1. Start with the geography your firm actually serves
St. Johns is recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau as a municipality in Clinton County, Michigan. The 2020–2024 ACS five-year population estimate for St. Johns city is 7,715, with a margin of error of 45. That is useful location context, but it does not establish legal demand, call volume, competition, case volume or revenue. Attribution should therefore preserve the distinction between a person’s location, the service area your firm chooses to cover, and the source that produced the inquiry. A St. Johns visitor may arrive through an organic result, a referral, a paid local service ad, an AI referral or a direct visit. The location alone cannot tell you which path mattered.
Recommended approach
Define the geographic labels your team needs before reviewing performance. Keep St. Johns city and Clinton County distinct, then decide which service-area labels should appear in your reporting. Ask whether each inquiry can be reviewed by source, case type and outcome without treating population as a forecast.
