***This article was originally written in 2018, but has been updated for 2023 to reflect new solution providers***
Neighborhood data has long been available in database spreadsheet format — often called flat files — through public sources such as the U.S. Census-run American Community Survey. Only in recent years has this crucial data become available through APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), which allow for more real-time and flexible delivery of the neighborhood data.
Here’s our list of the five best neighborhood data APIs available in the real estate data marketplace:
ATTOM Community API
Yes, this is our own API, but it absolutely deserves mention here for a few reasons. First, ATTOM’s acquisition of leading neighborhood provider Onboard Informatics in early 2018 ensures that the school, crime, demographic and other community data delivered in this API is best-in-class. Second, the ATTOM Community API is part of a one-stop-shop that also includes a points-of-interest API, area (boundaries) API and a property API, the latter of which provides access to detailed public record information for more than 155 million U.S. properties.
Last but not least, the ATTOM API is instantly accessible through a self-service developer platform that comes with free 30-day trial. Users can test the API with up to 500 calls a day against ATTOM’s production data during the trial period.
- API Portal: https://www.attomdata.com/solutions/api/
- More than 380 community data elements available for 166,0000 U.S. neighborhoods
- Search by state, metro, county, zip and neighborhood
- Combine with other ATTOM real estate APIs: schools, points-of-interest, property
- 30-day free trial of up to 500 calls per day
Neighborhood Scout API
Neighborhood Scout’s parent company, Location Inc., has long been a provider of neighborhood demographics data, along with schools, crime, weather data and more. Previously that data was available through subscription-based reports that primarily served individual real estate agents, brokers, investors and other real estate professionals. But in early 2018 the company launched an API that made its nationwide community data available in a developer-friendly format, allowing real estate portals and others to customize the data for their platforms.
Neighborhood Scout specializes in creating derivative indices off the original demographic data, providing its customers with proprietary insights on individual neighborhoods. Neighborhood Scout also provides neighborhood-level real estate trend data such as median home values and average market rents via API, along with 3-year and 5-year property appreciation forecasts.
- API Info: https://locationinc.com/license-neighborhoodscout-data/
- Nationwide demographic, crime and school data
- Proprietary indices such as neighborhood lifestyle, special character and diversity
- Offers real estate trend data and 3-year and 5-year appreciation forecasts via API
- API plans start at a minimum of $6,000 a year
American Community Survey API
The U.S. Census Bureau oversees the annual American Community Survey that collects a wide range of community data each year. The data collected includes myriad topics around social, demographic and housing characteristics for congressional districts, metropolitan areas, counties and any place with a population of 65,000 or more. The Census has begun providing the ACS data via API to make this community data collected by the government more transparent. See the newest ACS datasets as they are rolled out via API here.
The Detail Tables for the ACS 1-year data available via API include population counts for more than 31,000 variables including sex, age, race, income and much more.
- API Portal: https://www.census.gov/data/developers/data-sets.html
- Community data nationwide collected by U.S. Census
- Available for all 50 states, D.C., congressional district metro areas and counties
- Also available for all places with a population of 65,000 or more
- Detail Tables contain population counts for more than 31,000 variables such as sex, age, race and income
HomeJunction Slipstream API
The HomeJunction Slipstream API product provides a broad set of real estate data via API, including neighborhood demographic data and schools data. Its school data features student/teacher ratios, school rankings, demographics, principals’ names and more. Its demographics data includes the standard Census demographic layers along with more granular breakdowns using proprietary algorithms.
HomeJunction’s products, including its data API, are designed primarily for real estate websites operated by real estate agents, brokers and other real estate professionals. HomeJunction also provides SEO services along with website and content creation services, making it a good fit for those without an established web presence.
- API Portal: https://www.homejunction.com/real-estate-data-api/
- Demographic and schools data available via API
- Complementary real estate APIs such as AVMs, sold homes and sales trends also available
- Tailored for individual real estate agent and broker websites
- Can be paired with SEO and website and content creation services
CDYNE Demographics API
Unlike the other private neighborhood data API sources on this list, CDYNE is a business built around APIs as opposed to around real estate data collection. Its flagship API products are Communication APIs — SMS and phone communication — and Data Quality APIs — verifying phone numbers and addresses. Nevertheless, CDYNE’s deeper history with the world of APIs makes its Demographics API one of the top APIs for community data.
The CDYNE Demographics API returns both demographic — sex, income, ethnicity etc. — and housing characteristic data — property type, average residence value — available from the Census at the neighborhood level. The housing characteristic data from the CDYNE Demographics API is not at the property level as it would be from a source such as ATTOM.
- API Specs: https://www.cdyne.com/downloads/SPECS_Demographics.pdf
- Nationwide neighborhood-level data directly from the Census
- Includes demographics such as sex, age, ethnicity
- Includes aggregate property characteristics data available from the Census
- Long history of providing APIs for various industries
