Data Sources & Methodology

Transparency

We believe in transparency about where our data comes from. Every statistic, rating, and metric on this site is sourced from public records and official government databases.

Texas Education Agency (TEA)

What we use: School and district accountability ratings (A-F), enrollment counts, domain scores, distinctions, and school-level metadata (grade spans, magnet status, principal).
How we process it: We import TEA accountability data annually after ratings are published (typically August-September). Our pipeline processes the official TEA data files and maps schools to districts.
Data freshness: Updated annually. Current data reflects the 2024-25 academic year.

Redfin

What we use: Median sale prices, year-over-year price changes, homes sold, inventory levels, days on market, and other housing market metrics for Austin-area cities, zip codes, and neighborhoods.
How we process it: Our market stats pipeline imports publicly available Redfin market data monthly from their public S3 datasets. We store historical data points at the city, zip code, and neighborhood level to show trends over time.
Data freshness: Updated monthly. Each city and neighborhood page shows the date of the most recent data point.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

What we use: School district geographic boundaries, federal school and district identifiers (NCES IDs), and demographic data.
How we process it: We import NCES boundary shapefiles to map school districts to geographic areas. This allows us to show which districts serve each city and neighborhood.
Data freshness: Updated annually when NCES publishes new boundary files.

U.S. Census Bureau

What we use: Population, median household income, median age, and population density for cities. Neighborhood demographics are derived from Census Tract-level data via spatial mapping.
How we process it: Our community intelligence pipeline fetches American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates at place and tract levels, and Census Tract boundary polygons from TIGERweb. Neighborhood demographics are computed by spatially intersecting tract boundaries with neighborhood boundaries and averaging the overlapping data.
Data freshness: Updated when new ACS 5-year estimates are released (typically annual). Current data reflects the 2023 ACS 5-year estimates.

Walk Score

What we use: Walk Score, Bike Score, and Transit Score for cities and neighborhoods — measuring walkability, bikeability, and public transit access on a 0-100 scale.
How we process it: Our pipeline queries the Walk Score API using the geographic centroid of each city and neighborhood boundary to retrieve scores. Each entity receives its own score based on its location.
Data freshness: Updated when the community intelligence pipeline runs. Walk Score updates their data continuously.

Google Places

What we use: Amenity counts for grocery stores, retail, dining, healthcare, parks, and entertainment near each city and neighborhood. Notable chain presence (H-E-B, Costco, Whole Foods, etc.).
How we process it: We query the Google Places Nearby Search API using each entity's centroid — 15-mile radius for cities, 3-mile radius for neighborhoods. Results are categorized and counted, with notable national and regional chains identified.
Data freshness: Updated when the community intelligence pipeline runs. Google Places data reflects real-time business listings.

OpenStreetMap

What we use: Parks, nature reserves, and gardens for cities and neighborhoods.
How we process it: We query the OpenStreetMap Overpass API for parks and recreation areas within each entity's geographic bounding box. Park counts and notable park names supplement the Google Places amenity data.
Data freshness: Updated when the community intelligence pipeline runs. OpenStreetMap data is community-maintained and continuously updated.

Our Commitment to Accuracy

All data on Living in Austin is sourced from public records and official government databases. We do not fabricate or estimate statistics — every number on this site can be traced back to its original source.

Data is refreshed on regular schedules (monthly for market data, annually for school ratings). Each data-driven page includes a “Data Sources” section at the bottom citing the specific sources used on that page.

If you notice any data that appears inaccurate or outdated, please let us know.

Transparency