Data sources & attribution
We believe in showing our work. These are the public sources behind every score, forecast, and recommendation.
Last updated: 2026-05-17
- U.S. Census Bureau
Demographics, household income, education attainment, housing characteristics (ACS 5-year estimates).
- FBI Crime Data (UCR / NIBRS)
Reported crime aggregated at agency and county level. Coverage and reporting cadence vary by jurisdiction.
- EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS)
Public water system violations and compliance. Mapped to the nearest available water system serving each county.
- Public education datasets
School counts, enrollment, and aggregate performance signals derived from public state and federal sources.
- Public housing market signals
Affordability, ownership rates, and price-level indicators derived from public datasets and Census housing tables.
How we map data to places
Some datasets — such as water-system compliance — are reported at the level of the public water system, not the individual address. In those cases we map your query to the nearest available service area and clearly label it (“Mapped to nearest available water system based on public EPA data”).
How fresh is the data?
Each report shows a last updated timestamp per category. Federal datasets like ACS publish on a 5-year rolling basis; FBI crime data is published annually; EPA SDWIS updates quarterly. We cache responses and refresh on a regular cadence.
What if I find an error?
Because we rely on third-party data, errors typically originate upstream and must be corrected with the original source. If you notice something off, we still want to hear about it — it helps us improve our mapping and confidence indicators.