US business lists: sources and the rules

The US publishes more business data for free than any other country, and still none of it gives you a phone number for a named person. This page lists the public sources worth knowing, what each one gives, and the federal rules that apply when you call or email businesses.

The public sources, and what each one is for

Source	Published by	What it gives	What it is for
County Business Patterns	the US Census Bureau	the number of establishments, employment and payroll, by NAICS industry and by geography: national, state, county, ZIP code, metro area, with employment size classes	counting a market before you buy it: how many establishments of your trade exist in your area
The NPPES file	the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services	healthcare providers who hold a National Provider Identifier, with their specialty and practice location. A full file every month, and weekly updates	building or checking a healthcare list: it names the practitioners
State licensing boards	each state	licensed professionals in regulated trades: medicine, nursing, pharmacy, architecture, law, real estate and more	checking that a person holds the license your offer is about
Secretary of State business registries	each state	registered business entities, their status and registered agent	checking that a company exists and is active

What none of them gives: a direct phone number or a work email for a named person. That gap is the whole job of a contact list, and it is where most of the cost sits.

Counting before you buy

The Census County Business Patterns tables answer the first question of any order: how many are there? They count establishments, which means sites, not companies. A restaurant group with twelve locations is twelve establishments. If you sell to whoever runs each site, that is the right unit. If you sell to the head office, it is not, and the count of companies will be lower.

Our rule: a count printed on one of our pages carries its source, its date and its unit. A count we make for you in a call carries the same three, so you can check it.

The rules for calling businesses

The Federal Trade Commission's guide to the Telemarketing Sales Rule, read on 3 October 2026, is direct: Most phone calls between a telemarketer and a business are exempt from the TSR. The exception is narrow: calls that sell nondurable office or cleaning supplies to businesses are covered, the things that get used up and reordered, such as paper, toner or solvents. Even those calls are exempt from the National Do Not Call Registry provisions.

Two things the exemption does not cover:

Automated calls and text messages to mobile numbers fall under a different federal law, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and under state rules. If your team uses a dialer that calls automatically, or sends texts, check those rules with your counsel before you load a list.
State law. Several states have their own telemarketing rules. A business exemption at the federal level does not settle the question in every state.

The rules for emailing businesses

The FTC's CAN-SPAM compliance guide, read on 3 October 2026, leaves no room for doubt: The law makes no exception for business-to-business email. What every commercial email must do:

identify the sender accurately in the From, To, Reply-To and routing information;
explain clearly how to opt out of future email;
honor an opt-out request within 10 business days;
include a valid physical postal address.

What we deliver for US targets

A company line or a person line, your choice: the company and its main number, or a named person with a number that reaches them and a work email when there is one.
Each line dated: the time it was last checked, and the reason it is in your file.
Only lines with a phone number are billed, never more than the ceiling you set.
A wrong line is refunded on proof within thirty days of delivery.

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