About this site

Real Estate Price Map is a free market-research tool for property prices, built entirely on publicly available data. It answers two questions: what do homes typically cost in an area right now, and how did prices get here — for US counties (history back to 1975), UK local authorities, Canadian census divisions, French départements, and multi-decade national price indexes for ~60 countries.

Who builds this, and how it's checked

Real Estate Price Map is built and maintained by an independent data team that turns official housing and census statistics into clear, comparable maps. Every figure on the site is produced by an automated, version-controlled data pipeline — not typed in by hand — and each one traces back to a named public source listed below. Here's how each monthly release is made and verified before it goes live:

1. Fetch — the pipeline downloads the latest files directly from each primary source (Zillow Research, the FHFA, the U.S. Census Bureau, HM Land Registry / ONS, Statistics Canada, DVF / Etalab, and the BIS).
2. Transform — raw series are cleaned, joined to the map geometry by official area codes, and reduced to the typical value, change and rank shown on each page. The exact method for every metric is documented in the sections below.
3. Validate — before anything publishes, automated checks confirm coverage (e.g. ~3,000 US counties), sane value ranges, data recency and clean geography joins. If a source moves or a check fails, the release is aborted and the site keeps serving the last good data rather than publish something wrong.
4. Publish — the validated build is deployed and the data vintage in each page footer updates.

Corrections policy. If a figure looks wrong, email support@realestatepricemap.com. We check it against the primary source and fix or annotate it — and because every source is linked, you can always verify any number yourself.

Methodology last reviewed July 2026 · data refreshes monthly (see update cadence).

Our scores & indexes — how they're calculated

Each place page opens with a plain-language verdict and a set of Real Estate Price Map scores. Every one is computed directly from the public data on that page — they are decision aids, not valuations or forecasts. Here is exactly how each is derived:

• Affordability (1–10) — from the local price-to-income ratio (typical home value ÷ median household income). 10 ≈ very affordable (about 2.5× income or less); 1 ≈ severely unaffordable (about 10× income or more). US counties only, where Census income exists.
• Valuation / bubble risk — how the typical price compares with what local incomes and rents would support at the national price-to-income and price-to-rent multiples. "Fair value" = the average of (local income × national price-to-income) and (local annual rent × national price-to-rent); we show the % above or below it. Over +25% = "high bubble risk"; −10% to +10% = "fair value"; below −10% = "undervalued". It is a relative signal versus US norms, not a prediction.
• Momentum — the 1-year price change read against the 5-year trend: "heating up" (accelerating), "cooling" (rising but slower than its 5-year pace), "rising", "falling" or "flat".
• Market temperature — buyer's vs seller's, from Realtor.com median days-on-market and the share of listings with price cuts (fast + few cuts = seller's; slow or many cuts = buyer's).
• Vs typical (cities, ZIPs and international areas) — the price versus the median place in the same state or country.
• Rental yield — annual rent ÷ price, wherever rent data exists.

All of these follow the same "as is / no warranty / not advice" terms as the disclaimer above — always verify against the primary sources before acting.

US county data

Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) — the dollar values

The dollar figures on the map (and the “Home value, $” charts) are the Zillow Home Value Index: a smoothed, seasonally-adjusted estimate of the typical home value in a county (mid-tier, roughly the 35th–65th percentile of homes — not just the ones that sold). Monthly, from January 2000, covering ~3,070 counties. Zillow refreshes it around the 16th of each month; this site refreshes shortly after. Data provided by Zillow Research — free for public use.

FHFA House Price Index — the long history

The “Price index” charts come from the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s annual county house-price index (developmental, not seasonally adjusted), built from repeat sales of the same homes with mortgages bought or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It reaches back to 1975 where enough sales exist. It is an index of appreciation, not a dollar value — we rebase each county so its first reported year = 100; a value of 800 means prices are ~8× their level in that first year, before inflation.

1-yr / 5-yr / 10-yr / Since-2000 changes

Computed from ZHVI: the latest month versus exactly 12/60/120 months earlier (or January 2000). Nominal changes — not adjusted for inflation.

More US data on each county

County pages and extra map layers also draw on other free public datasets:

• Population — U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates (PEP), annual 2000–2024.
• Median household income & affordability — Census Small Area Income & Poverty Estimates (SAIPE); affordability is home value ÷ income.
• Rent & gross yield — Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI); rent coverage is metro-focused, so many rural counties are blank.
• New homes built — Census Building Permits Survey (residential units authorised per year).
• Top industries — Census County Business Patterns (establishment counts by sector).
• Market metrics — price per sq ft, days on market, active listings, price cuts — Realtor.com monthly county inventory data. These describe homes currently listed for sale — a different population from Zillow’s whole-stock value estimate, so the two will not match.
• 30-year mortgage rate — Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey, via the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRED).
• Inflation (the “Real $” toggle) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U, via FRED.

