Methods and boundaries

What this edition measures.

Our starting point is a transparent planning process. We do not claim to have measured a local market before collecting and reviewing evidence.

Geographic coverage

This edition covers the city of Philadelphia. Philadelphia protections are not a substitute for checking the rules for a suburban address. Keep the property location, rental documentation and travel plan together.

Tools

All calculator results use values entered by the reader. They are arithmetic scenarios, not current prices, investment recommendations or legal determinations. No inputs are sent to Homzora by the calculators.

Reference downloads

The area directory is a selective starting list, not an exhaustive set of official boundaries or a ranking. The resource directory points to external authorities. Tool definitions describe the arithmetic used here. These compilations were prepared by Homzora Team on September 22, 2026. Source terms continue to apply.

Renter research

Participation is voluntary and limited to adults currently renting in the listed coverage areas. Responses are not a probability sample. Administrator test responses are excluded from research exports. We collect broad area information rather than a street address. Survey answers and email signups are stored separately.

Publication

No survey findings or index scores are published at launch. Before any release, Homzora will review duplicates, eligibility, missing values, geographic coverage and disclosure risk, and publish the applicable methods and limitations. Counts alone will not establish representativeness. No release date is promised.

Your information

Research answers are retained privately for review. Email notices require confirmation and can be cancelled with the link in the confirmation email or a later notice. Contact Homzora about access or deletion requests. See the site privacy policy before submitting.

Corrections and updates

Reference files are versioned snapshots and require editorial review to update. No automatic market refresh is claimed. Report a broken source link or factual correction through Contact Homzora.

Census housing and commuting data

Eight table extracts use the U.S. Census Bureau 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey five year Detailed Tables. The observation period is January 2020 through December 2024. This is a period estimate, not a 2024 only survey or a current market snapshot. The original six tables were prepared on September 22, 2026. Vacancy status and year structure built were added on September 23, 2026.

Selection and validation

Homzora selected whole published geographic records from the official table based Summary File, matched each GEO_ID to the official geography file and checked table labels and universes against Census table shells. We retain every line of each selected table and its published estimate and 90 percent margin of error. We do not combine places, infer neighborhood values or calculate new percentages. Source file fingerprints and the selection record are included in the provenance download.

Read the geography first

The coverage list on the data page is authoritative for these extracts. City, county and Census designated place boundaries are distinct. The City of Philadelphia and Philadelphia County share one boundary; suburbs in Montgomery, Delaware and Bucks counties are outside it. Neighborhood names on the hub are planning areas and are not the statistical areas measured here. No metropolitan total is calculated.

Uncertainty and interpretation

A margin of error describes sampling uncertainty at the 90 percent confidence level. It does not cover every source of error. Do not add margins of error, sum totals with their components or claim that differences are statistically significant without an appropriate test. Larger margins relative to estimates warrant greater caution. Commuting tables cover workers, not just renters, and the travel time table excludes people who worked from home. Housing type counts include vacant units. Rent dollar estimates use 2024 inflation adjusted dollars.

Files and reuse

The CSV and JSON versions contain the same observations. An observation is one table line for one geography; totals and nested categories are not independent records. Each row includes its source table, line, universe, unit, period, estimate and margin of error. Special source values, if present in a future release, must remain flagged rather than becoming zero. All numeric values in this release are nonnegative published values. The files are freely accessible Census extracts, attributed to the U.S. Census Bureau. Homzora does not claim ownership of Census statistics or change third party terms.

Updates and corrections

This is a reviewed snapshot. No automatic refresh is installed. Later Census vintages may revise boundaries, definitions or estimates. Compare like geography, universe and period, and review Census comparison guidance before making change claims. Homzora survey results remain separate and are not included in these Census files.

Vacancy status: B25004

We retain all eight published lines: total vacant homes and the seven reasons for vacancy. The universe is vacant housing units, not all homes and not only rental housing. Each CSV row gives the geography, GEO_ID, geography type, table, line, category, estimate, 90 percent margin of error, original field names, unit, universe, period and source URL.

The JSON download includes the same records, exact selected source rows and the SHA256 fingerprint of the official source file. Select the listed GEO_ID values from that file and read B25004_E001 through B25004_E008 with their corresponding M fields to reproduce this extract. No rates, regional totals, rankings or modeled values are calculated.

Small category counts may have large margins of error. A zero estimate is not evidence that no such homes exist. The other vacant category does not establish abandonment, habitability or availability. Do not interpret all vacant homes as homes offered for rent. These are 2020 to 2024 period estimates, not a current market snapshot.

View vacancy tables · Download records and provenance · Census table definition

Suggested attribution: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey five year Detailed Tables, B25004, selected geographies; extracted by Homzora on September 23, 2026. The figures are Census estimates, not Homzora survey findings.

Year structure built: B25034

The universe is housing units, including occupied and vacant homes. The eleven source lines contain the total and ten construction periods. These are counts of housing units grouped by when their structures were built, not counts of buildings. Construction period does not establish renovation history, present condition, safety or energy use.

The CSV retains exact GEO_ID, geography name and type, source table and line, category, estimate, 90 percent margin of error, original field names, unit, universe, period and source URL. The JSON also contains the selected raw source rows and SHA256 fingerprint of the downloaded official source file.

To reproduce the extract, select the listed GEO_ID values and retain B25034_E001 through B25034_E011 with corresponding M fields. Components are checked against the source total. No percentages, combined regional estimates or modeled ages are calculated. Do not add margins of error. Small estimates may have substantial relative uncertainty.

The 2020 or later category belongs to this 2020 to 2024 release; it is not a count of homes built through 2026. These are historical period estimates, not a current construction pipeline or a list of available rentals.

View the tables · Download records and provenance · Census table definition

Suggested attribution: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey five year Detailed Tables, B25034, selected geographies; extracted by Homzora on September 23, 2026.