Data sources & freshness
Every number on CityLedger is computed from free, public U.S. government data — never scraped from another site, never estimated. Here is each source, the vintage currently live, and how often it refreshes.
↓ Download the full dataset (CSV)Every metro and metric in one file — free to use with attribution to CityLedger.
| Source | Powers | Vintage | Refresh |
|---|---|---|---|
| Census ACS U.S. Census Bureau — American Community Survey | Income, rent, home value, property tax, education, commute, age, foreign-born, broadband, population | 2024 1-year | Annual — released each September |
| BLS OEWS U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — OEWS | Median pay for 25 occupations per metro | 2025 | Annual — released each spring |
| BEA RPP U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities | Cost-of-living index and purchasing power | 2024 | Annual — typically December |
| Tax data Tax Foundation & IRS | Federal, state income, and sales tax for the take-home calculator | 2025 | Annual |
| FEMA NRI FEMA — National Risk Index | Natural-hazard expected-loss rate | 2025 | Periodic releases |
| EPA AQS U.S. EPA — Air Quality System | Median air quality index | 2024 | Annual |
| CDC PLACES CDC PLACES (BRFSS) | Population health — fair/poor health, uninsured rate | 2023 | Annual |
| NOAA NOAA — U.S. Climate Normals | Temperature and precipitation normals | 1991–2020 | Every 10 years |
| Census Flows U.S. Census Bureau — Migration Flows | Where new residents moved from | 2022 5-year | Annual (rolling 5-year series) |
How we keep it current
Government statistics refresh on a fixed calendar — the ACS each September, BLS wages each spring, and so on. CityLedger re-runs its data pipeline when new vintages land, re-validates every figure against sanity bounds, and redeploys, so the site tracks the latest official numbers rather than freezing in time. The vintage column above is read live from the published dataset, not typed by hand.
See the methodology for how each score is computed. Page generated 2026-06-15.