# Norfolk VA Business Licenses — New Business Leads (`groundplanes/norfolk-va-business-licenses`) Actor

City of Norfolk, Virginia business licenses from the Commissioner of the Revenue via data.norfolk.gov: business name, owner, classification, location and mailing address, opened date. Filter by opened date, classification and name. Hampton Roads B2B leads.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/groundplanes/norfolk-va-business-licenses.md
- **Developed by:** [John](https://apify.com/groundplanes) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $3.00 / 1,000 business licenses

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Norfolk VA Business Licenses — New Business Leads

Get newly opened and active **City of Norfolk, Virginia** businesses as a ready-to-use lead list. The data comes from the **Norfolk Commissioner of the Revenue** through the official open-data API ([data.norfolk.gov dataset dpi6-sct5](https://data.norfolk.gov/d/dpi6-sct5)). The city marks the dataset as updated **daily** (automated); the newest opened date at build time was 2026-10-11.

### What you get

Each row is **one business license record as published by the City of Norfolk**: trading-as name, primary owner, license classification, opened date, Norfolk location address and ZIP, mailing address, coordinates and census tract. Rows are sorted **newest opened date first** with a stable `:id` tiebreak, so large runs never skip or repeat rows.

#### Sample output (real run)

```json
{
  "businessName": "LINGLING'S DIM SUM HOUSE",
  "owner": "F&C LINGLING INC",
  "classification": "Full-Service Restaurant",
  "openedDate": "2026-10-11",
  "locationAddress": "2000 COLLEY AVE",
  "locationZip": "23517",
  "mailingAddress": "2000 COLLEY AVE NORFOLK VA, 23517",
  "latitude": 36.8703,
  "longitude": -76.2962,
  "censusTract": "51710003700",
  "source": "Norfolk Commissioner of the Revenue via data.norfolk.gov"
}
```

### Use cases

- **B2B sales:** reach brand-new Hampton Roads businesses that need insurance, accounting, payroll, banking, signage, websites or POS.
- **Contractor and trade lists:** `naicsContains: ["Contractor"]`.
- **Restaurant suppliers:** `naicsContains: ["Restaurant"]`.
- **Market research:** new-business formation in Norfolk by classification and month.

### Input

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| openedSince | Optional real date, YYYY-MM-DD. Invalid dates fail fast with a clear message. Empty = all ~10,300 licenses (since 2019). |
| naicsContains | Classification text, e.g. `Restaurant`, `Contractor`, `Salon` |
| nameContains | Matches business name or owner |
| norfolkAddressOnly | Default false. On drops ~2,600 "NO NORFOLK ADDRESS REQUIRED" records (special-event / out-of-town vendors) |
| maxItems | Default 200 |

### Pricing (pay per event)

$3 per 1,000 rows ($0.003 each) plus Apify's minimal $0.00005 start fee. **Example:** 200 leads = 200 × $0.003 + $0.00005 ≈ **$0.60**. If a run hits your max charge limit, it stops cleanly and reports how many rows it delivered.

### Data caveats

Data is provided **as published by the City of Norfolk**. `locationZip` is split off the end of the published location address; "NO NORFOLK ADDRESS REQUIRED" becomes `null`. The classification is the city's NAICS-style description text, not a numeric NAICS code. Owners are often companies; owner names are public license records. No phone numbers or emails are in the source and none are added.

### License and disclaimer

Source: City of Norfolk Open Data. **No open-data license published; public records.** This actor uses only the official public open-data API and is **not affiliated with or endorsed by** the City of Norfolk or its Commissioner of the Revenue.

**Owner names / outreach:** output includes owner names from public license records. You are responsible for complying with CAN-SPAM, TCPA, GDPR/CCPA and any other applicable laws when using this data for marketing or outreach.

# Actor input Schema

## `openedSince` (type: `string`):

Optional real date, YYYY-MM-DD. Keeps businesses whose opened date is on or after this date. Empty = all (about 10,300 licenses since 2019, newest first). Example: 2026 alone has about 1,400.

## `naicsContains` (type: `array`):

Text in the published classification (NAICS-style description), e.g. Restaurant, Contractor, Salon, Real Estate. Partial, case-insensitive. Empty = all.

## `nameContains` (type: `string`):

Case-insensitive text matched against the trading-as name and the primary owner.

## `norfolkAddressOnly` (type: `boolean`):

Drops about 2,600 licenses listed as 'NO NORFOLK ADDRESS REQUIRED' (mostly special-event and out-of-town vendors).

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum rows to return (newest first).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "norfolkAddressOnly": false,
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "maxItems": 200
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("groundplanes/norfolk-va-business-licenses").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "maxItems": 200 }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("groundplanes/norfolk-va-business-licenses").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "maxItems": 200
}' |
apify call groundplanes/norfolk-va-business-licenses --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,groundplanes/norfolk-va-business-licenses"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/spFoWHxv1QOdKd7db/builds/dVTec8gM6BPD8Go81/openapi.json