What it fills
- Economy
- Unemployment and labor force (10-year and 24-month), employment by industry and at-place employment, wages by occupation, long-term projections
- Housing
- Building permits by year, place or county
- Commuting
- Travel time and means of transportation, Census ACS 5-year
- Crime
- FBI Crime Data Explorer agency counts and rates, or AreaVibes where the agency asks for it
- Site and amenities
- Nearest grocery, pharmacy, hospital, schools, parks, transit and more, with distances, drive times and maps at ½, 1 and 2½ miles; FEMA flood zone
- Major employers
- Laid out from the official state list or the county ACFR you provide — never AI-compiled
A full export carries 18 tables, charts and maps, a Data Verification Appendix with every source link, and the agency's submission checklist.
Official sources
- BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BLS Current Population Survey (national unemployment) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Projections Central long-term projections — Projections Managing Partnership (U.S. DOL)
- Census Building Permits Survey — U.S. Census Bureau
- Census American Community Survey 5-year — U.S. Census Bureau
- Census TIGERweb census tracts — U.S. Census Bureau
- FBI Crime Data Explorer (UCR) — Federal Bureau of Investigation
- NCES Common Core of Data school directory — National Center for Education Statistics
- FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer — Federal Emergency Management Agency
- Transit agencies' GTFS schedules (via Transitland) — Public transit agencies
Release status for each publisher is public on Data releases.
Your agency's format
53 report formats: one for each state housing agency (50 states and DC), HUD MAP and the NCHMA order. The format sets the section order and headings and prints the agency's checklist as the last page. See the requirements by state and the agency checklists.
What stays with the analyst
Market area definition, demographics, demand and capture rate, comparables, site inspection and conclusions. StudyScribe drafts narrative only from the data loaded in the report, and the QC panel flags missing figures, stale sections and unsupported language before export.
Questions
What is the Front End of a market study?
The data sections an analyst assembles before the analysis: unemployment and labor force, employment by industry, wages, building permits, commuting, crime, schools, flood zone, transit and nearby amenities, each with its source. StudyScribe builds those sections; the market area, demand, capture rate, comparables and conclusions stay with the analyst.
Does StudyScribe estimate or generate figures?
No. Every figure comes from the publisher's own data and carries its source, vintage and retrieval date. When a publisher has not released a figure for an area, the cell stays blank with a note.
Which formats does it export?
Word (.docx), PDF and Excel, in 53 report formats: one for each of the 51 state housing agencies (50 states and DC), HUD MAP (MAP Guide §7.5) and the NCHMA Model Content Standards order. Each export ends with the agency's submission checklist marked present or missing.
What happens when an agency publishes new data?
A daily check records each publisher's latest release. Saved reports that are behind are updated overnight, only in the affected sections, and the previous version is kept for undo. Locked reports are never changed.
How do I try it?
StudyScribe is invite-only. Request access and your account starts with one free report, no deadline and no credit card.
Run your next Front End in StudyScribe
Invite-only. One free report, no deadline, no credit card. Plans for a solo analyst to a multi-state firm.
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