About CountyScore
The definitive county report card — combining data from 6+ federal sources into a single 0–100 score for every U.S. county.
Our Mission
CountyScore is the flagship product of the ByCounty Network. We believe that the data people need to make informed decisions about where to live, work, and raise a family should be free, accessible, and easy to understand.
Every year, millions of Americans research counties for potential moves, home purchases, and retirement planning. That research typically means visiting dozens of disconnected government websites and trying to piece together a picture from fragmented data. CountyScore solves this by combining data from multiple federal agencies into a single, intuitive score.
How It Works
Each of the 3,100+ U.S. counties receives a composite score from 0 to 100 based on weighted factors across eight categories:
- Property Taxes — effective tax rates and median amounts paid
- Cost of Living — housing costs, median rent, and affordability
- Safety — violent and property crime rates
- Health — health outcomes, access to care, and life expectancy
- Schools — school quality, per-pupil spending, and graduation rates
- Disaster Risk — exposure to natural hazards like floods, wildfires, and storms
- Water Quality — drinking water safety and compliance history
- Income & Jobs — median household income and employment levels
Higher scores indicate counties that perform well across these dimensions. Scores are relative — a score of 80 means a county ranks in roughly the top 20% nationally.
Data Sources
All data used by CountyScore comes from publicly available U.S. federal government sources. We do not use proprietary or paywalled data.
- U.S. Census Bureau (ACS) — Property taxes, housing costs, income, demographics
- FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) — Violent and property crime rates
- CDC / County Health Rankings — Health outcomes, access to care, health behaviors
- FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) — Natural hazard risk scores by county
- National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) — School performance, spending, enrollment
- EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System (SDWIS) — Water quality violations and compliance
Free and Open
CountyScore is completely free to use. No account is required, and there are no paywalls. Our goal is to make county-level data accessible to everyone — whether you are a first-time homebuyer, a retiree exploring new places, or a researcher studying regional trends.
The site is supported by display advertising and affiliate partnerships with services relevant to people researching counties (mortgage lenders, moving companies, home insurance providers, etc.).
The ByCounty Network
CountyScore is the hub of the ByCounty Network — a family of sites that each focus on one category of county-level data in depth. While CountyScore gives you the big picture, the vertical sites let you dive deep into any single dimension:
- TaxByCounty — Property tax rates and comparisons
- CostByCounty — Cost of living data
- CrimeByCounty — Crime rates and safety data
- IncomeByCounty — Household income and employment
- HealthByCounty — Health outcomes and access
- SchoolsByCounty — School quality and education data
- RiskByCounty — Natural disaster risk assessments
- WaterByCounty — Water quality information
Contact
Have questions, feedback, or data corrections? Visit our contact page or email us at hello@bycounty.com.