Guides & methodology

Everything we publish about how BelongMaps works, and what the data behind it can and cannot tell you. No sign-up needed to read any of it.

Guides

How to find a place to rent — Pick the neighborhood before the apartment. A step-by-step way to narrow a city down to a few areas using commute, safety and rent, in about twenty minutes.
Affording where you want to live — When the budget and the map do not meet, one requirement is usually costing most of the money. How to find which, and where a compromise buys you something.
Why crime maps disagree — Crime reporting to the FBI is voluntary, and the gaps are large. Why three crime maps give three answers for the same neighborhood, and how to read any of them.
Why school ratings disagree — GreatSchools, Niche, U.S. News and state report cards rate the same school differently. What each rating is built from, and how to read any of them.
Why flood maps disagree — FEMA flood zones and newer flood scores rate the same house differently. What each one counts, what FEMA leaves out, and which one decides your insurance.
Why wildfire maps disagree — Federal hazard maps, state fire zones, private scores and insurer models rate the same house differently. What each one measures, and which one sets your price.
Why walkability scores disagree — Walk Score and the EPA Walkability Index rate the same street differently. What each one measures, what neither can see, and how to check a street yourself.
Why home value estimates disagree — Zestimate, Redfin Estimate, tax assessment and appraisal can all give one house different values. What each one is, how far off the estimates run, and why.
Why cost of living calculators disagree — The same move can cost twice as much on one calculator as another. Whose spending each index prices, how it treats housing and taxes, and how to check.
Why property tax estimates disagree — A listing's tax figure is usually the seller's bill, not yours. How assessments, caps, exemptions and special districts change what a new buyer actually pays.
Why commute time estimates disagree — A "25 minute" commute can take 40. How Google, travel-time maps and transit planners estimate trips, what each leaves out, and how to test a commute yourself.
Why median income figures disagree — One county can have five official median incomes. Household vs family vs per capita, Census vs HUD, 1-year vs 5-year, and how to compare places fairly.
Choosing where to retire — How to narrow down where to retire: hospitals within reach, everyday costs, property tax relief, climate, and getting around without a car.
Moving with young kids — How to narrow a home search with young children: school zones and ratings, crime rates, parks within walking distance, quiet streets and the commute.
Living without a car — How to find a place where you can live without a car: transit you can rely on, groceries within reach, walkable streets, and what to test before you sign.
Where to live when you work from home — Choosing a place when you work remotely: checking internet at an address, quiet and nature nearby, airports for travel, cost of living, and a backup job market.
Finding a place with lower disaster risk — No place is disaster-free. How to compare flood, wildfire, hurricane, tornado and earthquake risk on a map, and why insurance is where the risk becomes real.
How to research a neighborhood before you buy — What to check before buying in a neighborhood: flood, crime and noise on the map, permits and disclosures, radon and lead, and when to visit in person.
Buying a house you can't visit — How to buy a home from a distance: checking the area on a map, video walkthroughs, a proper inspection, protecting your wire transfer, and remote closing.
Researching raw land before you buy — What to check before buying raw land: zoning, legal access, water, septic and perc tests, mineral rights, flood rules, and what a map can and cannot show.
Moving for the outdoors — How to find a place near nature: public land, parks within walking distance, wildfire risk and smoke, seasons, and what remote living costs in reach.
Finding a place fast after PCS orders — How to choose where to live after PCS orders: base housing, your housing allowance, renting vs a VA loan, lease rights, the commute, schools and flood risk.
Moving somewhere to garden? What to check first — What gardeners should check before moving: hardiness zones and their limits, summer heat, frost dates, rain, and testing the soil before you grow food.
Buying a winter home somewhere warm — What snowbirds should check before buying a second home: which home counts as primary, property and income tax, health coverage, and storm season.
Checking a home for environmental hazards — How to check a home for environmental hazards: nearby contaminated sites, tap water and wells, lead pipes and paint, and radon, and what to test yourself.
Finding a quiet neighborhood — How to find a quiet place to live: quiet streets and noise on the map, airport and rail noise, rush-hour traffic, and when to visit to hear it yourself.
Choosing a home with two commutes — How two-income households pick a place to live: mapping both commutes at once, agreeing what fair means, going car-free, and planning for a job change.
Where to live if you fly every week — How frequent flyers can choose where to live: which airports have the most routes and customs, how close is close enough, and how to avoid the noise.
Moving to a college town — What to know before moving to a college town: the lease cycle, renting near campus or farther out, what the university offers the public, and job stability.
Moving to the country: what to check first — What to check before moving to the country: distance to a hospital, internet service, wells and septic, heating fuel, and how far it is to the store.
Finding a home you can still insure — Homeowners insurance is getting harder to find in high-risk areas. How to check before you buy: risk layers, quotes, the CLUE report, and flood coverage.
The true monthly cost of a home — The costs on top of the mortgage: property tax, insurance, utilities, HOA fees and repairs, how much each varies by place, and how to compare them on a map.
Checking electricity costs before you move — Electricity prices differ by state and by utility. How to check what a home will cost to power before you buy: rates by ZIP code, bills, and what else matters.
Buying a home on the coast — What to check before buying near the ocean: high-tide flooding, sea level rise, flood zones, hurricane deductibles, wind pools and federal flood insurance.
How to read a FEMA flood map — How to look up the FEMA flood map for an address and read it: what zones A, AE, V, X and D mean, base flood elevation, and what to do if the map is wrong.
Researching an area for a rental property — What to check about an area before buying a rental property: local rents, vacancy, property tax and insurance, rent limits, short-term rental rules and more.
Moving with a dog — What dog owners should check when choosing a new home: parks and walkability, HOA and rental pet rules, insurance and breed limits, the yard and the climate.
How to read a crime rate — How to read a crime rate: rates versus counts, why downtowns look worse per resident, small numbers, what the total is made of, and what a rate cannot tell you.
Is crime going up or down? — Reported crime fell sharply in 2025. What FBI, victim-survey and big-city data show, what the national numbers leave out, and how to check locally.
How to look up crime data yourself — Where to find crime data for an area, for free: FBI agency figures, city open data, calls for service versus reported crimes, records requests, and the limits.
Burglary, car theft and your home — How common burglary and car theft are, why most property crime goes unreported, what the research says reduces break-ins, and what insurance covers.
Why crime feels worse than the numbers — Most Americans have said crime was rising even in years it fell. What surveys show, why local crime feels different, and how to check the data instead.
Which states report crime data — About 84% of US law enforcement agencies report crime through NIBRS, but Pennsylvania is at 17%. The gap by state, and what it means for reading a crime map.
How to check crime near an address — Check the crime rate for the area around any US address, see which police agency the data comes from, and everything else we know about the location. Free.
Neighborhood data glossary — Plain-English definitions for the terms behind neighborhood data: block groups, flood zones, NIBRS, isochrones, median vs average, hardiness zones and more.

