Methodology

How we report a city.

Public records, real residents, named voices, and a refusal to publish a number we cannot source.

4
Residents interviewed
Real, named, on the record
18+
Primary sources
Linked, cited, dated
Apr 26, 2026
Last reviewed
By Nathaniel Peters
None active
Corrections
Public log
Written and reviewed by
Nathaniel Peters · Founder & Editor

Five years writing on housing markets and migration patterns.

Updated Apr 26, 2026 Reviewed

Every page on Landed is built from three layers of research: structured public data (prices, tax rates, crime, schools, commute times), semi-structured resident testimony (forums, neighborhood associations, published interviews), and a final voice layer that turns patterns into specific prose. This page documents how each layer works and how we decide what makes it onto the page.

Structured public data

If a number appears on a Landed page, it comes from one of these sources:

  • Home prices. Zillow Home Value Index and HAR (Houston Association of Realtors) closed-sale medians, filtered to specific ZIP codes and housing types, from the most recent available month.
  • Rents. Zumper January 2026 metro median, cross-checked against Zillow ZORI 3-month trailing.
  • Property tax rates. Travis County Appraisal District, Williamson County Appraisal District, and Hays County Appraisal District 2024 certified rolls. Effective rates account for the 10% homestead cap.
  • Crime rates. Austin Police Department incident reports from the City of Austin Open Data Portal, typically pulled for a rolling twelve-month window. Cross-referenced with FBI UCR 2023 and APD quarterly sector summaries.
  • School ratings. Texas Education Agency 2024 accountability ratings and GreatSchools current data. We report both where they diverge.
  • Commute times. Google Distance Matrix API, sampled at peak (Tuesday 8 a.m.) and off-peak (Tuesday 2 p.m.).
  • Walk / Transit / Bike scores. Walk Score LLC public API at the address level.
  • Insurance. NAIC 2023 annual homeowners insurance report. Austin distributions from Texas Department of Insurance rate filings.
  • Groceries. BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2023 Southwest regional, adjusted for BEA Regional Price Parity.
  • Utilities. EIA 2024 state-average residential electric and gas. Austin-specific peak-summer estimates from Austin Energy residential tariff modeled for 2,000 sq ft single-family.
  • Childcare. Texas Workforce Commission 2024 Central Texas market-rate survey.
  • Auto insurance. Insurance Information Institute 2024 state averages.
  • Migration. IRS Statistics of Income 2022-2023 interstate migration file, the most recent released year.
  • Climate. NOAA 1991-2020 climate normals.
  • Tax codes. 2025 IRS brackets, FICA rates, and each state's 2025 income tax code.

Semi-structured resident testimony

Structured data tells you the rate of vehicle break-ins in a ZIP code. It does not tell you the blocks where the pattern lives, the specific night of the week, or how residents have adapted. That comes from residents.

  • Reddit (r/Austin, r/texas). Public threads, searched by keyword and user-flair neighborhood identifiers.
  • Neighborhood association forums. Hyde Park Neighborhood Association, Mueller Neighborhood Association, East Austin Coalition, Teravista Facebook group.
  • Published interviews. Austin Chronicle, Texas Monthly, Austin American-Statesman, Austonia, Austin Business Journal, Community Impact, Westlake Picayune, Pflugerville Pflag.
  • Public meeting transcripts. Austin City Council, AISD school board, Travis County Commissioners Court.

We aggregate until a pattern is clear. If three unrelated residents from three different sources name the same specific problem, the pattern is reportable. Single-source claims are not reported.

Named voices

The residents we quote on Landed are real people whom we interviewed under explicit conditions. Each voice is connected to a real person we spoke with. Names and some identifying details have been adjusted in some cases at the resident's request, in the same convention used by editorial publications when sources go on background. The numbers, the addresses (where used), the patterns, and the quoted experiences are real and verified.

Where a voice is composite (assembled from multiple residents because no single one spoke to the entire pattern), we tag it explicitly as composite in the methodology block on the page.

What we do not do

  • We do not invent statistics. If a number cannot be traced to a public source, it does not belong on the page.
  • We do not fabricate residents or assign specific statements to specific real people without their consent.
  • We do not write "most Austin residents" or "experts agree" where we mean "we think this is true."
  • We do not use LLMs to generate data. They are used for research synthesis and drafting; the underlying facts come from sources we cite.
  • We do not take payment to elevate a neighborhood, realtor, brokerage, or developer. Affiliate links are disclosed where they appear.

Corrections

Corrections are logged on a public corrections page, dated, and visible on the originating article. The last-updated date at the top of each page reflects the most recent material change, not cosmetic edits. If you believe a page has an error, email [email protected] with the specific claim and the source we should be looking at.