Data
Data That Shows Up Ready to Work
Focal is built on the public record — six federal sources across eight domains, refreshed on their reporting cycles, and connected to the plans, budgets, surveys, and dashboards your administration runs every week.
The sources
Where every number comes from.
U.S. Census Bureau (ACS)
Demographics, housing, income, and more — the backbone of small-area statistics.
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Employment and labor-market conditions.
FBI Crime Data Explorer
Reported crime, as reported.
CDC PLACES
Modeled community health estimates — always labeled as modeled.
EPA EJScreen
Environmental indicators and exposure.
FEMA
Natural-hazard risk.
Federal survey and program data, refreshed on each source’s own reporting cycle — not “real-time,” and we won’t pretend otherwise.
How we handle it
Every figure earns its place.
Sourced on the surface
Source, vintage, and geography appear with the number — on the same screen, not in an endnote.
Uncertainty is visible
Survey estimates carry error. Where a figure is imprecise, you can see that it is — a difference is only called a change when it clears the noise.
Modeled means labeled
Some federal figures are model estimates, not measurements. They're marked as such, every time.
Description, not verdicts
No scores, no grades, no rankings. Focal shows what’s true about your community and leaves the judgment where it belongs — with you.
The domains
Eight domains, one picture of your community.
Housing
Values, rents, cost burden, tenure, vacancy, permits.
Economy
Income, poverty, labor force, jobs, industry mix.
Education
Attainment and enrollment.
Health
Coverage and community health indicators.
Infrastructure
Broadband, commuting, housing stock age.
Demographics
Population, households, age, migration.
Public Safety
Reported crime and hazard risk.
Environment
Air, land, and exposure.
Where the data works
One data layer, working everywhere.
The same sourced figures power the reports you read, the analytics you explore, the catalog you export from — and they flow into the rest of the work: survey questions grounded in real conditions, goals with honest baselines, performance targets measured against the record.
Alderford in its peer range
The range is the context these nine communities share, not a target.
Median gross rent
Renters paying 30%+ of income
ACS 5-year 2023 · Alderford city and 9 peers — like size, growth, and metro position
How would you rate the condition of streets in your neighborhood?
- Good18%
- Fair34%
- Poor31%
- Very poor12%
- No opinion5%
412 responses · fielded May 2026 · Alderford city
Boundaries
Your community’s information stays yours.
What you create in Focal belongs to your community — your plans, your survey responses, your budgets, your drafts. We never sell your work, your usage, or anything about how your community works with us. The public record is public; your relationship with us is not.
Export everything, any time — CSV and JSON, no meeting required.
See your community in Focal today.
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