United Kingdom

UK areas are local authorities (~350). Typical prices and their history (from 1995) are the HM Land Registry UK House Price Index. Population, median pay and industry come from the Office for National Statistics via NOMIS. Rent uses ONS/VOA Private Rental Market Statistics (England only; the series was discontinued after 2023, so it is the latest official local figure, not a live one).

Canada

Canadian areas are census divisions (~293, the county equivalent). Median dwelling value, population, median household income and median rent are from Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census. This is a single 2021 snapshot — there is no free sub-provincial price time-series — so the Canada map shows values, not year-over-year change.

France

French areas are départements. Values are the median resale price per square metre of houses and apartments from DVF (Demandes de valeurs foncières), the government’s open register of property transactions, published via data.gouv.fr. Prices are per m², not per home.

Global data

The country comparison uses the Bank for International Settlements’ selected residential property price series: quarterly indexes (2010 = 100) compiled from each country’s national statistics, in nominal and real (CPI-deflated) terms. Index levels are comparable over time within a country, not across countries — compare trajectories and percentage changes, not heights. Coverage and start dates vary by country (US real series from 1970).

Map geometry

US county shapes are the U.S. Census cartographic boundaries via us-atlas (Albers USA projection; Alaska & Hawaii inset, territories not shown). UK local-authority boundaries are from the ONS Open Geography Portal (Mercator). Canadian census-division boundaries are Statistics Canada cartographic boundary files (drawn in their native Lambert projection). French département boundaries come from the open france-geojson project (derived from IGN / OpenStreetMap).

Known gaps & caveats

• Connecticut: CT replaced its eight counties with nine planning regions in 2022. Zillow still reports the legacy counties (shown on the map); FHFA now reports planning regions, which don’t match the map geometry — their long index history is therefore not shown for CT.
• Small rural counties: ~70 counties have too few sales for Zillow dollar values. They appear gray on the map but remain clickable when FHFA publishes an index for them.
• ZHVI is a model, not a list of sale prices; small-county values are noisier.
• The FHFA county index is “developmental”: FHFA cautions that small-sample county indexes get revised and should be treated as estimates.
• No inflation adjustment on US dollar values and changes; the global page’s “Real” toggle is inflation-adjusted.
• Cross-source differences: Zillow, Realtor.com, HM Land Registry, Statistics Canada and DVF each measure different things (whole-stock value vs. listing prices vs. registered sales) over different periods — figures for the same place will not line up exactly.
• UK rent is England-only and from the last (2023) ONS/VOA release; Canada is a 2021 snapshot; France is a per-m² median. Treat all as indicative.

Update cadence

An automated job refreshes all data monthly (a couple of days after Zillow’s mid-month release). If a source moves or fails validation, the site keeps serving the last good data. The footer of each page shows the current data vintage.

Attribution & licences

This site aggregates and visualises public data for research and education. Each source remains © its provider and is used under its own terms; we acknowledge them here as those licences require:

• United States — Zillow Research (ZHVI, ZORI), used with attribution; U.S. Government works in the public domain: FHFA House Price Index, U.S. Census Bureau (PEP, SAIPE, Building Permits, County Business Patterns, cartographic boundaries), Bureau of Labor Statistics (CPI); Freddie Mac (mortgage rate); market metrics Source: Realtor.com.
• United Kingdom — contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0: HM Land Registry UK HPI (© Crown copyright & database right), ONS data via NOMIS, ONS/VOA rental statistics, and ONS Open Geography boundaries (contains OS data © Crown copyright & database right).
• Canada — data adapted from Statistics Canada, 2021 Census, under the Statistics Canada Open Licence. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada.
• France — DVF data © DGFiP and the département boundaries, under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence (Etalab).
• Global — Bank for International Settlements residential property price statistics, © BIS, used with attribution.
• Area descriptions — summaries from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0; each links back to its article.

Trademarks and data belong to their respective owners. Real Estate Price Map is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Zillow, Realtor.com, the FHFA, the U.S. Census Bureau, HM Land Registry, the Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada, the BIS, or any other provider named here. Always verify against the primary sources before making financial decisions. To report a data or attribution issue, see Privacy for contact details.