Privacy
Privacy law status in Michigan
Michigan has not enacted a comprehensive consumer data privacy law as of October 9, 2026. Privacy laws in other states, and federal rules, can still apply when a site collects data from their residents.
City guides / Ann Arbor
ANN ARBOR web design.
Endcap Design is a web design agency that designs and builds websites for businesses, with the branding and marketing to match, and works remotely with clients outside Southern California. This guide collects the business numbers, building activity, and Michigan rules we would look at before designing a site for a business in Ann Arbor or elsewhere in the metro, including Ypsilanti, Saline, Milan, and Chelsea.
Updated October 2026 with building permits through August 2026, from U.S. Census Bureau data. Sources are listed at the end of this page.
Endcap is based in Orange County, California, and works remotely with clients outside Southern California by video call, phone, and email.
The market
ANN ARBOR
in numbers.
The figures that shape who an Ann Arbor website is for and what it needs to do. Each figure is the most recent Census release in this guide’s data, with its year shown.
370,214
residents in the metro
Census population estimate, July 2025
-0.4%
population change since 2020
April 2020 to July 2025; the US grew 3.1%
8,322
business locations with employees
County Business Patterns 2023
338
real estate businesses
NAICS 531, 2023
66
property management companies
Residential and nonresidential, 2023
904
new housing units permitted
January through August 2026
$90,523
median household income
American Community Survey 2024
37%
of households rent their home
56,111 renter households
Business mix
WHO DOES BUSINESS
in Ann Arbor.
Architecture and engineering firms are the most concentrated of these businesses in the Ann Arbor metro: 51 for every 100,000 residents, and their share of local businesses is 1.60 times the national share. Dental offices follow at 1.44 times the national share. Real estate brokerages are less common here than nationally, at 0.61 times the national share.
The chart compares each sector’s share of Ann Arbor-area business locations with its share nationally (a location quotient). 1.00× matches the US; higher means the sector is more concentrated here. County Business Patterns 2023.
Building activity
WHAT’S BEING
built.
New buildings mean new properties to lease and new businesses to open. Census Building Permits Survey, August 2026.
Builders in the Ann Arbor metro were authorized to build 904 new housing units from January through August 2026, 25% more than the 724 in the same months of 2025.
47% of those units are in buildings with five or more homes, against 32% nationally.
That is an apartment-heavy pipeline. Each new community needs a leasing website, usually before construction finishes, and the developer often needs a project site for investors and the city as well.
- Single-family 411
- Two to four units 67
- Five or more 426
What this means for your site
BUILT FOR
Ann Arbor.
What we would plan into an Ann Arbor website, based on the numbers above.
Talk through your site- 01
Rentals one tap from the homepage
37% of households here rent, against 35% nationally. Property management and apartment sites should put available rentals, the application, and the resident portal at the top of the homepage on phones.
- 02
Launch before the building opens
47% of new homes permitted this year are in buildings of five or more units. Pre-leasing websites need to be live months before the first move-in.
- 03
Room for new projects
Housing permits are up 25% over the same months last year. Each new project needs a name, a site plan, and a pre-leasing page, and the retail around it usually follows.
- 04
Michigan license details
Brokerage websites in Michigan carry specific disclosure requirements (MCL 339.2512e). We build them into the footer and listing templates, so every page that advertises a property has them.
- 05
Accessible by default
Every site we build follows WCAG 2.2 AA practice: readable contrast, keyboard navigation, labeled forms, and text alternatives for images. Federal ADA website lawsuits run into the thousands each year, most of them filed in New York, Florida, and Illinois.
Michigan rules
WHAT THE LAW
asks of your site.
State rules that change what goes on a business or real estate website in Michigan, checked against official sources as of October 9, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice; your counsel owns the final wording.
Real estate advertising
What a Michigan brokerage site must show
Michigan requires any advertisement by a real estate broker to buy, sell, exchange, rent, lease, or mortgage real property to include the broker's name or business name, the broker's telephone number or street address, and a statement that the advertiser is a real estate broker. Salespersons and associate brokers may advertise only under the supervision of, and in the business name of, their employing broker.
What the website needs
- A broker's advertisement must include the broker's name or the name under which the broker conducts business, the broker's telephone number or street address, and a statement that the person advertising is a real estate broker (MCL 339.2512e(1)).
- Advertising that includes the name of an associate broker, a salesperson, or a cooperating group of them must include the employing broker's telephone number or street address and the employing broker's business name in equal or greater type size than the agent's or group's name (MCL 339.2512e(3)).
