Data-driven analysis of U.S. counties by economic momentum and housing value.
BoomTownIndex ranks 996 U.S. counties on a 0–100 composite score that identifies where economic strength outpaces housing cost. The goal is practical: help people thinking about where to move, invest, or build a career see which counties are genuinely on the rise versus which ones are being priced out of their own growth.
Every ranked county gets a dedicated page with its score, percentile rank against peer counties, growth scenarios (accelerating / base / cooling), and the underlying data points that drive the score — median income, job growth, population change, housing appreciation, affordability, and migration inflows.
BoomTownIndex is an independent data project. We have no affiliation with any real estate company, relocation service, mortgage lender, or economic development agency. We don't sell leads, we don't place affiliate links, and we don't accept sponsored content. The site exists because the publicly available data is good but scattered — bringing it into one place with consistent scoring is useful.
The site is built and maintained by one person with a data background, using machine learning to identify which historical factors actually predict county-level outperformance rather than relying on arbitrary weighted-average scoring.
All county-level metrics come from federal sources: the U.S. Census Bureau (American Community Survey 5-year estimates), Bureau of Labor Statistics (QCEW county employment data), Bureau of Economic Analysis (Regional GDP and personal income), Federal Housing Finance Agency (House Price Index), Department of Housing and Urban Development (fair market rents), IRS (county-to-county migration flows), and USDA Economic Research Service (rural-urban continuum codes).
The composite scoring methodology, weighting logic, and model version history are documented on the methodology page.
If you spot a data error — a number that doesn't match its federal source, a county that should be ranked but isn't, a scoring result that looks inconsistent — please reach out. We treat the data as a living document and process corrections within a week.