What sources we use
We use primary sources: the ones that publish the number or set the rule. They are of three kinds:
- Official datasets. Published by U.S. government agencies such as the Census Bureau, HUD or FHFA. Prices, rents, incomes and loan limits for each place come from them.
- Other public data sources. A few that are not from the government, such as Freddie Mac’s weekly rate survey and Zillow’s research indexes. They always say where they come from.
- Official pages. Each state’s housing agencies, the laws, the courts and the attorneys general. Assistance programs, each state’s rules and tenant rights come from them.
We don’t use news stories, blogs or forums as the source of a number or a rule.
How we cite them
- On place pages, beside each number you see who publishes it and what period it covers. At the bottom, the page’s list of sources with their links.
- In programs and state rules, you see the exact sentence from the official page, its link and the date we checked it.
- In guides, each rule carries a number that takes you to its source in the list at the end.
When a source changes
When an agency publishes new data, the site uses it in its next update and changes the date you see on each page. We check the official pages of programs and rules again at least every 180 days.
Below you see every source of this version of the site. The list builds itself from the data we use, so it is always complete.
The datasets
These are the 26 datasets we read for this version of the site, from 13 organizations. Each one shows who publishes it, what period it covers and how it may be used. The link goes to its official page.
U.S. government agencies
- Regional price parities (BEA)
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS, BLS)
- Certified CDFI list (CDFI Fund, Treasury)
- Electricity and natural gas prices and bills (EIA)
- Hispanic American owned minority depository institutions (FDIC)
- Homes with flood insurance (NFIP, FEMA)
- Conforming loan limits (FHFA)
- FHFA House Price Index (HPI)
- Fair Market Rents (HUD)
- FHA mortgage limits (HUD)
- HUD-approved housing counseling agencies
- Income Limits (HUD)
- Low-income apartments (HUD; LIHTC, assisted multifamily and public housing)
- Public Housing Agencies (HUD)
- Small Area Fair Market Rents (HUD)
- American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates
- American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates (earlier period)
- Census Bureau cartographic boundary files
- Census Bureau Gazetteer Files
- Census Bureau ZCTA-to-county relationship file
- Census Bureau ZCTA-to-place relationship file
Other public sources
Agencies and official pages
Assistance programs, each state's rules and tenant rights come from 307 official sites in 52 states and territories. Every fact on the site cites its exact page; here you see one page per agency, and you open each group's list when you want it.
Homebuyer assistance programs
The agency, city or county that runs each program. We copy what its official page says: 111 sites in 52 states and territories.
See the 111 sites by state
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Illinois
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Hampshire
- New York
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
-
- City of Austin, Austin Housing
- City of Dallas, Housing & Homelessness Division
- City of Houston Housing and Community Development Department (HCD)
- City of San Antonio, Neighborhood and Housing Services Department (NHSD)
- Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA)
- Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation (TSAHC)
- Virginia
- West Virginia
Taxes, insurance and other state rules
Each state's tax, insurance and civil rights departments, housing agencies and laws: 210 sites in 52 states and territories.
See the 210 sites by state
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Pennsylvania
- Puerto Rico
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
Tenant rights
The state laws, courts and attorneys general that say how much a deposit can be, how many days of notice there are and how an eviction works: 83 sites in 52 states and territories.
See the 83 sites by state
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Hawaii
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wyoming
Photo credits
25 photographs are published under a license that asks us to name who took it: here are each one's author, license and source page. The others are in the public domain or under the Unsplash License, which does not ask for credit.
- The simple kitchen of an apartment, with an electric stove, a refrigerator and wood cabinets.
- A kitchen with newly installed granite countertops in a Seattle, Washington, home.
- The kitchen of a renovated apartment in Birmingham, Alabama, with an island and a gas range.
- A small green wooden house near Guadalupe Street on San Antonio's West Side, Texas.
- New two-story houses in the Goodnight Ranch neighborhood of Southeast Austin, Texas.
- A stucco house with a metal roof in San Ygnacio, Texas, near the border.
- A man leans over the armchair where a girl is reading a book.
- Two girls write and draw together at the living-room table.
- A man and two girls read a book together on the sofa.
- Two girls read a book together on the sofa.
- Two young adults study with a book and a laptop in a library.
- A young man and a young woman look something up together on a laptop.
- A street of one-story houses with trees and palms in Lake Balboa, in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley.
- A blue-and-white residential building with balconies in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
- The green facade of a house with an iron balcony in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
- A row of wood-frame houses with front gardens in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood, Illinois.
- Two-story wood-frame houses with porches and fences in Chicago's Hermosa neighborhood, Illinois.
- A new manufactured home with a porch, still on its chassis, in Commerce, Texas.
- Two-story houses painted in bright colors, with window grilles and palms, in Hialeah, Florida.
- A small yellow wooden house with a porch beside the railroad tracks in Tampa, Florida.
- A house with a front garden in the Alameda neighborhood of Portland, Oregon.
- A mother smiles as she carries her young daughter on her shoulders (black and white).
- A man leans over the armchair to help a teenage girl with her book.
- Close-up of two girls' hands holding an illustrated book open on their laps.
- A young woman and a young man point to a line in their notes beside a laptop in a library.