It's the one that fits your life. Austin’s Almanac scores everywhere against what you actually care about — money, family, laws, schools, the commute, the water you want to be near — then lets you zoom from metro to town to your future block.
"Chicago" spans a $780 studio and a $3,300 lakefront rental, a progressive precinct and a conservative one, a top-decile school and a struggling one. A single score can't hold that. Austin’s Almanac keeps every layer intact — so you compare real places, not blurred medians.
Three drill-downs, each inheriting the context of the one above it.
Tell us who's moving, your money, what you value, and where you want to be near. Every U.S. metro re-ranks live against your answers.
Pick a metro and drill into its towns — each scored on rent, schools, safety, politics, diversity and commute, inheriting its state's laws.
Go one level deeper into census tracts — the ~4,000-person neighborhoods where rent, schools and who lives here shift street to street.
Save a shortlist and compare towns side by side — rent, schools, commute, politics, and every must-have — with the winner in each row highlighted.
Score for both of you at once. Austin’s Almanac surfaces exactly where your priorities pull apart — different politics, faiths, or workplaces on opposite sides of the metro — and finds the fairest middle.
Start with the free explorer — no account, no card. Save your shortlist when you're ready.