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Civic Worth is in beta. It’s assembled automatically from public records and can be wrong. Check the official source before you rely on it, and tell us what’s wrong, or see what we’ve corrected.
Civic Worth is free for verified Columbus & Chicago newsrooms.
100 full reports a month. The Zone In Decoder. An embeddable widget that links back to your article, not ours. It’s free because local reporting is how most residents will find this data.
One-form application. No fee.
↓ Or grab a copy-paste embed nowWhat's included
- 100 reports per month. Standard tier reports — the full Civic Address Card with every connector, every cited source, every overlay. Resets the 1st of each month.
- Zone In Decoder access. The $29 side-by-side decoder, included. Use it on as many parcels as you cover.
- Embeddable widget. A drop-in iframe for any Civic Worth parcel page or Zone In Decoder. Verified newsrooms can configure the widget to credit their publication in the footer and link back to their own article, not Civic Worth’s.
- Watchlist alerts. Add any Columbus or Chicago parcel to your newsroom watchlist. A daily or weekly digest of new permits, 311 requests and code complaints nearby, plus Zone In draft changes and area commission meetings in Columbus: a tip line that never sleeps.
- Press kit + pre-written copy. /press ships pre-written 200-word summaries for every Phase 1 corridor + three launch angle stories under CC-BY-4.0.
Embeddable widget gallery
Drop any of these into a story in seconds — they're plain <iframe>s, no script tag, no API key. Free for everyone; verified newsrooms can also get a branded version that credits your publication and links back to your article. See how every number is sourced →
Each widget is a drop-in <iframe>. Previews below use 100 Frankfort Sq, German Village — swap the parcel id in the snippet for any Columbus parcel (the id is in every /parcel/… URL). Owner names are never shown in an embed.
Civic Address Card
The full civic record for one parcel: council district, area commission, school district, recent permits, and 311 cases — every line cited.
Zone In — before / after
The parcel's old zoning beside its new Zone In district: permitted uses, height, parking, and density, with a copy-pasteable citation block.
Neighborhood change (displacement tract)
Census-tract income, rent, home value, and owner-occupied share over a decade (ACS 5-year). Observed change — never a prediction.
Eligibility
The verified tier is open to:
- Newsrooms that publish original Columbus or Chicago journalism — Matter News, Columbus Underground, WOSU, Ohio Capital Journal, the Lantern, area-commission and ward newsletters, and their Chicago counterparts.
- 501(c)(3) organizations with a charitable purpose related to civic engagement, housing, transportation, neighborhood organizing, or community development in Columbus or Chicago — Kirwan Institute, CURA at OSU, Smart Columbus, Columbus Foundation, Franklinton Development Association, and similar.
- Independent journalists who publish original Columbus or Chicago civic reporting under their byline at any of the above outlets.
Civic Worth's verification process checks the applicant's public publishing record and 501(c)(3) status (where applicable). Decisions land within 5 business days.
How to credit Civic Worth
Using our data in a story or embed? A visible credit that links back is all we ask — and it is how readers (and search engines) find the source. Copy a line:
Data: <a href="https://civicworth.com">Civic Worth</a>Renders as: Data: Civic WorthData: Civic Worth (civicworth.com)For a specific figure, link the exact page it came from (the parcel, map, or ZIP page) rather than the homepage — that is where the reader can verify it.