WhereToLive.us

Methodology

WhereToLive.us is built as a source-first city-comparison platform. The current version publishes official Census population estimates, ACS city/place estimates, BLS state unemployment data, and clearly labeled derived signals for recent college graduates.

Current verified source

Population rank and estimates for the large-city launch set come from the U.S. Census Bureau file SUB-IP-EST2025-ANNRNK. The expanded catalog uses SUB-IP-EST2025-POP and includes every unique incorporated-place name with a positive 2025 estimate of at least 5,000 residents, while retaining previously published smaller pages. Administrative place types with the same normalized city and state name are deduplicated to the larger 2025 estimate.

City-level demographics, rent, income, home value, housing occupancy and tenure, education, poverty, employment, household internet, and commute context comes from the U.S. Census Bureau 2020-2024 ACS 5-year Detailed Tables in the Table-Based ACS Summary File. The ACS pass filters Census place summary-level 160 rows by the same Census place GEOID used for map coordinates. ACS values are survey estimates, not live prices, live job postings, provider availability, school ratings, or neighborhood-level measures.

Job-market proxy data comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics state unemployment series. State rates are not city-level hiring guarantees; they are used only as an early filter until MSA occupation, wage, and posting datasets are added.

City and ZIP search coordinates come from the U.S. Census Bureau 2025 Gazetteer National Places and ZIP Code Tabulation Areas files. ZIP results use ZCTA representative coordinates and return the nearest catalog cities; ZCTAs are Census statistical areas, not exact USPS ZIP Code delivery boundaries.

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.

Young-grad fit score

The young-grad fit score is designed for 22-25 year old college graduates comparing first or second post-college moves. It combines population momentum, city scale, BLS state unemployment, ACS rent-to-income where available, ACS bachelor's-or-higher share where available, ACS commute where available, transparent city career tags, schooling access, cost pressure, commute form, and lifestyle tags. It is a research shortcut, not financial, school, safety, legal, real-estate, or employment advice.

What is not hard-scored yet

Live rent listings, live home prices, wages by occupation, job postings, city crime rates, school boundaries, graduate-program quality, weather hazards, military information, healthcare access, taxes, address-level broadband providers, utilities, and things to do remain queued for separate source layers. They appear as checks or derived labels until verified data is added.

Publishing rule

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