ABOUT
Birdseye Data
Birdseye Data is a scored, documented dataset of American housing markets, built to one method at the county, metro, ZIP and tract level, with a map to explore it.
What it is
One warehouse holds every metric we track — housing costs, appreciation, safety, schools, rental yield and the local economy — for every county, metro, ZIP and tract in the country.
One scoring method converts each metric onto a common scale and combines them into six weighted Indexes, so a rent figure and a crime rate can be compared on the same terms.
Every metric comes from a public source: the Census Bureau, HUD, the FBI, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and similar agencies. Figures derived from those sources are our own estimates, not official statistics.
Who it is for
Analysts, investors, lenders and researchers use Birdseye to compare markets on a documented, consistent basis. So does anyone deciding where to live or invest, working from the same evidence rather than a listing site's pitch.
How it is built
Every metric is converted to a z-score, capped at four standard deviations from the national mean, then blended into six weighted Indexes.
A geography is scored only when enough of an Index's members are actually present; below that threshold it is left grey rather than guessed.
The full method is documented on the methodology page, and every metric definition, source and vintage is catalogued in the docs.
Contact
Data questions, press inquiries and corrections all go through one channel. See the contact page.