{"site":"AffordMap","url":"https://affordmap.com","version":"1.0","lastUpdated":"2026-05-11","dataSources":[{"name":"Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)","agency":"U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics","url":"https://www.bls.gov/oes/","referencePeriod":"May 2024","license":"Public domain (17 U.S.C. § 105)","coverage":"Employment levels, median + percentile wages (10/25/50/75/90), and hourly rates for ~830 detailed SOC occupations across national, state, and ~400 metropolitan areas","limitations":"12-18 month publication lag. Wage-and-salary workers only (excludes self-employed). Excludes overtime, bonuses, stock comp, and benefits."},{"name":"Regional Price Parities (RPP)","agency":"U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis","url":"https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area","referencePeriod":"2023 (most recent available)","license":"Public domain (17 U.S.C. § 105)","coverage":"Overall price level index for all 50 states + DC and ~380 metropolitan statistical areas, plus sub-indices for goods, services, and rents","interpretation":"100 = national average. 115 means prices are 15% above the national average."},{"name":"Fair Market Rents (FMR)","agency":"U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development","url":"https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html","referencePeriod":"FY2025","license":"Public domain (17 U.S.C. § 105)","coverage":"Estimated rent at the 40th percentile of standard-quality rental units, by bedroom count, for 2,500+ areas","limitations":"Represents the 40th percentile, not the median. Actual asking rents in hot markets often run 10-20% higher."}],"calculations":{"takeHomePay":{"description":"Federal income tax + state income tax + FICA, subtracted from gross","formula":"grossSalary - federalTax(brackets) - stateTax(stateRate) - 0.062*min(grossSalary, ssWageBase) - 0.0145*grossSalary","federalBrackets":"2025 IRS Rev. Proc. 2024-40","ssWageBase":176100,"ssWageBaseYear":2025,"ssRate":0.062,"medicareRate":0.0145,"additionalMedicareRate":0.009,"additionalMedicareThreshold":200000,"standardDeduction":{"single":15000,"married":30000,"headOfHousehold":22500},"notes":"Filing status defaults to single. State-by-state tax rates use published 2025 state tax schedules. Local income taxes, retirement contributions, and itemized deductions are not modeled."},"colAdjustment":{"description":"Salary divided by Regional Price Parity, giving 'national purchasing-power equivalent'","formula":"colAdjustedSalary = nominalSalary / (rpp / 100)","source":"BEA RPP","notes":"Treats $X in a city with RPP 120 as equivalent to $X/1.2 at national-average prices."},"rentBurden":{"description":"Percentage of monthly take-home pay consumed by HUD Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom unit","formula":"(fmr_2br / monthlyTakeHome) * 100","guidelines":{"comfortable":"<30% of take-home","burdened":">=30% of take-home (HUD standard)","severelyBurdened":">=50% of take-home (HUD)"},"notes":"AffordMap uses take-home pay rather than gross income because take-home is what actually hits the bank account. Translates roughly to 22-25% of gross for typical filers."},"monthlyBudget":{"description":"Estimated discretionary income after rent, groceries, utilities, transportation, and healthcare","formula":"monthlyTakeHome - rent - (NATIONAL_AVG_MONTHLY[*] * rpp/100) for groceries/utilities/transport/healthcare","sourcesForBaselines":"BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2023 means","notes":"Baseline category averages are scaled by local RPP. Only meaningful at the metro level where RPP is metro-specific. Not personalized."}},"limitations":["Tax calculations are estimates, not professional tax advice.","BLS data is reported with a 12-18 month lag; numbers reflect the most recent published vintage, not real-time wages.","Affordability metrics use HUD median rent and BLS-derived expense averages; individual costs vary materially with lifestyle, household size, and exact location within a metro.","No data for self-employed workers, tips-heavy occupations, or commission-based roles below their reported wage components."],"updateCadence":{"blsOEWS":"Annually, May reference period, published spring of following year","beaRPP":"Annually, typically published with a 1-2 year lag","hudFMR":"Annually, fiscal year (Oct-Sep), published 3-6 months before FY start","irsTaxBrackets":"Annually, late autumn for following tax year","siteRefresh":"Materialized views refreshed when source datasets are republished; cache TTL on dynamic pages is 1 hour"},"attribution":"AffordMap (affordmap.com)","license":"Source data is public domain. AffordMap's analytical layer (composed prose, calculation outputs) is provided free; attribution requested."}