Get The Turnover

Market scorecard

Where public records are best for finding work

Fifty large US metros ranked by how open, complete and usable their permit and license records are, checked against each agency's own portal. This is the order we expand in. It describes the published records only, not the cities.

  1. 1AustinIn our archive

    35 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    5/5
    One portal covers the metro
    3/5
    Permit volume
    5/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    4/5

    Split: City of Austin only; Travis/Williamson county suburbs (Round Rock, Cedar Park, Pflugerville) separate

  2. 2New York CityIn our archive

    35 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    5/5
    One portal covers the metro
    4/5
    Permit volume
    5/5
    Room vs. competitors
    2/5
    Our head start
    4/5

    One city portal covers all 5 boroughs (~8.3M); suburbs (Nassau/Westchester/NJ) not covered

  3. 3Columbus

    34 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    4/5
    One portal covers the metro
    3/5
    Permit volume
    5/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Split: City of Columbus is large share of Franklin County, but suburbs (Dublin, Westerville, Hilliard) separate

  4. 4Miami (Miami-Dade)

    33 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    5/5
    One portal covers the metro
    3/5
    Permit volume
    5/5
    Room vs. competitors
    2/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    County dataset covers unincorporated (~1.2M) only; City of Miami, Hialeah, Miami Beach etc. separate (City of Miami Socrata dataset stale since 2022)

  5. 5NashvilleCheck terms first

    33 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    5/5
    One portal covers the metro
    4/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Good: Metro Nashville-Davidson County is consolidated; Williamson/Rutherford suburbs separate

  6. 6New Orleans

    33 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    5/5
    One portal covers the metro
    3/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    Partial: Orleans Parish = city; Jefferson/St. Tammany parishes separate

  7. 7Buffalo

    32 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    5/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    Split: City only; Erie County towns (Amherst, Cheektowaga) separate

  8. 8ChicagoIn our archive

    32 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    5/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    4/5
    Room vs. competitors
    2/5
    Our head start
    4/5

    City only (~2.7M of ~9.5M metro); Cook County suburbs separate

  9. 9Cincinnati

    32 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    5/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    Split: City only; Hamilton County + N. Kentucky suburbs separate

  10. 10ClevelandCheck terms first

    31 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    5/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Split: City only; Cuyahoga County has 59 municipalities

  11. 11Sacramento

    31 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    4/5
    One portal covers the metro
    3/5
    Permit volume
    4/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Split: City of Sacramento + Sacramento County (unincorporated) cover most; Elk Grove, Roseville (data.roseville.ca.us has permits), Folsom, Citrus Heights separate

  12. 12Denver

    30 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    5/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    City/County of Denver (~715K of ~3M); Aurora, Lakewood, etc. separate

  13. 13Raleigh

    30 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    5/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Split: Raleigh + Wake County unincorporated; Cary, Apex, Wake Forest, Durham separate

  14. 14Los AngelesIn our archive

    29 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    5/5
    Room vs. competitors
    2/5
    Our head start
    4/5

    City of LA only (~3.8M of ~10M county); LA County unincorporated + 87 other cities separate

  15. 15Minneapolis–St. Paul

    29 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    4/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Two core cities separate; Hennepin/Ramsey suburbs separate

  16. 16San Antonio

    29 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    3/5
    Permit volume
    4/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    City (~1.5M of ~2.7M); Bexar County unincorporated separate

  17. 17SeattleIn our archive

    29 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    4/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    4/5

    City only (~750K of ~4M); King County, Bellevue, Everett (Trakit on Socrata) separate

  18. 18Louisville

    28 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    4/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Good: Louisville Metro = Jefferson County consolidated; S. Indiana suburbs separate

  19. 19Orlando

    28 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    5/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    City only (~320K of ~2.8M); Orange County Fast Track (Accela) has no open feed

  20. 20Pittsburgh

    28 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    4/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Split: Allegheny County has ~130 municipalities; city dataset covers only City of Pittsburgh

  21. 21Washington DC

    28 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    3/5
    Permit volume
    4/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    DC itself fully covered; MD/VA suburbs separate (Montgomery Co. MD has strong Socrata data)

  22. 22Honolulu

    27 / 45
    Data access
    3/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    5/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    Excellent: City & County of Honolulu covers all of Oahu = whole metro

  23. 23Philadelphia

    27 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    4/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    City = Philadelphia County (~1.6M of ~6.2M metro); suburbs separate

  24. 24San Diego

    27 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    4/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    City (~1.4M of ~3.3M) + County unincorporated + 17 other cities separate

  25. 25San Francisco Bay AreaLive

    27 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    4/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    2/5
    Our head start
    5/5

    Highly fragmented: SF, Oakland (no current permit dataset found), San Jose (map only), Berkeley, 9 counties

  26. 26Kansas City

    26 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    Split: KCMO only; Johnson County KS, Overland Park, Independence etc. separate (bi-state metro)

  27. 27Boston

    25 / 45
    Data access
    5/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    City only (~650K of ~4.9M metro); Cambridge/Somerville have own Socrata permit data

