Press & research
Newsroom
For journalists, researchers, and writers. Who produces our findings, how to check them, what the data does and doesn't cover, and how to reach us.
Media contact
hello@americadashboard.comInterview requests, methodology questions, state or city breakouts, and error reports.
Who produces this
America's Dashboard, built by Roket Software
Independent. Not affiliated with any government agency, and we take no payment from states, economic development agencies, or real estate companies. About us.
How to verify a finding
Every page names its sources. The methodology documents category weights and formulas. Known gaps are listed below, not buried.
Recent releases
- StudyHome Values Fell in 10 States. All 50 Are Still Up Over Five Years.
Each state's typical home value over one year against five, with every state's market temperature, and a shareable chart of the states where values are falling.
- StudyDaycare for Two Kids Costs More Than the Mortgage in 34 States
Two kids in center-based infant care compared with the mortgage and property tax on each state's typical home, with shareable map and chart graphics.
- DataCensus ACS people flows added to migration pages
Census Bureau state-to-state migration estimates, with margins of error, now sit beside the IRS household counts as a cross-check.
- RankingsEducation rankings rebuilt
A dedicated education page with graduation rates, per-pupil spending and students per teacher, a filterable 50-state table, and the best cities for public schools.
- RankingsOverall rankings page redesigned
Top and bottom five, per-category summaries, and a sortable 50-state table that works on phones.
- DataMigration flows now read directly from IRS files
State-to-state moves, households, and mover income come straight from the IRS Statistics of Income migration files, with no modeling.
- ToolCustom map builder
Pick any metric, style a 50-state map, export a PNG, or embed a live version.
Known limitations
Open issues you should know about before citing these sections. We update this list as they are resolved.
National median wages are BLS figures. Metro-level wages and employment are modeled from them, not taken from the published BLS metro tables.
Planned fix: Replace with the published BLS metro tables, showing suppressed cells as suppressed.
The 12-month trend charts on state pages are illustrative and labeled that way. They are not a historical record of the score.
Planned fix: Remove them until enough archived data releases exist to chart real history.
City scores use only local data, so a city missing a category (no police agency of its own, too few schools, no population estimate) is scored on the categories it has, with the weights rescaled. Outdoor access has no city-level measure and is not scored for cities. Each city page lists what was and was not scored.
Planned fix: Add city-level park access and fill crime for places policed by a county sheriff where the sheriff reports by area.
Air quality and natural hazard losses are county figures, and climate normals come from the nearest airport or downtown weather station (median 8 km from the city). Pages label them as such.
Planned fix: Keep the county and station labels; add city-level air data where the EPA publishes it.
State composite scores are stretched onto a wider 0–100 range after weighting, and city composites are not. A city scoring 70 and a state scoring 70 are not directly comparable.
Planned fix: Publish the exact rescaling on the methodology page and put both on a consistent scale.
Citing & reuse
Cite America's Dashboard and link to the specific page you drew from, not the homepage. Where a figure comes from a government source, naming that source too helps readers check it.
Suggested citation
America's Dashboard, “[Page title],” americadashboard.com/[page], accessed [date].
- Linking to any page is always fine.
- Charts, maps, screenshots, and short excerpts may be used in news coverage, research, and commentary with visible credit to America's Dashboard and a link to the source page.
- Scraping or bulk downloading requires written permission. See the terms of service.
- Rankings update when agencies publish new data, so note the date you accessed a figure.
Charts & maps you can use
Custom map builder →
Map any metric across 50 states. Export a PNG or copy embed code.
Daycare vs. mortgage graphics →
Map and charts with a built-in dollar table and sources, ready to download as images.
Methodology →
Category weights, normalization, grading, and the source for every metric.
Downloadable CSVs aren't published yet. If you need the numbers behind a chart, email hello@americadashboard.com.