Data rules

Business logic and calculations behind each data metric are described below. Click between the tabs to view data rules for each theme / layer.

Data quality is very important to us. If you identify any discrepancies in the data that contradict the following data rules, please promptly reach out to Kira Morin at [email protected] or submit a bug here.

Option A

Ownership

Property owner data are sourced from the Shelby County Assessor’s Certified Roll, which is published each May/June.

Metric / Indicator	Logic
Owner Occupied Flag that identifies if the owner likely resides at that location (Y / N)	Parcels are considered owner-occupied (Y) if they meet any of the following criteria: A. Exact address match* + living units: The standardized property address* is the same as the owner’s standardized mailing address The parcel has at least one living unit The owner name does not include words or titles that are common in corporate entities (e.g. LLC, INC, etc.) B. Exact address match* + residential class: The standardized property address* is the same as the owner’s standardized mailing address* The land‑use code combination is a residential category (i.e. single‑family, condos, duplexes, etc.) C. Homeowners Association name: Owner name contains keywords like “Homeowners,” “Condo,” etc. All other parcels are not considered owner-occupied (N)
Owner Type Categorizes owner into buckets based on owner name and owner-occupied flag (Institutional/ Company/ Individual/Other)	Institutional: Property is not owner-occupied Owner name matches a known public agency, religious institution or homeowners association Company: Property is not owner-occupied Owner name includes terms related to private or corporate business (LLC, INC, PROPERTIES, INVESTMENT, GROUP, etc.) Individual/Other: Everything else (including true individuals and unrecognized names)
Investor Owned Flags individuals and organizations that own residential properties they don’t live in as investors (Y / N) based on property class, number of living units, and owner type	Properties are considered investor-owned (Y) if they meet any of the following criteria: A. Residential + not owned by Institution Property is not owner‑occupied Property has at least one living unit (or has a residential land use code or class) Owner type is not Institutional B. Residential + owned by Company Property owner is a company Property has at least one living unit (or a residential property class or code) C. Residential mobile home Property is a mobile home with living units Property is not owner‑occupied All other properties are not considered investor-owned (N)
Owner Location Categorizes the property owner as Local / Non‑local based on their mailing address and the property's mailing address	Local if either: The owner’s city name matches the legal town name of the parcel The owner’s city is in the nine‑jurisdiction “Memphis metro” list Non‑Local otherwise
Owner Geography Categorizes where the property owner lives based on Owner Location and state and ZIP code from their mailing address (Neighborhood / City / Suburban / In-State / Out-of-State)	Neighborhood: The owner location is Local the owner’s mailing address zip code matches the property address zip code City: Neighborhood criteria above not met The owner location is Local Owner’s mailing address city is “MEMPHIS” Suburban: Neighborhood or City criteria above not met The owner location is Local AND in one of the other eight metro cities that is not Memphis In‑State: Neighborhood, City, or Suburban criteria above not met The owner location is Non‑Local AND the owner state is Tennessee Out‑of‑State: Does not meet the criteria for any of the other Owner Geography categories above

*To ensure consistency and enable reliable comparisons, Innovate Memphis employs a proprietary address‑standardization process that normalizes both property and owner mailing addresses into a uniform format.

Eviction

Innovate Memphis pulls eviction filings daily from Shelby County General Sessions Court. Each extract includes all filings from the previous 90 days to capture any records entered late due to data‑entry delays.* A scheduled refresh occurs in the Memphis Property Hub on a monthly basis.

*Because the court staff may enter filings up to 90 days after the actual filing date, our extracts include a 90‑day lookback to ensure no records are missed.

Metric / Indicator	Logic
Eviction in Past 6 Months Calculates how many eviction filings a property has had in the last six months on a rolling basis.	For each parcel, Counts any eviction filing dates that occurred between today’s date and six months ago based on Shelby County General Sessions Court records** Properties with at least one eviction during this window are included in the ‘Recent Eviction’ filter
Eviction in Past 1 Year Calculates how many eviction filings a property has had in the last twelve months on a rolling basis.	For each parcel, Uses a similar calculation as Evictions in the Past 6 months, but with a 12-month window**
Total Evictions The total number of evictions cases ever filed for a property between January 2016 and last month.	For each parcel, Counts every eviction filing Case ID for the property regardless of date.

