About MapsToIt

MapsToIt is a solo project by João Bermudez. It helps people research a U.S. city before moving, taking a remote job, or comparing places to live.

What it is

The interactive map is the browsing layer. Each city page is a full, indexable profile — housing costs, income, commute, climate, and safety context — with sources cited on every page. The live catalog currently covers 245 cities across 51 states.

How the data is built

Figures are compiled from Census ACS, BLS LAUS, FBI Crime Data Explorer, and NOAA Climate Normals, then refreshed in batches. Coverage gaps (especially FBI agency rates for smaller cities) are labeled explicitly rather than filled with placeholders. Incomplete cities are blocked from shipping by a catalog validation step at build time. Details live on the methodology page.

How the site is built

MapsToIt is a Next.js App Router app. City and state pages are statically generated from a versioned JSON catalog, so every profile is crawlable without a runtime database. Matching and affordability ranking are pure functions with shareable URLs. The map uses MapLibre GL circle layers, loaded only when the map is on screen.

Source, tests, and the catalog pipeline are public: github.com/crumexhtx/animatedmapwebsitehtx.