What's the Average CPC for Google Ads by Industry in 2026?

The average cost per click across all industries on Google Ads in 2026 is $5.42, according to LocaliQ's 10th annual Search Advertising Benchmarks report. That average masks wide variation by industry — CPC ranges from $1.63 in Arts & Entertainment up to $9.87 for Attorneys & Legal Services, a more than six-fold spread between the cheapest and most expensive verticals.

Where this number comes from

LocaliQ's 2026 benchmark report analyzed 13,474 Google Ads search campaigns across 23 industries, covering the period from April 2025 through March 2026. Alongside the $5.42 average CPC, the same report found a 6.64% average click-through rate, an 8.18% average conversion rate, and a $66.69 average cost per lead across the full sample.

The highest-CPC industries

Attorneys and Legal Services top the list at $9.87 per click, followed by Home and Home Improvement at $8.33, and Dentists and Dental Services at $8.00. All three sit well above double the overall $5.42 average.

The lowest-CPC industries

Arts and Entertainment sits at the bottom at $1.63 per click, with Restaurants and Food at $2.05 and Travel at $2.14. These industries pay roughly a quarter to a third of what legal advertisers pay for the same click.

Why legal and home services pay the most

The pattern holding across nearly every year of this benchmark data is that CPC tracks customer lifetime value, not campaign competitiveness in the abstract. A single client is worth thousands of dollars in legal fees or a home renovation contract, so advertisers in those categories can profitably bid far more per click than a restaurant chasing a $30 average order, and the auction prices clicks accordingly — the businesses with the most to gain from a single conversion keep bidding the price up.

What else drives the gap between top and bottom

Beyond raw customer value, competition density plays a role — legal and home services categories tend to have many well-funded advertisers bidding on the same narrow set of high-intent local keywords, while categories like arts and entertainment or travel often draw from broader keyword pools with less concentrated bidding pressure on any single term.

How to actually use an industry average like this

A $5.42 blended average is close to meaningless for a specific business — the number that matters is the industry-specific figure closest to that business's actual category, and even that should be treated as a directional benchmark rather than a target, since local competition, keyword match type, and Quality Score all move an individual account's real CPC away from any published industry average in either direction.

How this compares to last year

The $5.42 cross-industry average marks a continued climb from prior years as advertiser demand keeps rising across AI-driven search features, Performance Max campaigns, and a steadily growing pool of businesses competing in paid search — a trend that has made click costs a moving target advertisers need to re-check against fresh benchmark data at least once a year rather than budgeting off older figures.

Bottom Line

Compare campaign performance against the specific industry figure closest to the business rather than the $5.42 blended average — legal and home services advertisers should expect CPCs in the $8 to $10 range as normal, not a sign something's broken, while a restaurant or travel brand paying anywhere near $5.42 is paying well above what's typical for its category.