What is better between one national website or one website per state ?

Hi,
I was hired to promote a business (the guy sells leads) and we're hesitating between making one big website, or 50 (one by state)

The nich we are in has a low search volume but the competition has a very weak SEO

I tried to pro/con both ways, here are my thoughts:

One big website:
Pro:
- Each page will add-up to the SEO, as there will be 50x more pages in this one, SEO is likely to be better
- Easier to maintain
- ""May"" become a brand
Con:
- If I fail at making blackhat SEO look legit, the whole business is compromised
- I may not be authorised to do anything not 100% google approved

50 "small" websites
Pro:
- I will be able to test different SEO things and see which recipe work best (SEO A/B testing)
- If one site is flagged because I used some BH stuff it's only 1 out of 50
Con:
- Much difficult to maintain
- Cost of hosting and domain names
- Will spend a lot more time working on it
- One website with a really good serp won’t do anything to another website

The sitemap would look like this:

www.america-niche.com/{state}/{city}/{service}
As you can guess this website will have a LOT of pages

OR (if I create 50 websites)

www.{state}-niche/{city}/{service}
Still have a lot of pages

My content strategy is to hire writers to create some articles, my budget is the same for 50 website or for one

I'm really hesitating and I would appreciate a lot if you could help me take a decision.

Have a good day !

One large website, once it starts ranking it's easier to keep it.

I'm currently in this position.

It's a tough one.

The thought of having to update all of those plugins and set up all of the domains

But, it feels like less risk.

If you are ready to do ton of local SEO, then going for state websites will be better.
But, if you want to manage it easy and build one authority site, it is better to start a national website.

Best way I think is to start a national website and gain authority and then down the line, work on your state websites if you feel you're not ranking for some states.

Thanks for your answers !
I was hired full time so I have a lot time to work on this project, but I'm just one man

rajkumar31 said:

Best way I think is to start a national website and gain authority and then down the line, work on your state websites if you feel you're not ranking for some states.

Click to expand...

This makes a lot of sens considering the fact that the competition is a lot tougher in crowded states.

Do the main .com grow it as said above.

Then do the states but only do each state as it pays for itself.

Gd luck.