Official County Evidence
County code, planning and zoning pages, building guidance, permit documents, environmental-health material, assessor records, road standards, and official county publications.
Research standards
How County Verification Works
A transparent workflow for separating comparable public data, official county-source evidence, derived scores, and parcel-level questions that still require local review.
Profile boundary
County Profiles Do Not Approve Parcels
This profile summarizes county-level signals. Before relying on a parcel, verify current rules with planning, zoning, building, environmental health, water, road, fire, title, and local professionals.
The standard
Verification Measures Source Coverage, Not Legal Permission
County Freedom Index uses confidence labels to tell users how much reviewed evidence supports a county profile. The label answers “how well sourced is this profile?” It does not answer “may I build or live this way on this parcel?”
50state datasets
3,143county profiles
164verified profiles
54,729county citation links
12,567published data snapshots
Review workflow
From Raw Sources To A Public County Profile
- 01
Define The County And Jurisdiction
We begin with the county geography and identify whether incorporated places, special districts, health authorities, or other local bodies may control part of the research question.
- 02
Load Public Data Layers
Population, density, taxes, climate, solar, broadband, public land, and supported land-market snapshots establish comparable county context. These layers are labeled as sourced or derived data rather than local-rule conclusions.
- 03
Locate Official Local Sources
Planning, zoning, building, sanitation, environmental health, assessor, road, and permit sources are collected when they are publicly available and clearly tied to the county.
- 04
Write Bounded Research Notes
Public notes summarize what a source supports and preserve uncertainty. We avoid turning a broad county document into a promise that a specific parcel or structure will be approved.
- 05
Separate Score From Confidence
Lifestyle and Freedom Scores estimate research fit. Confidence labels describe evidence coverage. A high score with limited source depth remains a sourced-discovery profile rather than a verified one.
- 06
Publish The Source Trail
County profiles expose available citations, data-layer dates, missing-source warnings, red flags, and the next verification questions a buyer should resolve.
- 07
Refresh Or Downgrade
A profile can be refreshed, corrected, or reduced in confidence when a source changes, disappears, conflicts with newer material, or no longer supports the published summary.
Evidence hierarchy
What Counts As Support
Different sources answer different questions. Profiles keep local-rule evidence, background data, derived measurements, and unresolved research leads distinct.
State And Federal Data
Census datasets, state agencies, public-land GIS, climate and solar datasets, tax sources, and other public records used for comparable background layers.
Derived Measurements
Calculated scores, density, affordability signals, and summary indexes. These are reproducible discovery aids, but they are not direct statements from a county office.
Research Leads
Useful pages or notes that point toward a question but do not yet meet the source standard for a verified conclusion. These remain clearly labeled and should not override official material.
Confidence labels
How To Read A Profile Status
Stronger Reviewed Coverage
Core profile fields and available official county sources have passed the current publication checks. Parcel and current-rule verification still remain necessary.
Useful For Discovery
Public source layers support screening and comparison, but deeper current local-rule evidence is still needed before the profile can be strengthened.
Research Prompt Only
The county remains in the dataset, but important source gaps or unresolved review work prevent a stronger public confidence claim.
Current pipeline: 164 verified, 2,979 sourced-discovery, and 0 draft profiles.
What the label cannot do
Claims We Deliberately Do Not Make
- A county-level source does not prove that every zoning district permits the same use.
- A planning page does not replace a written determination for a specific parcel.
- A listing description is not treated as evidence of legal access, water, septic, utilities, or occupancy rights.
- Limited zoning does not mean there are no building, sanitation, floodplain, road, fire, subdivision, or private restrictions.
- An email or phone conversation can guide research, but the durable public record should be documented whenever possible.
- Verified is a confidence label for the profile, not a warranty, permit, legal opinion, or property endorsement.
Inspect the work
Profiles With Stronger Source Trails
These examples expose citations, snapshot dates, confidence notes, missing-source warnings, and the next parcel questions instead of asking users to trust a score alone.
NM source trail
Taos County, New Mexico
16 county citation links
NM source trailBernalillo County, New Mexico
14 county citation links
NM source trailColfax County, New Mexico
14 county citation links
NM source trailLuna County, New Mexico
14 county citation links
NM source trailMcKinley County, New Mexico
14 county citation links
NM source trailMora County, New Mexico
14 county citation links
Research record
Follow The Evidence Behind The Score
Use the source glossary for individual data layers, methodology for calculations, and research status for the current verification pipeline.