Cogniterra data

Local housing market data

Monthly figures for US cities, counties and ZIP codes, compiled from public research datasets. Each number is reported for the most local area its source publishes, with the month it describes and the change from a year earlier. Journalists may use it freely with credit.

ZIP codes
3,199
Cities
363
Counties
251
Metro areas
927

Places with at least one figure published in the last six months.

Look up a place

Sources

Zillow Research

Geography: Cities and metro areas

Metrics: Typical home value (ZHVI), median sale price, mean days to pending, active listings, new listings, share of homes sold above list, typical asking rent (ZORI)

Updated: Monthly, about two to six weeks after the month ends

Realtor.com Research

Geography: ZIP codes and counties

Metrics: Median asking price, active listings, median days on market, new listings, share of listings with a price cut, median asking price per square foot, pending listings

Updated: Monthly, early in the following month

U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey

Geography: Counties

Metrics: Single-family permits issued, units permitted, declared construction value

Updated: Monthly, with a lag of about two months

Methodology

  • Most local level per metric. For each metric we use the finest geography its source publishes: ZIP code, then city, then county, then metro area. Coverage differs by source, so one place can mix city-level and county-level figures. Every figure states the area it covers.
  • Metro figures are labelled. When a metric exists only for a whole metro area, it is marked as such and never presented as the town's own number. Example: Aspen, CO is part of the Glenwood Springs metro, whose median sale price is far below Aspen's.
  • Figures are as published. We do not adjust, model or forecast. Zillow's home value index (ZHVI) is smoothed and seasonally adjusted by Zillow; sale prices and listing counts are raw monthly values and can move sharply in small markets.
  • Changes. Year-over-year change compares the same month a year earlier. Changes in shares (for example, homes sold above list) are given in percentage points.
  • Different measures can disagree. A home value index describes the whole housing stock; a median sale price describes only the homes that sold that month. When they diverge, that is worth a question to local agents, not a conclusion.
  • Local decisions. Our API also lists recent local housing-policy headlines (zoning, tax rates, development approvals) from local news sources. Those are links to other outlets' reporting, not our data.

How to cite

Use the underlying source with our compilation, and the month of the figure, for example:

“Round Rock's typical home value fell 5.4% to $398,221 in the year to August, according to a Cogniterra analysis of Zillow data.”

Online, please link “Cogniterra analysis” to https://cogniterra.net/data.

For journalists

We can send full tables, ZIP-level breakdowns, comparisons between cities or longer history for any place we cover, usually the same day and free of charge. Email belsan@cogniterra.net.

Developers can use the same data through our JSON API or the Cogniterra Market Updates plugin for ChatGPT.