**Note that administrative data entry may be delayed up 90 days, impacting the accuracy of this metric. Work to modernize processes at General Sessions Court is already underway.

Occupancy

Unoccupied or vacant properties refers to parcels with vacant built structures (e.g. homes, storefronts, and warehouses), not vacant land or vacant lots.

Innovate Memphis acquires U.S. Postal Service vacancy data from Regrid on a quarterly schedule. We then calculate each property’s continuous vacancy duration starting in April 2024** and use that value as the basis for short or long term vacancy.

Metric / Indicator	Logic
Vacant Since (at least) The earliest date in our available data* that a property has been continuously vacant.	For each parcel, Reports the earliest date available that a property was flagged as vacant AND has not been flagged as occupied on any consecutive US Postal Service quarterly report since then Only includes properties that were still flagged as vacant by the US Postal Service on the most recent quarterly report *Continuous data only goes back to April 2024 - many properties have been vacant for longer.
Months Vacant Calculates how long (in whole months) a property has been continuously vacant.	For each parcel, Calculates the number of months between the earliest time* the property was flagged as vacant and the date on the most recent quarterly report. Assumes properties remained vacant between quarterly reports *Continuous data only goes back to April 2024 - many properties have been vacant for longer.
Vacant An indicator of occupancy (Y/N) based on months vacant.	For each parcel, If a property has a value of one or more Months Vacant, then it is considered vacant (Y) Otherwise, it is not considered vacant (N)
Long Term Vacancy A flag marking properties that have been continuously vacant for at least 9 months.	For each parcel, Property still flagged as vacant by the US Postal Service on the most recent quarterly report AND has been continuously vacant for at least 9 months (Y) Otherwise, it is not considered a Long Term Vacancy (N)

**If you have USPS Vacancy data from July 2023 to January 2024, please contact Kira Morin at [email protected].

Vacant Land

Land Use Code data indicating vacant land is provided by the Shelby County Assessor's Certified Roll on an annual basis in May/June.

Metric / Indicator	Logic
Vacant Land An indicator of undeveloped land (Y/N) based on land use code.	For each parcel, If the land use code on file with the Shelby County Assessor’s Office is equal to 000 or “Vacant Land" then it is considered Vacant Land (Y). Otherwise, it is not considered vacant land (N)

Option B

Ownership

Property owner data are sourced from the Shelby County Assessor’s Certified Roll, which is published each May/June.

Metric / Indicator	Logic
Owner Occupied Flag that identifies if the owner likely resides at that location (Y / N)	Parcels are considered owner-occupied (Y) if they meet any of the following criteria: A. Exact address match* + living units: The standardized property address* is the same as the owner’s standardized mailing address The parcel has at least one living unit The owner name does not include words or titles that are common in corporate entities (e.g. LLC, INC, etc.) B. Exact address match* + residential class: The standardized property address* is the same as the owner’s standardized mailing address* The land‑use code combination is a residential category (i.e. single‑family, condos, duplexes, etc.) C. Homeowners Association name: Owner name contains keywords like “Homeowners,” “Condo,” etc. All other parcels are not considered owner-occupied (N)
Owner Type Categorizes owner into buckets based on owner name and owner-occupied flag (Institutional/ Company/ Individual/Other)	Institutional: Property is not owner-occupied Owner name matches a known public agency, religious institution or homeowners association Company: Property is not owner-occupied Owner name includes terms related to private or corporate business (LLC, INC, PROPERTIES, INVESTMENT, GROUP, etc.) Individual/Other: Everything else (including true individuals and unrecognized names)
Investor Owned Flags individuals and organizations that own residential properties they don’t live in as investors (Y / N) based on property class, number of living units, and owner type	Properties are considered investor-owned (Y) if they meet any of the following criteria: A. Residential + not owned by Institution Property is not owner‑occupied Property has at least one living unit (or has a residential land use code or class) Owner type is not Institutional B. Residential + owned by Company Property owner is a company Property has at least one living unit (or a residential property class or code) C. Residential mobile home Property is a mobile home with living units Property is not owner‑occupied All other properties are not considered investor-owned (N)
Owner Location Categorizes the property owner as Local / Non‑local based on their mailing address and the property's mailing address	Local if either: The owner’s city name matches the legal town name of the parcel The owner’s city is in the nine‑jurisdiction “Memphis metro” list Non‑Local otherwise
Owner Geography Categorizes where the property owner lives based on Owner Location and state and ZIP code from their mailing address (Neighborhood / City / Suburban / In-State / Out-of-State)	Neighborhood: The owner location is Local the owner’s mailing address zip code matches the property address zip code City: Neighborhood criteria above not met The owner location is Local Owner’s mailing address city is “MEMPHIS” Suburban: Neighborhood or City criteria above not met The owner location is Local AND in one of the other eight metro cities that is not Memphis In‑State: Neighborhood, City, or Suburban criteria above not met The owner location is Non‑Local AND the owner state is Tennessee Out‑of‑State: Does not meet the criteria for any of the other Owner Geography categories above

