Methodology & Data Sources

Overview

Every number on PlainVoucher is computed from an official federal data source — we do not hand-enter figures, interpolate missing values, or editorialize underlying data. This page describes every upstream dataset we use, how we harvest and normalize it, how we compute derived metrics (most importantly, the voucher-vs-market-rent gap), what the data does not cover, and how often we refresh.

Editorial Workflow

Content on PlainVoucher is compiled by our editorial team from official source data. Raw data from HUD PIH Open Data, HUDUSER (Fair Market Rent / Payment Standards / Income Limits), HUD ArcGIS HCV tract concentration, and our primary source PlainRent is ingested programmatically by our ETL pipeline; narrative framing, guide text, rankings commentary, and methodology writeups are drafted with AI assistance and then reviewed line-by-line by the PlainVoucher Editorial team at Kiznis Studio before publication. We follow the Google Search Central guidance (Danny Sullivan, February 2023; reaffirmed 2024) that mixed editorial / human-edited workflows are acceptable when disclosed. No page on PlainVoucher is published without human review. We do not accept payment for coverage, placement, or rankings — the gap rankings and PHA directory are computed directly from published HUD data.

Primary Data Sources

1. HUD PIH Open Data — Public Housing Authority Directory

The Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) publishes a consolidated directory of all federally recognized Public Housing Authorities (PHAs). We currently track 3,780 PHAs — their participant codes, legal names, mailing addresses, phone and email contacts, executive director contacts where disclosed, program type (Section 8 / HCV, Public Housing, Combined, Moderate Rehabilitation), authorized Section 8 unit count, total units, and the "PHAS designation" size bracket (SMALL, MEDIUM-LOW, MEDIUM-HIGH, LARGE, etc.).

Source URL: hudgis-hud.opendata.arcgis.com

2. HUDUSER — Payment Standards & Fair Market Rents (FMR)

HUDUSER is HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research data distribution site. Each federal fiscal year HUD publishes the Fair Market Rent (FMR) and Small Area FMR (SAFMR) tables used by PHAs to set their own payment standards — the maximum subsidy amount for a given bedroom count in a given Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA) or ZIP code. We load the full FY25 FMR and SAFMR tables — 4,764 metro-year payment standard rows covering 0- through 4-bedroom unit sizes.

Source URL: huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html

Important distinction: FMR is a ceiling HUD publishes. The actual payment standard a given PHA uses can be 90–110% of the FMR under the basic authority, and higher with exception-payment-standard approval. Our pages cite the HUD FMR as the reference payment standard; users should confirm the actual PS with their PHA.

3. HUDUSER — Income Limits (ELI / VLI / LI)

HUD's Section 8 Income Limits set the three thresholds that determine HCV eligibility. We import Extremely Low (30% AMI), Very Low (50% AMI), and Low (80% AMI) income limits by CBSA / HUD Metro FMR Area, broken out by household size from 1 to 8 persons. Current vintage: Fiscal Year 2025 (effective April 1, 2024).

Source URL: huduser.gov/portal/datasets/il.html

4. HUD ArcGIS FeatureServer — HCV Tract Concentration

HUD publishes per-census-tract HCV participation density through an ArcGIS FeatureServer. We harvest the tract polygons and voucher counts — 85,154 tract rows — to allow neighborhood-level analysis: which tracts concentrate most vouchers, which have low participation relative to eligible population, and so on.

Source URL: hud.gov/program_offices/public_indian_housing/programs/hcv

Census tract definitions and population denominators come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates; we cross-reference 2020-vintage tract codes against the Census FIPS reference tables to keep state and county joins consistent across HUD's nine-digit HMFA + five-digit FIPS naming conventions.

5. PlainRent (cross-DB) — Market Rent Reference

Our sister site, PlainRent, tracks advertised-rent medians across U.S. metros. At build time we attach the PlainRent SQLite database read-only and join on CBSA code to compute the voucher-vs-market gap — the percentage difference between the HUD two-bedroom payment standard and the PlainRent-tracked two-bedroom advertised rent for the same metro. Currently this produces 371 metro gap rows.

Geographic Normalization

HUD datasets identify geographies three different ways: CBSA (five-digit Core Based Statistical Area), HUD Metro FMR Area (HMFA — nine-digit "FIPS + _99999" or four-digit HMFA codes), and raw county FIPS (five-digit, two-digit state + three-digit county). Some Income Limits rows carry only a HMFA code; some Payment Standards rows carry both CBSA and county FIPS. We consolidate these onto a normalized metros table keyed by CBSA, with HMFA → CBSA cross-walks applied where HUD publishes them. Counties and metros are linked via a standard MSA-to-county crosswalk refreshed annually.

Processing Pipeline

  1. Download — raw JSON / CSV files from each HUD endpoint into /storage/plainvoucher/raw/ with a dated filename for auditability.
  2. Parse and validate — coerce numeric columns, trim whitespace, drop rows missing primary keys.
  3. Normalize identifiers — pad FIPS codes to proper width, uppercase state codes, consolidate CBSA / HMFA identifiers.
  4. Slug generation — every PHA, metro, and county gets a URL slug derived from its name and participant code, stored on the row so URLs are stable across rebuilds.
  5. Indexing — indexes on slug, state_code, cbsa_code, county_fips, and participant_code for sub-10ms detail lookups.
  6. Gap computation — ATTACH the PlainRent database and write a voucher_gap materialized table: (HUD 2BR PS − PlainRent 2BR median) / PlainRent 2BR median × 100.
  7. QA and schema metadata — every build writes _stats and _metadata tables with row counts, source URLs, and vintages, so the site can surface "last updated" stamps.

