Do you call Census or FRED when I open this page?

No. A one-time ingest stored the series in our database. This page only reads those cached rows. The series update when we run the ingest again.

Why is 2020 missing on some Census charts?

The Census Bureau did not release ACS 1-year estimates for 2020. That year is omitted on purpose.

What does the # badge mean?

It ranks the selected places by how they moved over the timeframe. #1 is the best move for that metric (for example, a bigger drop in vacancy when lower is better).

State & metro comparison

Free state and metro comparison for rehab investors. Side-by-side GDP, income, home values, jobs, vacancy, and migration from BEA, Census, and FRED snapshots. No login required.

How to use this calculator

Choose state or metro comparison.
Pick up to four places and a 5–20 year window.
Read the current number, the trend, and the source on each metric.

Open the State & metro comparison