Sources
Every number on Hestia's Atlas comes from a published source, and every tile names its own. This page is the full list: what we take from each, its vintage, when it refreshes, its licence and the citation it asks for.
American Community Survey, 5-year estimates
US Census Bureau
- What we take
- Population, median household income, median rent and home value, owner costs, the monthly electricity, gas and water brackets, property tax paid by owners, commute, education, and the ratios built from them (rent to income, home value to income, property tax to home value). Tables B01003, B19013, B25064, B25077, B25103, B25132, B25133, B25134, DP02, DP03 and S1401.
- Vintage
- 2020 to 2024 estimates, released December 2025
- Refreshes
- Yearly, each December
- Licence
- Public domain (US Government work). This product uses the Census Bureau Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the Census Bureau.
- Citation
- U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, 2020 to 2024.
- Where it appears
- every county page · the map
Building Permits Survey, annual county files
US Census Bureau
- What we take
- New homes permitted each year from 2020 to 2025, the single-family and larger-building split, and whether the figure was reported by local offices or estimated by the Census. The rate per 1,000 residents divides this by the ACS population.
- Vintage
- 2025 annual data, published 14 May 2026
- Refreshes
- Yearly, each May
- Licence
- Public domain (US Government work).
- Citation
- U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey, annual county data, 2025.
- Where it appears
- the new-homes block on every county page
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
US Bureau of Labor Statistics
- What we take
- The median annual wage for each character class, by state, from the occupation codes the class stands for.
- Vintage
- May 2025 estimates
- Refreshes
- Yearly, each spring
- Licence
- Public domain (US Government work).
- Citation
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
- Where it appears
- the character forge
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
US Bureau of Labor Statistics
- What we take
- The latest monthly unemployment rate for the handful of counties a reader is comparing. The nationwide baseline stays with the ACS.
- Vintage
- Latest published month at the time of the request
- Refreshes
- Monthly
- Licence
- Public domain (US Government work).
- Citation
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics.
Regional Price Parities, by state
US Bureau of Economic Analysis
- What we take
- The state price level against the national average, for the dollar-for-dollar comparison. The BEA publishes no county parity, so every surface that shows one of these says state-level out loud.
- Vintage
- 2024
- Refreshes
- Yearly, each December
- Licence
- Public domain (US Government work).
- Citation
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities by State, 2024.
- Where it appears
- the Explore panel
National Risk Index, county table
Federal Emergency Management Agency
- What we take
- The composite natural-hazard risk score and rating, and the per-hazard scores for wildfire, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, flooding, drought, wind, winter weather, landslide, cold wave and heat wave.
- Vintage
- 2023 release, read from FEMA's county feature service
- Refreshes
- When FEMA publishes a new release
- Licence
- Public domain (US Government work).
- Citation
- Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Risk Index, county level.
- Where it appears
- every county page
Air Quality System, annual AQI by county
US Environmental Protection Agency
- What we take
- Days with good air, days unhealthy for anyone, the median AQI for the year and the days monitored. Counties with no monitor show no figure.
- Vintage
- 2023
- Refreshes
- Yearly
- Licence
- Public domain (US Government work).
- Citation
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System, Annual AQI by County, 2023.
- Where it appears
- every county page
County Health Rankings & Roadmaps
University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- What we take
- Premature death, injury deaths, poor or fair health, mental-health days, smoking, obesity, uninsured, primary-care and mental-health providers, food insecurity, children in poverty, broadband, reading and math scores, high-school completion, life expectancy. County Health Rankings compiles these from CDC, NCHS, BRFSS, the Census SAIPE and SAHIE programs, HRSA, Feeding America, NCES EDFacts and the Stanford Education Data Archive; each tile names which.
- Vintage
- 2025 release
- Refreshes
- Yearly, each spring
- Licence
- Not public domain. Licensed for personal or non-profit use; commercial use needs County Health Rankings' prior written consent. Hestia's Atlas is free, carries no advertising and sells no data, and keeps to those terms. Any paid tier would be preceded by consent or by re-sourcing these measures from the federal publishers listed above.
