — each line from a named source, and absent where we have none.

683K

PEOPLE

Median age 34.3. Every one of them picks businesses from a search box — Chapter 1's demand is this population talking.

$635,900

MEDIAN HOME VALUE

What the typical owner in the city proper says the home is worth — the city, not the metro.

$1,681

MEDIAN RENT / MO

Median gross rent in the city proper — rent plus the utilities the tenant pays.

Source: US Census Bureau, [American Community Survey](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs) 5-year estimates (2021 release), place level — Washington DMV city proper, not the metro; fetched 2026-09-08. Population, median age, home value and rent all come from this one block; nothing on these cards is typed in.

### Washington DMV vs. the nation

Three household figures — the city proper against the whole country, from the same survey on both sides.

| | WASHINGTON DMV | UNITED STATES | DIFFERENCE |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Median household income | $93,547 a year | $69,021 | +36% |
| Median home value | $635,900 | $244,900 | +160% |
| Median gross rent | $1,681 a month | $1,163 | +45% |

Source: both sides US Census Bureau, [American Community Survey](https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs) 5-year estimates, 2021 release (2017–2021) — the city at place level (Washington DMV city proper, not the metro; fetched 2026-09-08) and the nation as one geography (fetched 2026-09-09). Difference is the city over the national figure, computed. Unemployment, taxes, power and broadband are not here: no fetched source on both sides.

### The names Washington DMV searches for

The 103 brands, institutions and landmarks this metro looks up by name — 5,625,620 searches a month. No local business can win these. They are what the city *is*.

RANKED BY MONTHLY SEARCH VOLUME

| | | | | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History | Destination | | 679K |
| 2 | Washington Monument | Destination | | 554K |
| 3 | Washington Nationals | Sports team | | 317K |
| 4 | Old Ebbitt Grill | Restaurant | | 288K |
| 5 | Washington Commanders | Sports team | | 249K |
| 6 | Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum | Destination | | 202K |
| 7 | Lincoln Memorial | Destination | | 167K |
| 8 | National Gallery of Art | Destination | | 157K |
| 9 | D.C. United | Sports team | | 157K |
| 10 | Capital Hilton | Hotel | | 138K |
| 11 | NFL | League | | 127K |
| 12 | African American Museum | Destination | | 124K |

#### Most searched

-   1 Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History 679K
-   2 Washington Monument 554K
-   3 Washington Nationals 317K
-   4 Old Ebbitt Grill 288K
-   5 Washington Commanders 249K

#### Most valuable

-   1 Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History $427K
-   2 Washington Nationals $365K
-   3 Washington Monument $306K
-   4 Capital Hilton $253K
-   5 Washington Commanders $250K

#### Most expensive per click

-   1 Morrison-Clark Historic Inn & Restaurant $4.14
-   2 AKA White House $4.03
-   3 Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens $3.28
-   4 Tabard Inn $3.20
-   5 NHL $3.11

METHODOLOGY

Search volume, cost-per-click and SERP data from DataForSEO, collected September 8, 2026. Business listings, ratings and map positions from a live read of Google Maps in the same pull. Rank movement is a diff against the previous pull of our snapshot archive. Ad-equivalent value is searches × CPC — it prices the traffic, not your revenue. Call rates, close rates, and customer values in the unit-economics section are industry benchmarks, not measurements. Every other module on this page renders only where the underlying figure exists; where it does not, the module is absent rather than estimated.

Collected and published by [SEO Bandwagon](https://seobandwagon.com/about), tracking local search since 2010. The Washington DMV edition comes from the same weekly sweep as [Google Business Profile Benchmarks](https://seobandwagon.com/research/gbp-benchmarks), whose method and verification are published in full. If a number here is wrong, [tell us](https://seobandwagon.com/contact).

## Your move

3.11M

SEARCHES IN PLAY / MO

$449

PRICIEST CLICK

31%

PAGE ONE DIRECTORY SHARE

9 of 21

TRACKED SERPS WITH NO MAP PACK

4 numbers, one conclusion: the demand is real, the price of ignoring it compounds, and the leaderboard is not settled. The only question the ledger can't answer is whether you're on it.

STEP 1 · FREE

### See where you stand

Run the free scan against your site — rankings, backlinks and page speed, free with a Google sign-in.

[Scan your site free](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/washington-dmv#scan)

STEP 2 · IF YOU'RE ON THE MAP

### Claim your seat

9 of the 21 contested keywords show no map pack at all — Google answers those with links, not a map.

[Claim your business](https://business.google.com/)

STEP 3 · EVERY PULL

### Read the next edition

The ledger reprints every week — movers, price changes, and open seats, in your inbox before your competitors read it.

[New to this? Start with the blog — plain-English guides, no jargon →](https://seobandwagon.com/blog)

## Linked ledgers

The three nearest tracked metros on the map, and the one our data says behaves most like this one.

[NEAREST · 35 MI Baltimore, MD 2,446,600 searches/mo · 1,371 listings](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/baltimore) [NEAREST · 97 MI Richmond, VA 562,570 searches/mo · 1,012 listings](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/richmond) [NEAREST · 123 MI Philadelphia, PA 7,826,070 searches/mo · 1,390 listings](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/philadelphia) [CLOSEST LOOKALIKE Chicago, IL 13,417,250 searches/mo · 1,232 listings](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/chicago)

Linked within the 54 metros we track, and nowhere else. Distance is straight-line between each metro's single anchor point — a downtown coordinate, not a centroid. Lookalike is the closest match on four measured features — search volume, ad prices, listing density and review depth — excluding the neighbours above and everything inside 500 km, so it surfaces a market you would not otherwise think to compare. Recomputed on every build, so it moves as the markets do. SRC: the 54-metro collection, pulled across September 8, 2026 and the day either side · [all metros →](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo#cities)

GO DEEPER · THE LEDGER BY VERTICAL

[FOOD & DINING 1.7M/mo](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/washington-dmv/food-dining) [HOME SERVICES 17K/mo](https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/washington-dmv/home-services)

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Canonical page: https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo/washington-dmv
Every metro: https://seobandwagon.com/local-seo#cities
Data reuse license: https://seobandwagon.com/data-license
Site overview for agents: https://seobandwagon.com/llms.txt · API docs: https://seobandwagon.com/docs/api