Derived Metrics — What We Compute

Derived metrics are values that PlainVoucher computes from source data; they do not appear in HUD publications directly. Every computed insight on a detail page is marked with data-insight="derived" so crawlers and LLMs can distinguish computed analysis from source-of-truth facts.

  • Voucher-vs-market gap (%) — metro-level comparison of HUD payment standard to PlainRent advertised median.
  • Voucher coverage ratio — payment standard ÷ market rent, grouped into classification buckets: covers-market (gap ≤ 0%), borderline (0–10%), short (10–25%), severely short (>25%).
  • State PHA density — PHAs per million population, for state pages.
  • Nearest-alternative PHAs — for any PHA detail page, up to five nearby PHAs ranked by distance and by Section 8 unit count.

Data Vintage & Refresh Cadence

  • Payment Standards / FMR: HUD Fiscal Year 2025 (effective October 1, 2024). HUD publishes annually, typically August–September.
  • Income Limits: HUD FY25 (effective April 1, 2024). Annual release, typically March–April.
  • PHA Directory: consolidated April 2026, refreshed quarterly.
  • HCV Tract Concentration: HUD ArcGIS, refreshed on HUD's update schedule (irregular, typically 1–2× per year).
  • PlainRent market medians: continuously updated on our primary source; cross-joined at build time.

Every data page displays the vintage it was computed from. When HUD publishes a new annual file, we run our ETL within about two weeks of the release.

What's Not In Our Data

  • Current waitlist open/closed status per PHA. HUD does not publish this centrally. A future release will add a nightly probe of PHA-published waitlist status.
  • Tenant-paid portion. This is a per-household calculation (30% of adjusted income vs. payment standard) and can only be computed at the PHA. We explain the formula and link the HUD source regulations.
  • Real-time rent listings. For advertised rents we cross-reference PlainRent, which uses a rolling median; we do not show specific listings.
  • Project-Based Vouchers (PBV), Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), and Public Housing units. PlainVoucher focuses specifically on tenant-based Housing Choice Vouchers. Other HUD rental-assistance programs are covered at a high level on some pages but are not our core dataset.
  • Eligibility determinations. We publish the federal limits; only your local PHA can determine whether you personally qualify.

Accuracy & Corrections

No data is fabricated, interpolated, or editorially modified. When we compute a value (the voucher-vs-market gap, for instance), the exact formula is disclosed on the page that uses it and is tagged data-insight="derived".

If you spot an error, email corrections@plainvoucher.com with the URL and a link to the official source. We review every correction request and re-run the relevant pipeline stage when needed.

Disclaimer

⚠ PlainVoucher is for general information only. Section 8 / HCV rules vary by PHA and change frequently. Always contact your local PHA to confirm eligibility, waitlist status, and documentation requirements before making housing decisions. PlainVoucher is not affiliated with HUD or any local Public Housing Authority.

Contact

Questions about our methodology? Email hello@plainvoucher.com.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is eligible for a Section 8 / Housing Choice Voucher?

Eligibility is determined by each local Public Housing Authority using HUD's Section 8 Income Limits. Households must generally earn at or below the Very Low (50% AMI) limit for their county or HUD Metro FMR Area, with at least 75% of new vouchers reserved for Extremely Low Income (30% AMI) households. U.S. citizenship or qualifying non-citizen status is required, along with a PHA background and tenant-history review. Only your local PHA can confirm whether you personally qualify — PlainVoucher publishes the federal thresholds, not individual determinations.

How much does a voucher pay, and how is the amount set?

Each PHA sets a payment standard between 90% and 110% of HUD's published Fair Market Rent (FMR) or Small Area FMR for each bedroom size, with higher exception standards allowed by approval. The tenant typically pays about 30% of adjusted household income toward rent and utilities; the PHA pays the remainder up to the payment standard, directly to the landlord. PlainVoucher shows HUD's FY25 FMR as the reference payment standard — always confirm the current standard with your PHA before signing a lease.

Do all landlords and units accept Housing Choice Vouchers?

No. Source-of-income protections vary by state and city — some jurisdictions require landlords to accept vouchers, others do not. Every unit must pass HUD Housing Quality Standards (HQS) inspection, and rent plus utilities must be reasonable compared to comparable unsubsidized units. Voucher holders must find a willing landlord within the PHA's search-term window (usually 60 to 120 days, extendable). PlainVoucher cross-references HUD payment standards against PlainRent market rents to flag metros where the voucher covers the market and where it falls short.

What are the main limitations of the voucher program?

The program is persistently under-funded relative to demand — roughly 2.3 million households receive HCV assistance, while many more qualify. Waitlists at most PHAs are long (months to years) and are frequently closed. Payment standards do not always keep pace with market rents, creating search hardships in high-cost metros. PBV and PBRA units are tied to specific properties, while HCV (tenant-based) vouchers are portable. PlainVoucher focuses specifically on tenant-based HCVs; Public Housing, PBV, PBRA, and other HUD programs are referenced at a high level only.