BrightLocal's Local Consumer Review Survey 2026, a representative panel of 1,002 US adult consumers, asked what star rating a local business needs before they will use it. 31 percent said 4.5 stars or higher. A year earlier it was 17 percent. 68 percent said four stars or higher, up from 55 percent.
- Will only use a business rated 4.5 or higher: 31 percent (17 percent in 2025)
- Will only use a business rated 4.0 or higher: 68 percent (55 percent in 2025)
- Say star ratings matter when choosing a business: 92 percent
- Would require a perfect five stars: 10 percent
These are self-reported intentions across every kind of local business, not a measurement of lost revenue. They still describe the floor a homeowner or patient carries in their head before they tap a listing.
The bar did not move to perfect. It moved to 4.5, and a rating moves by tenths. A business at 4.3 with forty reviews needs a run of five-star reviews, not one, to clear it. The lever is the ask after every finished job, made every time, with a direct link.
Check your own number tonight: is your Google rating above 4.5 or below it, and how many five-star reviews would it take to move it by a tenth?
What ProxMedia does about it: the review request after every job, with reply drafts you approve, and the Google profile work that makes the rating show where people look.
Source: BrightLocal, Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 (1,002 US adult consumers via SurveyMonkey, published February 11, 2026).