“Brown Friday” is back

In 2024, nationwide plumbing-related search volume jumped over the two weeks following Thanksgiving, per Yelp data

Sink

Image: 123RF

“Brown Friday” — the day after Thanksgiving and one of the busiest for emergency plumbing calls, according to Yelp data — is next week. 

What’s happening: Yelp compared the number of plumbing-related searches from the two weeks before Thanksgiving 2024 with those on Thanksgiving Day and over the following two weeks.

  • Searches for “emergency plumber” spiked 27 percent nationwide, while “plumber” rose 22 percent and “24-hour plumbing” jumped 19 percent. 

Go deeper: The company crowned Salt Lake City as the “Most Clogged” in the U.S. — the metro with the greatest increase of total plumbing-related search volume over the period. 

  • The city saw a 23 percent jump in plumbing searches, including clogged sinks, broken garbage disposals, and leaky toilets, per the data.
  • Dallas — which saw a 15 percent overall increase, but a 300 and 167 percent jump in “septic pumping services” and “toilet repair,” respectively — took the number two spot, followed by Honolulu, Miami, and Los Angeles. 
  • See the Top 20

What they’re saying: “With more families cooking at home, increased use of disposable wipes, and bigger gatherings putting extra stress on aging pipes, systems are pushed to their limits,” Josh Campbell, president of Dallas-based Rescue Air & Plumbing, said in a statement. 

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