City Open Data Tools
Free public data — most people don't know.
Free public records
- Property records — county assessor website. Type address, see owner, value, tax, square footage.
- Building permits — town/city. See what work neighbors are doing.
- Court records — county clerk. Civil + criminal cases public (PACER for federal, $0.10/page).
- Sex offender registry — state-by-state. NSOPW.gov national.
- Crime maps — most cities have public crime map (CrimeMapping.com aggregates).
- Inspection records — restaurant health inspections, daycare, nursing homes.
Government data sites
- Data.gov — federal data portal. Census, weather, health.
- Census.gov — neighborhood demographics, income, education.
- Medicare.gov Care Compare — hospital, nursing home, hospice ratings.
- Nursing Home Compare — Medicare star ratings of nursing homes.
- HospitalCompare — patient experience, readmission rates.
- USA Spending — federal contractor data.
Real-life uses
- Buying a home — check property taxes, building permits, neighborhood crime, school ratings (GreatSchools.org).
- Researching a contractor — court records for past lawsuits.
- Choosing a nursing home — Medicare Care Compare star ratings.
- Picking a neighborhood — Census + crime maps + walkscore.com.
- Looking up a person — court records, sex offender registry.
Beware paid sites
- Sites like BeenVerified, Spokeo, TruthFinder charge $30+/mo for data that's mostly FREE on government sites.
- They aggregate public records + sell.
- One thing they do better — find old addresses + relatives — but rarely worth the price.
- If you must use them — cancel the auto-renewal IMMEDIATELY after one search.
Public participation
Town council meetings, school board meetings — all public. Most stream live now via Zoom or YouTube. You can watch from your couch. If something matters to you (rezoning, budget cuts, school changes), 5 minutes of public comment is more powerful than yelling on Facebook.