Transparency
Data Sources
Every data point in LocalLedger comes from an official public source. No fabricated values. No AI-generated data. No unsourced or model-imputed numbers.
Data integrity snapshotOfficial sources
Source
FRED
Live series
Labor and GDP
Source
Census
ACS data
Income and housing
Source
BEA
Regional data
State accounts
Source
USAspending
FY awards
Federal flows
Validation statusMetadata verified
Source URLsDataset namesFetch timestampsNull handlingStatic exportIntegrity checks
| Check | Status | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Source URLs | Pass | Every metric links to its public source. |
| Dataset names | Pass | Displayed metrics include dataset labels. |
| Fetch timestamps | Pass | Pipeline timestamps are included. |
| Null handling | Pass | Unavailable values are explicit. |
| Static export | Pass | Data is bundled at build time. |
| Integrity checks | Pass | Validation runs before build. |
Official Data Sources
Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
Economic time series from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/College Scorecard (U.S. Dept. of Education)
Institutional performance, earnings, debt, graduation.
https://collegescorecard.ed.gov/Dataset Catalog
Static JSON files are published at /data/processed/ and can be accessed directly.
| Dataset | Source | File | Last Fetched |
|---|---|---|---|
| State dashboards | Census, FRED, BEA, USAspending | /data/processed/states.json | June 2026 |
| County data | Census ACS | /data/processed/counties.json | June 2026 |
| Metro preview data | Census ACS | /data/processed/metros.json | June 2026 |
| College ROI | College Scorecard | /data/processed/colleges.json | June 2026 |
| Federal spending | USAspending.gov | /data/processed/federal-spending.json | June 2026 |
Data Integrity Guarantee
- Every displayed metric includes source name, URL, dataset, geography, date, and last fetched timestamp.
- Build process validates all data files - missing citations or invalid values fail the build.
- No fabricated values. No AI-generated data. No unsourced or model-imputed numbers.
- Computed scores (Local Economy Score, Value Score, Slowdown Risk) have transparent formulas in Methodology.
- Unavailable data shows “Data unavailable” - never a fallback value or estimate.
Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) · Economic time series from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) · Labor force statistics, employment, wages.
U.S. Census Bureau · Population estimates, ACS income, housing data.
Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) · GDP, personal income, regional accounts.
College Scorecard (U.S. Dept. of Education) · Institutional performance, earnings, debt, graduation.
USAspending.gov · Federal award spending by geography, agency, recipient.