- Citation
- University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. County Health Rankings & Roadmaps 2025. www.countyhealthrankings.org
- Where it appears
- every county page
State statutes and county rate books
State legislatures and county finance offices
- What we take
- What a buyer's property tax rate becomes in the states that reset assessed value at sale (California, Florida, Michigan), as against what current owners pay from the ACS. California's figure is the 1% levy plus the median bond load in Sacramento County's 2025 to 2026 rate book.
- Vintage
- Current rate books, dated on each page
- Refreshes
- Yearly, as rate books publish
- Licence
- Public records.
- Where it appears
- the property tax section of a county page
County permit offices, by email
The offices themselves
- What we take
- In October 2026 we emailed 167 county and city permit offices the new-homes figure their page shows and asked whether it was right. Where an office answered with its own count, the page quotes it as the office's own, with its jurisdiction and units named, under the Census figure. Every emailed page says where the question stands.
- Vintage
- October 2026, 167 offices asked, 32 quoted so far
- Refreshes
- As replies arrive
- Licence
- Public correspondence with public offices, quoted in their own terms.
- Where it appears
- the Checked with the county label
Cartographic boundary files
US Census Bureau, packaged as us-atlas
- What we take
- The county and state outlines behind the map and the hearth mark.
- Vintage
- us-atlas 3
- Refreshes
- When the package updates
- Licence
- Public domain (US Government work); us-atlas is ISC licensed.
- Where it appears
- the map
Wikimedia Commons and Flickr, through Openverse
The photographers
- What we take
- The county photographs. Every image is a freely licensed photograph with a named author, and the author and licence are printed beside it.
- Vintage
- Fetched live
- Refreshes
- Live
- Licence
- Creative Commons and public-domain licences, per photograph, as each credit line states.
IPEDS institution directory
National Center for Education Statistics
- What we take
- The list of colleges a player can name on the character sheet. Display only; a school never changes a score.
- Vintage
- Latest directory at build
- Refreshes
- Yearly
- Licence
- Public domain (US Government work).
Planned, not yet on any page
Four public-domain sources we intend to add, in this order. Nothing from them is shown until it is.
1. Natural Amenities Scale · USDA Economic Research Service
One measured nature number per county from climate, topography and water area.
Public domain. A single static file from 1999 covering the lower 48 states; the page will say both.
2. Climate normals, 1991 to 2020 · NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
The weather band: temperatures, rain, snow and sun by month.
Public domain. Needs a station-to-county mapping; the normal period will be stated.
3. National Broadband Map · Federal Communications Commission
Speed tiers available by county, beyond the single broadband share we show today.
Public domain. Availability is not adoption, and the label will say which.
4. County personal income · US Bureau of Economic Analysis
Per-capita income beside the ACS household median.
Public domain. Per-capita and per-household are different measures and will be labelled apart.
Looked at and not used
- Walk Score: proprietary, paid, with branding terms; county-level walkability is thin.
- Zillow home value and rent indexes: commercial-use limits, and the ACS answers the question with published margins.
- FBI crime files: county reporting gaps since the move to incident-based reporting make a county rate unreliable.
- US Religion Census: a private membership dataset with its own terms.
- Wikipedia: not a source; we go to what it cites.
How we look after this data
- Every figure is a published number or a reader's own, and names its source and date where it appears.
- We show what the publisher measured, in the publisher's units, and say when a figure is an estimate or a modelled value. A modelled value never enters a score.
- We keep each publisher's terms: public-domain data is credited, licensed data is used within its licence and carries the citation it asks for, and photographs carry their author and licence.
- Nothing here is sold. There is no advertising and no sale of data, and a reader's own numbers stay private.
- Where a county has told us something about its own figure, the page quotes the office in its own terms and never implies the office endorses this site.
- If we have misread your publication, tell us and we will correct it. Offices we have written to can reply to that note; anyone can write on the forums.
Vintages on this page last checked 31 October 2026.