GrowthMap USA Future housing-demand research engine Live data
Scores every U.S. county on future housing-pressure signals from public, dated sources only — Census, BPS permits, CBP employment, Zillow. No headlines counted. Click any county for the full breakdown.
Map calculation
Top signals — 5y horizon
    Map colors
    Strong growth signals (top tier)
    Growing / mixed signal
    Below-average signal
    Weak growth vs. price
    Insufficient evidence
    Built from public records: Census PEP, ACS 5-yr, Building Permits Survey, County Business Patterns, and Zillow Research (ZHVI · ZORI · inventory · days-to-pending).

    Research tool, not investment advice. The engine reports demand-pressure evidence — it never claims a property will appreciate. Methodology & sources.

    Methodology & sources

    GrowthMap USA scores 3,144 U.S. counties on future housing-demand pressure. Every score is a national percentile built from dated public records. Missing data is never treated as zero — a category is scored only on the metrics that exist for that county, and gaps lower its confidence score instead.

    The five evidence blocks (5-year weights)

    BlockWeightWhat it measures
    Demographics18%2020–24 and 2014–24 population growth, net migration, density, prime-age (25–44) shift, household growth
    Physical growth25%Building permits per 1k residents, permit momentum 2022–24, housing-unit stock growth, multifamily share
    Housing market22%12-month price and rent growth, for-sale supply per household, days-to-pending
    Future demand25%Migration momentum vs. 2015–19 baseline, employment and establishment growth 2020–23, 5-year price trend
    Price gap10%Price-to-income ratio and price level (inverse — cheaper counties score higher)

    Horizons change the weights

    The 3-year view leans hardest on permits, multifamily construction and market momentum; the 10-year view leans on demographics, migration and long-run price trends. The Future Housing Pressure model drops the price block entirely and re-normalizes weights. Growth vs. Price starts from the opportunity score and shifts it up for cheap counties, down for expensive ones.

    Small counties

    Counties under 5,000 people have sparse, noisy data. Their composite scores are pulled toward the national median in proportion to population, so a 400-person county cannot top the rankings on one lucky metric.

    Sources (all public, no keys)

    SourceUsed forVintage
    Census Population Estimates (PEP)Population, growth, net migration, age structure2020–2024 + 2014/2015–19 baselines
    Census ACS 5-year, table-based SFIncome, households, housing units, median value fallback2023 (+ prior-year trend)
    Census Building Permits SurveyPermitted units, permit momentum, multifamily share2022–2024 annual county files
    Census County Business PatternsEmployment and establishment growth2020 → 2023
    Zillow ResearchTypical value (ZHVI), rent (ZORI), for-sale inventory, days-to-pending—