How the scoring works, and what we refuse to do

Deterministic, versioned scoring

Every ranking on this site comes from a versioned scoring function — currently v1.2-commute-price-tenure — applied to structured, sourced data. Hard constraints (your commute ceiling) eliminate candidates first; the remainder are scored on weighted fit, normalized 0–100. Same inputs, same ranking, every time, with the reasons shown. Nothing editorial, no model quietly choosing winners.

What the score covers today

Version v1.2-commute-price-tenure scores two verified dimensions: commute fit, from a 176-route grid computed on the OSRM v5 free-flow model, and price fit, from each city's typical home value (Zillow ZHVI) for buyers or typical rent (Zillow ZORI) for renters, June 2026, against your stated budget band. Price fit describes a city's overall market position, not any individual home. Housing-stock and new-construction dimensions remain pending and carry no weight until county-verified data is loaded.

The rule we won't break

No figure is ever fabricated to complete a comparison. When data is missing or stale, the display says so and the confidence badge drops. Every material number carries a source and retrieval date, high-volatility data expires sooner than structural facts, and corrections are published openly on the about page.

Fair housing

Scoring uses objective, user-selected criteria only: workplace location, commute tolerance, and budget. We do not ask for, infer, or score on demographic characteristics, and we do not characterize any community by who lives there. Equal Housing Opportunity.

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