How we measure things

How commute times work — How to map everywhere you could live within a given commute, by car or transit, how to overlap two commutes for a household, and what the travel times assume.
How we estimate rush-hour congestion — How the traffic congestion layer is estimated from FHWA traffic counts and road capacity, what each level means, and what it gets wrong.
How we measure neighborhood crime — How BelongMaps calculates neighborhood crime rates: small census areas adjusted for population, drawn from FBI and police data, and why some areas stay blank.
How we score schools — How BelongMaps rates every public and private K-12 school from 1 to 10 using free public data, why growth beats proficiency, and what the score cannot tell you.
How we show flood risk — What FEMA flood zones tell you, what the zone letters mean, why the maps age, and why being outside a flood zone does not mean a property will not flood.
How we show housing costs — Why we build home costs from recorded sales rather than listings, what the rent figures actually measure, and what an area cost number cannot tell you.
How we show wildfire risk — What the wildfire hazard layer measures, why it changes over short distances, what it cannot see about your actual house, and why insurance makes it matter.
What planting zone am I in? — What USDA hardiness zones mean, why your neighbor may be in a different one, what changed in the 2023 update, and what the zone number cannot tell you.

Why we write these

Most sites that rank neighborhoods will not tell you where their numbers come from. That is usually because the answer is unflattering. We would rather show our working, including the parts where the data is thin or missing.

If something here is unclear or looks wrong, we would like to know.

The map itself is here, and free to use.