About the data

Census estimates

People and income come from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which averages five years of survey answers.

It is the most detailed public source for small neighborhoods, but it comes from a sample of homes, not everyone, so every figure has a margin of error.

What it can’t tell you: Small neighborhoods can be off by quite a bit, and new housing built in the last few years may be missing. Treat small differences between sites as a tie.

Population

Everyone who lives inside the drive-time area.

Counted from Census block groups, the smallest neighborhoods the Census reports income for (usually 600 to 3,000 people). A neighborhood that is only partly inside the area counts in proportion to how much of its land is inside.

What it can’t tell you: Census figures are estimates from a survey, not a full count, and are a few years old. Shoppers who work nearby but live elsewhere aren’t included.

Neighborhoods partly inside

A Census neighborhood that is only partly inside the drive-time area counts in proportion to how much of its land is inside.

What it can’t tell you: This assumes people are spread evenly across each neighborhood. If they live mostly on the side outside the area (or inside it), the totals are off.

Drive time

How far customers will drive to reach you. The shaded area is everywhere within that drive.

What it can’t tell you: Drive times assume typical traffic, not rush hour. Every site is compared at the same drive time, the one in the view on screen.

How drive times work

The drive-time area comes from a routing service using road networks and typical speeds.

What it can’t tell you: It doesn’t include rush-hour traffic, parking or how easy the site is to see from the road.

Target customers

How many residents fit your customer profile: the ages and household incomes you said you serve.

For each neighborhood, residents in each age group are multiplied by the share you set for that age, then by the share of its households in your income range. The results are added up across the drive-time area.

What it can’t tell you: It counts people who match your profile, not people who will actually buy. Use it to compare sites, not to forecast sales.

Income of target customers

The Census doesn’t report income by age, so target customers’ income uses each neighborhood’s average income per person.

What it can’t tell you: It comes out low when you leave out low incomes. It is still fair for comparing sites with the same settings.

Distance to competitors

Drive times to competitors are estimated from the straight-line distance, times 1.3 for winding roads, at 30 miles per hour.

Distances are measured from a point inside each neighborhood. Real drive times to every competitor would cost a paid lookup for each one and rarely change which site wins.

What it can’t tell you: Rivers, highways and one-way streets can make a real drive much longer or shorter than the estimate.

Too close to call

When the best sites are within 12% of each other, the numbers can’t pick a winner, so treat them as a tie.

Census figures are survey estimates, people are assumed to be spread evenly across each neighborhood, and your view’s customer ages and incomes are a best guess. Together these can easily move a total by 10% or more.

What it can’t tell you: Decide a tie on things the numbers don’t cover: rent, parking, how visible the site is, and what nearby businesses bring in.