The nation's first open, public rent data infrastructure
Critical housing decisions are made with data that's years old and often incomplete. We're fixing that.
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Open Rent is building a new type of housing data infrastructure
We work with local partners to collect, clean, and integrate disparate datasets such as parcel records, rent registries, and active market listings into a single platform. From there, we pair this aggregated data with tools designed to make housing more stable and equitable.
When cities can see their full rental market clearly, they can act precisely, fund programs smarter, and build policy that actually works.
The Open Rent Initiative is a nonprofit venture founded by Citizen Codex and is fiscally sponsored by the PSL Foundation. Our first pilot launched in summer 2026 with Mountain View, CA, built in close partnership with the city's housing department.
Want Open Rent in your city? Get in touch.
From scattered records to a
city that can see clearly
Every data point in Open Rent is labeled with its source, how it was collected, and when it was last updated. To explore more on what technology we apply and our data approach, review our full methodology.
We aggregate
Parcel records, state/federal housing data, rent registries, and active market listings — gathered from dozens of sources.
We integrate
Data is cleaned, matched, and unified into a single property-level dataset. Asking and in-place rents are kept separate and clearly labeled.
Decision makers act
Leaders and analysts alike are able to access tools to see the holistic rental market and make policy decisions backed by complete data.
Supporters & partners
Open Rent is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit project, fiscally sponsored by the Policy Simulation Library Foundation. Our work is made possible by early funders committed to transparent, public-good data infrastructure.
We're building an open ecosystem of data and civic partners, teaming up with organizations working to make housing more equitable and stable.
Advisors & team
What led us here
Rent Madness: Why is America's Rental Data So Bad?
The report that started it all. A deep look at why rental data is fragmented, stale, and inaccessible — and what it costs us as a country.
Read the reportHow We Used Geospatial Analysis to Understand St. Paul's Rental Market
Mapping the full rental landscape of St. Paul, neighborhood by neighborhood — and what it revealed about the limits of conventional data sources.
Read the reportThe rent data problem
is too big for any one organization to solve
We're raising multi-year support to expand from our current pilot phase. If you're interested in helping grow the work of the Open Rent Initiative, we are excited to chat!
Collaboration can take many shapes and allow us to use open data to tackle many wicked problems around affordable housing, community stability, and program impact.