Sources & methodology

A comparison you can trace.

Know what the figures describe, where they come from and what you still need to check on site.

03 / THE METHOD IS PART OF THE REPORT

Useful context.
Honest boundaries.

Demographics can help you prepare better questions. A site visit and a review of the property still do essential work that these data cannot do.

Match the place

The Census Geocoder matches a full address to ACS 2024 geography. An unmatched or ambiguous address stops the comparison; we never substitute a city or ZIP center.

Read the whole tract

The 2026 Planning Database provides ACS 2020–2024 estimates and 90% margins of error. We use published tract values without radius estimates or spatial aggregation.

Take it to the field

No opportunity score, customer estimate or revenue forecast. Renters may have in-unit or shared laundry. No equipment, competition, traffic or property conditions have been verified.

Data sources, coverage & calculation details

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2026 Planning Database, reissued September 17, 2026. Selected ACS estimates cover 2020–2024 and use ACS 2024 tract geography. These are period estimates, not a current census of a site.

Original nationwide tract CSV · Documentation · Field definitions
Cached data cover 85,396 tracts in 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico, subject to successful matching and available estimates. Other territories are not in this cache. National arbitrary-address performance has not been exhaustively validated. Fifteen public reference points across five cities have exact geocoder-to-cache joins; additional Boston and Connecticut fixtures also pass.
Renter share = renter-occupied units ÷ occupied units × 100. The displayed estimate and MOE are the published PDB values, not a recomputed uncertainty estimate.
Single-unit share = housing units in structures with one unit ÷ all housing units × 100. It is not the inverse of apartment share.
Average household size = people in households ÷ occupied housing units. Median household income is expressed in 2024 dollars; it is not an income distribution. We do not average medians, calculate change over time, or combine tracts.
Missing, suppressed, or negative sentinel values remain unavailable. Counts and shares have sampling and nonsampling error. Approximate 90% intervals in the PDF are estimate ± MOE, bounded at zero (and 100 for shares); they are not significance tests.
Geocoder benchmark: Public_AR_Current. Geography vintage: ACS2024_Current. The locator's address ranges can change; the requested geography remains ACS 2024. Tract boundaries can cross streets or neighborhood names.

Your separate field visit checklist

Not inferred from demographic data. Record observations, dates and sources.

Machines: count, capacity, condition; in-unit and shared alternatives Vend prices, opening hours and observed competition Street access, accessibility, parking and loading Lease terms and permitted use Water, sewer, electricity, gas and ventilation capacity Zoning, permits, licensing and local approvals

Address suggestions

Suggestions use Photon with data from © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database License. Suggestions are not address verification. Each location is checked separately before payment.

Blog references

Plan your business — market research and startup costs — U.S. Small Business Administration
Launch your business — location, zoning, licenses and permits — U.S. Small Business Administration
Commercial Clothes Washers — ENERGY STAR
Using 1-Year or 5-Year American Community Survey Data — U.S. Census Bureau
Statistical Testing Tool — U.S. Census Bureau
ADA Update: A Primer for Small Business — U.S. Department of Justice