Data sources
Every number has a source.
The rankings are built entirely from official U.S. public data. Wages and tax schedules are applied directly; per-state cost figures carry a state data tag; national and modeled figures are labeled honestly so you know the fidelity of each line.
Source · feedsPublisherVintage
- U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsMay 2023Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (OEWS)wagesWages by occupation × state × metro
- HUDFY2025Fair Market Rents (FMR)state dataRent by bedroom, per area
- Zillow Research2025Home Value Index (ZHVI)state dataHome values · years-to-buy
- U.S. Energy Information Admin.2024–25Retail electricity & gasolinestate dataElectricity bills · gas prices
- Bureau of Economic Analysis2023Regional Price Paritiesstate dataMetro cost-of-living index
- FEMA2023National Risk Indexstate dataClimate / disaster risk
- FBI2022Uniform Crime Reportingstate dataViolent crime rate
- U.S. Census Bureau2023ACS 5-year (housing)state dataHousing vacancy / supply
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics2024–2034Employment ProjectionswagesCareer growth · annual openings
- Internal Revenue ServiceTY 2024Federal income tax brackets & standard deductiontaxFederal income tax
- Social Security Administration2024FICA / Social Security wage basetaxPayroll tax
- State & municipal agencies2024–25State disability / paid-leave & local income tax ratestaxSDI/PFML · local income tax
- NAIC2023NAIC Auto Insurance Database Reportstate dataCar insurance
- AHRQ2021-2023AHRQ MEPS-IC employee premium contributionstate dataHealth insurance premiums
- State2025State revenue depts / Tax Foundationstate dataState income & sales tax
- State2025State DMV fee schedules (curated)state dataVehicle registration fees
- Federal2025Federal Reserve G.19 / ExperiannationalCar payment
Wage data is refreshed by re-running the ingestion pipeline against the latest OEWS release. This resource is free and open; data is for comparison, not advice.