Frequently Asked Questions
Everything people ask about the dataset — what's in it, how to use it, and what it costs (nothing).
Frequently asked
Where can I download real estate data for free?
Right here. RealEstateDataset offers ~146M U.S. property records free under CC0 — the whole country, or by state, county or ZIP, as Parquet or CSV. No sign-up.
Are property records public?
Yes — in all 50 U.S. states. Property records are maintained by county assessor and recorder offices and available to anyone.
How many properties are included?
Roughly 146 million U.S. properties, spanning all 50 states plus DC and territories.
Does the data include owner names?
No. We publish property facts only — no owner names or personal information.
Can I use the data commercially?
Yes. Everything is released under CC0 1.0 (public domain): commercial use, resale, and modification are all allowed, with no attribution required.
What formats are available?
Parquet (full schema, including nested price and tax history) and CSV (flat, opens in any spreadsheet).
How do I download data for one ZIP code?
Every ZIP has its own file. Browse to a state, drill into a county, and pick the ZIP — or read the download guide.
How do I open a Parquet file?
With pandas (pd.read_parquet), DuckDB, Polars, or Spark. It's a standard columnar format supported by most analytics tools.
Is MLS data available to the public?
No — MLS data is gated to licensed brokerages. Public-records datasets like this one are the open alternative.
What is an APN?
An Assessor Parcel Number — the unique ID a county assigns to a parcel, and the primary key for its records. It's in the dataset as parcel_apn.
How often is the dataset updated?
It's recompiled monthly and released aged ~30–60 days behind live; each file is stamped with its "as of" month. For continuously fresh data, use the API.
Is there an API for live data?
Yes. Every row's id is a live endpoint on the Straply API, which serves the same records — always current — with a free tier.
Is the Zillow API still available?
No. Zillow retired its public API in 2021. Its successor program is limited to approved partners and MLS members, not open to individual developers — so most people need a Zillow API alternative. An open public-records dataset plus a self-serve API is the common replacement.
What's the biggest free real estate dataset?
Popular free datasets on data sites typically hold a few million listings. RealEstateDataset compiles ~146M U.S. property records — property facts and sale/tax history — free under CC0, by state, county, or ZIP.
Do counties provide bulk property data?
Many do, but one county at a time, in inconsistent formats. This dataset compiles those public records nationwide into one standardized schema so you don't have to stitch counties together yourself.
Is there a free alternative to paid property data APIs?
Yes — see free property data APIs compared. The bulk dataset here is free under CC0 with no quota, and the Straply API has a free tier for live lookups.
Ready to grab the data?
Download now →