WhereToLive.us

Methodology

WhereToLive.us is built as a source-first city-comparison platform. The first version only publishes official Census population estimates and derived population-growth signals.

Current verified source

Population rank and estimates come from the U.S. Census Bureau file SUB-IP-EST2025-ANNRNK, which ranks incorporated places of 20,000 or more by July 1, 2025 population.

How the launch signal works

The launch signal compares the July 1, 2025 population estimate with the April 1, 2020 estimates base. Cities at or above 15% growth are marked high-growth, cities at or above 5% are marked growing, cities at or below -5% are marked declining, and all others are marked stable. This is a population-momentum label only.

What is not scored yet

Cost of living, housing, jobs, crime, weather, schools, commute, military information, healthcare, taxes, internet, utilities, and things to do are present as roadmap sections. They are not numerically scored until verified source layers are added.

Publishing rule

No numeric metric should go live without a source, date, geography, method, and confidence label.