HOW THIS WORKS

Methodology & honesty

A city-matcher is only as trustworthy as its numbers. Here's where they'll come from — and what you're looking at today.

The sources (real, 2026-07-06)

• Cost to buy / rent — Zillow Research public CSVs: ZHVI (typical home value) and ZORI (typical rent), keyless. Each metro shows its exact month.
• Climate comfort — NASA POWER (MERRA-2) long-term temperature & precipitation normals for each metro's primary city.
• City size — Zillow SizeRank (metro population rank).

Each factor is normalised 0–100 across the 45 metros we cover (higher = better on that factor), and no number is invented to fill a gap (rule 12).

Honest gaps

Three factors from the full vision — job market (BLS), safety (FBI Crime Data Explorer), and healthcare access (Census ACS) — need API keys that aren't provisioned in this build, so they are not shown rather than guessed. They'll switch on when the keys are added. Coverage is the largest 45 metros, not every city.

Clear-eyed, not boosterish

WhichCityFits is a research aid, not a real-estate pitch. A high score reflects your stated priorities against the data — not a recommendation to move. Big decisions deserve your own visit and judgement.