Don't find out about the tax thing two years in.
You get one move: a lease, a license, a five-year bet on a city. Everyone has a take ("just move to Texas"); nobody has receipts. Terrain scores every US metro on the six forces that move your margin (rent, taxes, hiring, demand, politics, and who's already on the block) and hands you a printable brief with a citation on every score. Something you can put in front of your co-founder that isn't vibes.
Six survey layers. One composite elevation.
Terrain reads a metro the way a surveyor reads ground: layer by layer, instrument by instrument. Each layer is scored 0 to 100 from named public sources, then weighted for your venture and capital.
| Concentration | 0.25 |
| Cost base | 0.25 |
| Regulatory | 0.15 |
| Demand | 0.15 |
| Political | 0.10 |
| Talent | 0.10 |
Weights are yours to set. The demo brief uses these.
Concentration risk
HHI at 6-digit NAICS within a 1-mile radius, cross-checked against SEC EDGAR 10-K segment filings. Know how thin the incumbent field is before you sign a lease.
Regulatory gradient
State tax posture from IRS SOI, labor-rule drift from DOL, licensing friction by occupation. Modeled on a 5-year horizon, not just today's rate.
Cost base
Rent from HUD FMR and CoStar, wages from BLS OES, energy from EIA, permit timing from city open data. Unit economics you can defend to a board.
Demand signal
Census ACS income and population, BEA regional GDP, FCC broadband reach, CFPB complaint volume. Revenue capacity and consumer-protection heat in one score.
Political telemetry
Ballotpedia measures, FEC filings, MIT Election Lab returns, EPA EJScreen siting flags. A stable trifecta through 2028 earns points; a hostile one costs them.
Talent gravity
USPTO PatentsView, NSF higher-ed R&D, IRS county-to-county migration, H-1B disclosures. Where the skill pool is going, not where it was.
Every score is cited. 47 sources, mostly public.
- SEC EDGAR 10-K / 10-Q
- Census Business Patterns
- NAICS Association
- OpenCorporates
- SBA Franchise Registry
- OpenStreetMap POI
- IRS SOI
- Tax Foundation
- DOL wage & hour
- OSHA establishment data
- State AG filings
- CSG occupational DB
- FRED
- BLS OES & CPI
- HUD Fair Market Rents
- EIA state energy
- City open permit data
- CoStar (commercial)
- Census ACS 5-yr
- BEA Regional GDP
- FCC broadband map
- CFPB complaints
- Ballotpedia · FEC
- MIT Election Lab · EPA
- BLS employment
- Census ACS occupation
- USPTO PatentsView
- NSF higher-ed R&D
- IRS county migration
- DOL H-1B disclosure
Free at launch. Priced for one decision, not a subscription habit.
You are choosing a city once, maybe three times in a career. The free tier covers a full shortlist decision. Paid tiers arrive later for operators who scout continuously.
- 3 deep-dive metro briefs per month
- Ranked shortlist across 12 metros per query
- Citation on every score, printable six-sheet brief
- Weekly Sunday field report while we build
Get the first brief.
One Sunday field report per week while we build. Tell us your industry and capital and your metro shortlist ships with the first cohort. No pitch decks.