1001 counties · 22 indicators · 8 government data sources

The Boom Town Index

1001 U.S. counties ranked by long-term economic strength vs. housing cost. Counties where quality of life, job growth, and affordability outpace home prices score highest. Government data, no opinions.

What Scores High
Counties where what you get outpaces what you pay. Quality of life, job growth, affordability, and current price trends all feed the score — but the core signal is the gap between local economic strength and housing cost.
The Score
0–100 composite from 22 indicators across 8 federal datasets. Measures long-term structural value, not short-term momentum. Think of it as a P/E ratio for housing.
How to Use
Sort, filter by population or climate, then click any county for the full breakdown: forecasts, employer data, comparable counties, and neighborhood-level detail.
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Population
Climate & Terrain
Safety

Top Counties

Percentile: Low
High
Rank County BTI Score Signals Safety 1yr Forecast 5yr Outlook GDP Pop Growth Income Ratio Home Price Climate P/R

Popular rankings: safest large counties in America · fastest-growing counties · most affordable counties · full county rankings

[ED] Latest Analysis

Editorial takes on the data — what the rankings can't say in headline form.

What Happens to a Boom Town When the Boom Ends?
Editorial

What Happens to a Boom Town When the Boom Ends?

Bodie vanished, Houston reinvented itself, Williston kept its people. What decided each ending, and three questions to ask before buying in a hot county.
What to Look For When Moving to a New City: 5 Predictive Signals
Editorial

What to Look For When Moving to a New City: 5 Predictive Signals

The signals most relocation lists check measure where a place is today. These 5 tell you where it's going — and they're each checkable for any county.
Affordable Places to Live With Good Air Quality (2026)
Editorial

Affordable Places to Live With Good Air Quality (2026)

Americans are leaving bad-air counties to cut costs, not chase clean skies. Here are the U.S. counties where good air and affordable homes actually overlap.
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U.S. county economic strength by state Browse by State

Explore all 51 states ranked by average BTI score. See which states offer the strongest long-term value.

View all states →
Fundamentals vs. Momentum
Specs

Counties in Decline

Rank County BTI Score Signals Safety 1yr Forecast 5yr Outlook GDP Pop Growth Income Ratio Home Price Climate P/R

[SYS] How We Score

The BTI Score identifies counties where what you get outpaces what you pay. An ML model trained on 20 years of data learns which factors predict long-term county outperformance. Here's what it found:

Quality of Life39%
Price Momentum25%
Jobs & Wages13%
Housing Valuation10%
GDP Growth8%

Weights are learned from data, not manually assigned. Excludes national macro conditions (~19%) which affect all counties equally.

Read the full methodology →