- A broker may not conduct business or advertise under any name other than the name on its license or an assumed name authorized by law, and must notify the department of an assumed name with its license application or within 30 days after adopting it, whichever is earlier (MCL 339.2512e(5)).
- A licensed broker or associate broker advertising property he or she personally owns may advertise in his or her own name but must affirmatively indicate that the seller or lessor is a licensed real estate broker or associate real estate broker (MCL 339.2512e(2)).
- A salesperson may advertise property for sale under his or her own name only if it is the salesperson's principal residence, and for rent or lease only if the salesperson owns it (MCL 339.2512e(4)).
Accessibility
The federal ADA
Title III of the ADA covers businesses open to the public, but the Department of Justice has no regulation that sets a technical standard for private business websites. DOJ's web guidance says businesses have flexibility in how they make their websites accessible and points to WCAG as a helpful existing technical standard. Federal appeals courts have not agreed on when a website is covered, so a website's legal status can depend on where a lawsuit is filed and whether the site is connected to a physical location. Michigan has no separate website accessibility statute for private businesses in our research, so WCAG 2.2 AA is the practical target.
What we design
FOR ANN ARBOR
businesses.
Ordered by how concentrated each kind of business is in the Ann Arbor metro. We design for every kind of business.
187architecture and engineering firms in the metro
Portfolio websites that present built work
194dental offices in the metroPractice websites with booking and service pages
795restaurants and bars in the metroWebsites with menus, hours, and ordering links
171law offices in the metroClear, fast websites for professional firms
17self-storage operators in the metroFacility websites with unit sizes and rental links
214builders and developers in the metroProject websites for pre-leasing and a portfolio for the firm
Portfolio
RECENT
work.
Websites and identities we have designed and built for our clients. See all of our work.
Client words
IN THEIR
words.
We own ten homes at Casa De Laguna and were still sending people to a site built in 2013. Noah pulled the photos and details out of the old site, designed a logo from the rooflines and the pond, and put the community, the homes and current availability in one place. It’s the first time the website has looked like the place we actually rent.
“Highly recommend. Great work.”
How many real estate businesses are in the Ann Arbor area?
The Census Bureau counted 338 real estate business locations with employees in the Ann Arbor metro in 2023, including 99 offices of agents and brokers and 66 property management companies.
How much new construction is happening in Ann Arbor?
From January through August 2026, the Ann Arbor metro permitted 904 new housing units, 25% more than a year earlier, according to the Census Building Permits Survey.
Does Michigan have a privacy law that affects business websites?
Michigan has not enacted a comprehensive consumer data privacy law as of October 9, 2026. Privacy laws in other states can still apply when a website collects data from their residents.
What does Michigan require on a real estate website?
Michigan requires any advertisement by a real estate broker to buy, sell, exchange, rent, lease, or mortgage real property to include the broker's name or business name, the broker's telephone number or street address, and a statement that the advertiser is a real estate broker. Salespersons and associate brokers may advertise only under the supervision of, and in the business name of, their employing broker. (MCL 339.2512e (Occupational Code, 1980 PA 299; added by 2016 PA 502, eff. Mar. 29, 2017))
Do you work with Ann Arbor businesses remotely?
Yes. Endcap is based in Orange County, California, and works remotely with clients outside Southern California by video call, phone, and email. You review the design and the working site online before launch.
How much does a website cost?
We quote each project after a short conversation, once we know the pages, content, and features it needs. The proposal lists the deliverables, schedule, and price, and we agree on it before work begins.
How long does a website take?
Most websites take two to four weeks once the content is ready. The proposal confirms the schedule.
Nearby city guides
Other markets near Ann Arbor
Detroit, MI4,390,913 residentsToledo, OH599,376 residentsFlint, MI401,093 residentsLansing, MI479,722 residentsKalamazoo, MI263,795 residentsGrand Rapids, MI1,183,645 residentsAll city guides 200 metros
National rankings: where the US is building, property managers by metro, brokerages by metro, and commercial landlords by metro.
Sources
- Business counts U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (NAICS 2017) Data
- Population U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2025 Data
- Income and housing U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-year 2024 Data
- Building permits U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, January-August 2026 year-to-date vs. same months of 2025 Data
- Metro definitions OMB metropolitan statistical areas, July 2023 (OMB Bulletin 23-01) Data
Figures are for the metropolitan statistical area unless noted. Business counts cover locations with paid employees. Data refreshed 2026-10-10.
Contact Endcap
START A
project.
A website, a brand, or a complete set of materials.
We reply within an hour during business hours, and we only use your details to answer you.
Start a project or call or text Noah at (425) 233-0769