NYC Business Licenses Scraper

Search and extract business license records from NYC Open Data — the official NYC Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) database of 500K+ business licenses across all five boroughs. Completely free, no API key or authentication required.

Data Source

This actor uses the NYC Open Data Socrata SODA API, publicly provided by the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs. No API key or registration is required.

Features

• Search businesses by keyword in business name or trade name
• Fetch by license number — look up specific licenses using their DCA license number
• Filter by borough — Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island
• Filter by license type — Individual or Premises
• Filter by ZIP code — narrow to a specific neighborhood
• Structured output with license number, business name, address, contact, geo coordinates
• Fully free — no API key, no proxy, no cookies

Input

Field	Type	Description
mode	String (required)	searchBusinesses or getByLicense
query	String	Keyword to search in business/trade name (e.g. 'restaurant', 'pizza')
licenseNumbers	String[]	List of DCA license numbers (mode=getByLicense)
licenseType	String	Filter: Individual or Premises (blank = all)
borough	String	Filter: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island
zipCode	String	5-digit ZIP code filter (e.g. '10001')
maxItems	Integer	Max records to return (1–10000, default: 100)

Example Input — Search Restaurants

{
  "mode": "searchBusinesses",
  "query": "restaurant",
  "borough": "Manhattan",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example Input — Get by License Number

{
  "mode": "getByLicense",
  "licenseNumbers": ["0982764-DCA", "0002902-DCA"],
  "maxItems": 10
}

Output

Each record contains:

Field	Description
licenseNumber	DCA license number (e.g. 0982764-DCA)
businessName	Official registered business name
tradeName	Trade/DBA name (if different from business name)
address	Full address string
city	City (usually a NYC neighborhood or the borough name)
state	State (NY)
zipCode	ZIP code
borough	NYC borough (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island)
licenseType	License type: Individual or Premises
licenseStatus	Current status (Active, Inactive, Pending, etc.)
licenseExpirationDate	Expiration date (YYYY-MM-DD)
phone	Contact phone number
latitude	Geographic latitude
longitude	Geographic longitude
sourceUrl	NYC Open Data query URL for this record
recordType	Always businessLicense
scrapedAt	ISO 8601 timestamp

Example Output

{
  "licenseNumber": "0982764-DCA",
  "businessName": "MARGHERITA PIZZA",
  "tradeName": "NY CORP.",
  "address": "16304 JAMAICA AVE, JAMAICA, NY, 11432",
  "city": "JAMAICA",
  "state": "NY",
  "zipCode": "11432",
  "borough": "Queens",
  "licenseType": "Premises",
  "licenseStatus": "Active",
  "licenseExpirationDate": "2028-03-31",
  "phone": "7186575780",
  "latitude": 40.70467524177002,
  "longitude": -73.79682330827154,
  "sourceUrl": "https://data.cityofnewyork.us/resource/w7w3-xahh.json?license_nbr=0982764-DCA",
  "recordType": "businessLicense",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-05-30T10:00:00+00:00"
}

Use Cases

• Business research — find licensed businesses in a specific NYC neighborhood
• Market analysis — count active businesses by category or borough
• Compliance verification — confirm a business holds a valid DCA license
• Lead generation — find businesses by type and location with contact details
• Local government data — explore NYC's business landscape

FAQ

What types of businesses are licensed by NYC DCA? The DCA licenses hundreds of business types including autos, home improvement contractors, electronics stores, secondhand dealers, pawnbrokers, sidewalk cafes, tow trucks, employment agencies, and more.

Is an API key required? No. The NYC Open Data Socrata API is publicly accessible with no registration.

How many records are in the database? The NYC DCA license database contains 500K+ records spanning active, inactive, and historical licenses.

What does licenseType mean? Premises means the license is tied to a physical location. Individual means the license is issued to a person rather than a location.

Can I filter by business category? The dataset does not include a standard business category field. Use keyword search (query) to find businesses by type (e.g. 'pawnbroker', 'tow truck', 'sidewalk cafe').