Key findings
- In a ReviewTactic analysis of 1,511,957 rated Google Business Profiles (October 2026), the median rating was 4.6, and the middle half of businesses sat between 4.2 and 4.9.
- Among 198,955 Google Business Profiles with fewer than 10 reviews, 61.3% showed a perfect 5.0 (ReviewTactic, October 2026).
- Among 342,662 Google Business Profiles with 500 or more reviews, only 1.9% held a perfect 5.0 (ReviewTactic, October 2026).
- 35.2% of 1,511,957 rated Google Business Profiles were rated 4.8 or higher; among profiles with 500 or more reviews, the share fell to 13.4% (ReviewTactic, October 2026).
- One in ten of 1,511,957 rated Google Business Profiles was rated 3.8 or lower (ReviewTactic, October 2026).
- The median rating fell with every step up in review count: 5.0 under 10 reviews, 4.4 for the 342,662 profiles with 500 or more (ReviewTactic, October 2026).
- One new 1-star review moves a Google average by less than 0.05 once a business has 66 reviews at a 4.3 average, 72 at 4.6 or 78 at 4.9 (ReviewTactic calculation, October 2026).
Since late September 2026, in our own checks, Google Maps has shown people who are not signed in a limited view of a business: the star rating, the review count and a handful of reviews. For many first-time visitors, those two numbers are now most of what they see before they decide.
So what does a good Google rating look like? We looked at 1,511,957 Google Business Profiles with at least one review and broke their ratings down by how many reviews they have.
Ratings by number of reviews
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A perfect 5.0 is common when a business has a few reviews and almost disappears once it has hundreds. 61.3% of profiles with under 10 reviews show 5.0; at 500 or more reviews it is 1.9%. The median follows the same path, from 5.0 down to 4.4.
The bottom of the range barely moves. In every group of 10 or more reviews, one business in ten sits at about 3.8 or lower. What changes with volume is the top: a long record leaves fewer businesses at 4.8 and above.
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| Reviews | Businesses | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th | Rated 4.8+ | Rated 5.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–9 | 198,955 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 64.8% | 61.3% |
| 10–29 | 173,503 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 4.8 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 51.2% | 34.9% |
| 30–99 | 306,579 | 3.8 | 4.3 | 4.7 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 42.8% | 18.0% |
| 100–499 | 490,258 | 3.9 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 4.8 | 4.9 | 28.2% | 7.7% |
| 500+ | 342,662 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 13.4% | 1.9% |
| All rated | 1,511,957 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 4.9 | 5.0 | 35.3% | 18.6% |
What counts as a good Google rating
A good Google rating depends on review count. In a ReviewTactic analysis of 1,511,957 Google Business Profiles (October 2026), the median was 4.6 overall, but it ran from 4.8 for businesses with 10 to 29 reviews down to 4.4 for those with 500 or more.
- 10 to 29 reviews: median 4.8, top quarter from 5.0
- 30 to 99 reviews: median 4.7, top quarter from 4.9
- 100 to 499 reviews: median 4.5, top quarter from 4.8
- 500 or more reviews: median 4.4, top quarter from 4.6
So the same 4.5 puts a business with 30 reviews in the lower half of its peers and a business with 600 reviews above the median.
Our overall median agrees with three US studies published in 2026, which found medians between 4.6 and 4.8. Ours covers more businesses, and it shows how far the picture changes with review count.
- SEO Bandwagon (2026): median 4.6, 150,582 businesses
- Feedback Guru (2026): median 4.7, 57,589 businesses
- Suff Digital (2026): median 4.8, 18,526 businesses
When one bad review stops moving your rating
Google shows your rating to one decimal place. Each new review moves the average by less as the total grows. A new 1-star review lowers an average of r across n reviews by (r − 1) / (n + 1).
Once that drop falls under 0.05, half of one displayed step, a single bad review changes the rating Google shows only if your average sits within that distance of a rounding edge. The drop falls under 0.05 at 66 reviews for a 4.3 average, 72 for a 4.6 and 78 for a 4.9. Below that, one unhappy customer will more often than not cost you a visible tenth.
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Run your own numbers in the Google review calculator.
Methodology
This is not a random sample of Google businesses. It is the set of businesses we have scraped from Google Maps since April 2026 to power our benchmarking tool, which compares a business against others nearby. It overweights hospitality and the countries we operate in.
It is a cross-sectional snapshot: one rating and one review count per business, as last recorded, read in October 2026. It does not track businesses over time.
Filters: we kept every business with a rating above 0 and at least one review (1,511,957 businesses). Review-count groups use the total review count Google showed. Percentiles are interpolated (PostgreSQL percentile_cont); shares count ratings of exactly 5.0 and of 4.8 or higher.
The settle point is arithmetic, not a measurement: it applies the drop formula above to three typical averages. Google says its review score is the average of all ratings published for the business and can take up to two weeks to update after a new review. We assume normal rounding to one decimal place.
Download the data
Cite this study
Palicz, A. (2026). Google rating benchmarks 2026. ReviewTactic. Analysis of 1,511,957 Google Business Profiles, October 2026. https://reviewtactic.com/resources/google-rating-benchmarks/