  28. 28CharlotteCheck terms first

    25 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    4/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    County-wide (Mecklenburg covers Charlotte + 6 towns; most of core)

  29. 29Baltimore

    24 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    City only (~570K of ~2.8M); Baltimore County separate

  30. 30Hartford

    24 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    1/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Split: CT has no county government; ~30 towns in metro each separate

  31. 31Virginia Beach–Norfolk

    24 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    2/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    4/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Split: independent cities (VB, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton, Portsmouth, Suffolk) each separate

  32. 32Dallas–Fort Worth

    23 / 45
    Data access
    3/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    4/5
    Room vs. competitors
    2/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Fragmented: Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Plano, Frisco etc. each separate; Collin CAD file is a useful multi-city aggregator for Collin County

  33. 33Detroit

    23 / 45
    Data access
    4/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    City only (~630K of ~4.3M metro); Oakland/Macomb/Wayne suburbs separate

  34. 34Memphis

    23 / 45
    Data access
    3/5
    Data quality
    2/5
    One portal covers the metro
    3/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Partial: Memphis/Shelby County share a permit office (Develop 901), coverage of the layer unverified; DeSoto MS separate

  35. 35Jacksonville

    22 / 45
    Data access
    2/5
    Data quality
    2/5
    One portal covers the metro
    4/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    Good: consolidated City of Jacksonville = Duval County; St. Johns/Clay suburbs separate

  36. 36Salt Lake City

    21 / 45
    Data access
    3/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Split: SLC city small share; Salt Lake County has 16+ cities

  37. 37Portland OR

    20 / 45
    Data access
    3/5
    Data quality
    2/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    City only (~630K of ~2.5M); Multnomah/Washington/Clackamas + Vancouver WA separate

  38. 38Indianapolis

    19 / 45
    Data access
    1/5
    Data quality
    1/5
    One portal covers the metro
    4/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Consolidated city-county (Marion County) - would be strong if data existed; Hamilton County suburbs separate

  39. 39Milwaukee

    19 / 45
    Data access
    3/5
    Data quality
    1/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    1/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Split: City only; Waukesha County suburbs separate

  40. 40St. Louis

    18 / 45
    Data access
    2/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    City only (~280K of ~2.8M); St. Louis County separate (no open permit data found)

  41. 41Tampa

    18 / 45
    Data access
    2/5
    Data quality
    2/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Fragmented: Tampa, St. Petersburg, Hillsborough/Pinellas/Pasco counties (Hillsborough GeoHub: no permit dataset found)

  42. 42Houston

    17 / 45
    Data access
    1/5
    Data quality
    1/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    5/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    City of Houston only; Harris County unincorporated separate; no open record-level feed

  43. 43Las Vegas (Clark County)

    16 / 45
    Data access
    2/5
    Data quality
    1/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    1/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Split: Clark County (unincorporated Strip/Paradise/Spring Valley) is the largest jurisdiction, but its open data hub returned 401; Henderson, N. Las Vegas separate

  44. 44Oklahoma City

    16 / 45
    Data access
    1/5
    Data quality
    1/5
    One portal covers the metro
    3/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    OKC city is large (620 sq mi) but no data

  45. 45Riverside–San Bernardino

    16 / 45
    Data access
    1/5
    Data quality
    1/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Fragmented across 2 counties + ~50 cities

  46. 46Richmond

    15 / 45
    Data access
    1/5
    Data quality
    1/5
    One portal covers the metro
    2/5
    Permit volume
    2/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    Split: City + Henrico + Chesterfield counties separate

  47. 47Atlanta

    14 / 45
    Data access
    1/5
    Data quality
    1/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    3/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Very fragmented: City of Atlanta + Fulton/DeKalb/Cobb/Gwinnett each separate

  48. 48Birmingham

    13 / 45
    Data access
    1/5
    Data quality
    1/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    1/5
    Room vs. competitors
    5/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    Split: Jefferson County has 30+ municipalities

  49. 49Providence

    11 / 45
    Data access
    1/5
    Data quality
    1/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    1/5
    Room vs. competitors
    3/5
    Our head start
    2/5

    Split: 39 RI municipalities; Providence city small share

  50. 50Phoenix (Maricopa County)Terms need permission

    20 / 45
    Data access
    2/5
    Data quality
    3/5
    One portal covers the metro
    1/5
    Permit volume
    4/5
    Room vs. competitors
    2/5
    Our head start
    3/5

    Fragmented: Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale, Chandler, Tempe, Gilbert each separate; county covers unincorporated only

How we score

Each metro gets 1 to 5 points on six measures, out of 45: data access (counted twice: is there an open, machine-readable dataset we're allowed to use), data quality (counted twice: fresh, with job value, contractor and parcel number), whether one county portal covers most of the metro, permit volume, room versus existing lead services, and our own head start there.

Checked October 17, 2026 against the agencies' portals. Where a portal couldn't be reached we say so in the market's note; a few permit-volume scores (Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Oklahoma City, Richmond) are estimates from metro size because no count could be confirmed. A metro whose portal terms don't allow automated use or commercial reuse stays at the bottom until the agency gives permission. Want your area moved up? Request it, and see the data report card for the sources we already collect.