Paid Media
US paid media benchmarks by industry
What cost per lead and ROAS look like across US industries — and how to turn those ranges into a target CAC you can actually manage against.
Benchmarks are useful for sanity checks, not for targets. Your real target comes from margin. Still, knowing the typical range tells you whether an account is broken or simply in a competitive vertical.
Reference ranges
- Local services (cleaning, construction): CPL US$ 25–80, high intent from Google Search.
- Beauty and aesthetics: CPL US$ 15–50, strong performance on Meta with video creative.
- Restaurants and food: cost per engaged visit US$ 1–4, geo radius under 5 miles.
- B2B services: CPL US$ 80–250, longer cycle, judge on opportunities not leads.
- E-commerce: ROAS 2.5–5 depending on contribution margin.
Turn margin into a target
Break-even ROAS = 1 ÷ contribution margin
A 40% margin means break-even ROAS is 2.5. Anything below that is spending cash to buy revenue. Your healthy range sits far enough above break-even to cover payroll, tooling and profit.
Why most US accounts underperform
- Conversions counted as form fills instead of qualified opportunities.
- No server-side tracking, so the platform optimizes on partial data.
- One creative running for months against fresh competitors.
- Budget spread evenly across locations that convert very differently.
Perguntas frequentes
Are these benchmarks reliable for my city?
Treat them as ranges. Metro-level competition can move CPL by 2x, which is why we set targets from your margin, not from an industry average.
Should I run Google or Meta first?
Google captures existing demand and usually converts faster; Meta creates demand and scales volume. Most accounts need both, starting with whichever matches buying intent.
