Platform · Glossary
Location score.
A 0–100 score for the census tract a property sits in, reflecting demographic, economic, and risk signals. The in-product tooltip describes it as "A risk-adjusted view of location stability compared with other markets. Higher scores suggest stronger market support and lower location risk."
The location score is independent of the property itself — same property, different tract would produce a different location score.
The six factors that drive it
Open the What's driving the location score? panel on a 3Y report and you'll see six factor cards, each with its own score and impact weight. These are the actual categories 3Y uses internally (from build_location_score_factors):
- Housing market — Combines home price growth with market hotness, supply constraints, demand pressure, and occupancy rates.
- Rental market — Tracks rent growth, renter demographics, and rental demand.
- Economic strength — Combines labor and prosperity — income growth, job stability, and financial health.
- Urbanization — Population growth and urban development signals expanding market potential.
- Climate resilience — Resilience to environmental and climate-related risks.
- Safety — Personal and property safety affecting livability and investment desirability.
Each factor has a fixed impact weight (so users can see which category is shaping the overall score most) and a 0–100 sub-score derived from tract-level data. A property in a tract with a strong rental market but weak climate resilience reads very differently from a tract with the opposite shape, even if the headline location scores are similar.
Why it's separate from the cashflow score
A great property in a weak tract and a weak property in a strong tract are different problems. Mixing them into one number too early loses signal. The 3Y Score combines location and cashflow later, with weights that reflect strategy. At the input stage, the two scores are computed independently so each can be examined on its own merits.