# Data sources behind every Neur report

> The public US datasets Neur uses — Census ACS, BLS CES and QCEW, Google Places — what each one contributes, and where to verify it yourself.

Canonical: https://www.neur.co/docs/data-sources
Last updated: 2026-09-07

Every number in a Neur report traces back to a public source. This page lists them so you can check any figure yourself.

## US Census Bureau — American Community Survey (ACS)

- **What:** the Census Bureau's ongoing survey of US households. Neur uses the 5-year estimates, which are available for every city and county.
- **Used for:** population, median household income, median age, unemployment rate, median rent, and the number of residents with a bachelor's degree.
- **Where in the report:** local demographics, cost of living, the Market and Location pillars, comparable cities.
- **Verify:** https://data.census.gov and the API at https://api.census.gov

## Bureau of Labor Statistics — Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW)

- **What:** a near-complete count of employment and wages by industry, reported quarterly by every employer covered by unemployment insurance.
- **Used for:** county-level employment and establishment counts for your industry, so the trend in the report is local, not national.
- **Where in the report:** the local industry snapshot and the employment trend chart.
- **Verify:** https://www.bls.gov/cew/

## Bureau of Labor Statistics — Current Employment Statistics (CES)

- **What:** the monthly national payroll survey.
- **Used for:** the national employment trend for your sector, as context for the local figure.
- **Verify:** https://www.bls.gov/ces/

## Google Places

- **What:** Google's business listings.
- **Used for:** competitors near your chosen location, with ratings, review counts and categories. Competitor searches are keyed to your specific business type, not just the broad category.
- **Where in the report:** the market map, competitor cards, the Competition pillar.

## Search market data (online businesses only)

For businesses that operate online rather than from a location, Neur analyses the Google search results for the market instead of local competitors: who ranks, who advertises, and how strong the incumbents are. This uses a third-party search results API.

## Industry classification

Business types are matched to NAICS-based industry categories so that BLS series line up with what you typed. When your concept does not match one of the 108 seed industries, Neur uses an AI-assisted resolver and labels the result as AI-assisted in the report.

## What Neur does not use

No private credit data, no scraped social media, no data about you beyond what you enter in the questionnaire. See the [Privacy Policy](https://www.neur.co/privacy).