*To ensure consistency and enable reliable comparisons, Innovate Memphis employs a proprietary address‑standardization process that normalizes both property and owner mailing addresses into a uniform format.

Eviction

Innovate Memphis pulls eviction filings daily from Shelby County General Sessions Court. Each extract includes all filings from the previous 90 days to capture any records entered late due to data‑entry delays.* A scheduled refresh occurs in the Memphis Property Hub on a monthly basis.

*Because the court staff may enter filings up to 90 days after the actual filing date, our extracts include a 90‑day lookback to ensure no records are missed.

Metric / Indicator	Logic
Eviction in Past 6 Months Calculates how many eviction filings a property has had in the last six months on a rolling basis.	For each parcel, Counts any eviction filing dates that occurred between today’s date and six months ago based on Shelby County General Sessions Court records** Properties with at least one eviction during this window are included in the ‘Recent Eviction’ filter
Eviction in Past 1 Year Calculates how many eviction filings a property has had in the last twelve months on a rolling basis.	For each parcel, Uses a similar calculation as Evictions in the Past 6 months, but with a 12-month window**
Total Evictions The total number of evictions cases ever filed for a property between January 2016 and last month.	For each parcel, Counts every eviction filing Case ID for the property regardless of date.

**Note that administrative data entry may be delayed up 90 days, impacting the accuracy of this metric. Work to modernize processes at General Sessions Court is already underway.

Occupancy

Unoccupied or vacant properties refers to parcels with vacant built structures (e.g. homes, storefronts, and warehouses), not vacant land or vacant lots.

Innovate Memphis acquires U.S. Postal Service vacancy data from Regrid on a quarterly schedule. We then calculate each property’s continuous vacancy duration starting in April 2024** and use that value as the basis for short or long term vacancy.

Metric / Indicator	Logic
Vacant Since (at least) The earliest date in our available data* that a property has been continuously vacant.	For each parcel, Reports the earliest date available that a property was flagged as vacant AND has not been flagged as occupied on any consecutive US Postal Service quarterly report since then Only includes properties that were still flagged as vacant by the US Postal Service on the most recent quarterly report *Continuous data only goes back to April 2024 - many properties have been vacant for longer.
Months Vacant Calculates how long (in whole months) a property has been continuously vacant.	For each parcel, Calculates the number of months between the earliest time* the property was flagged as vacant and the date on the most recent quarterly report. Assumes properties remained vacant between quarterly reports *Continuous data only goes back to April 2024 - many properties have been vacant for longer.
Vacant An indicator of occupancy (Y/N) based on months vacant.	For each parcel, If a property has a value of one or more Months Vacant, then it is considered vacant (Y) Otherwise, it is not considered vacant (N)
Long Term Vacancy A flag marking properties that have been continuously vacant for at least 9 months.	For each parcel, Property still flagged as vacant by the US Postal Service on the most recent quarterly report AND has been continuously vacant for at least 9 months (Y) Otherwise, it is not considered a Long Term Vacancy (N)

**If you have USPS Vacancy data from July 2023 to January 2024, please contact Kira Morin at [email protected].

Vacant Land

Land Use Code data indicating vacant land is provided by the Shelby County Assessor's Certified Roll on an annual basis in May/June.

Metric / Indicator	Logic
Vacant Land An indicator of undeveloped land (Y/N) based on land use code.	For each parcel, If the land use code on file with the Shelby County Assessor’s Office is equal to 000 or “Vacant Land" then it is considered Vacant Land (Y). Otherwise, it is not considered vacant land (N)