ZipExplore

Get Article

Returns the full prose of a specific ZipExplore research article. Use this for editing, fact-checking, detailed analysis, or when get_research summaries aren't enough. Valid slugs: disappearing-towns, hazard-premium, snap-economy, wealthy-retirees. Each article includes all body sections and methodology notes exactly as published.

Ping

Returns server status and tool/resource counts. Use this to verify the ZipExplore MCP connection is live.

Get Methodology

Returns ZipExplore's data interpretation guide: reasoning guardrails (associations vs. causes, small-ZIP noise, averages hiding distributions, editorial score weights, drawing conclusions about people from geographic data), quality flag definitions, known data limitations, coverage gap explanations, and per-domain vintage summary. Call this when you have questions about data quality, what a quality_flag code means, why a ZIP has no data, or how to reason carefully about scores and correlations.

Get Research

Returns ZipExplore's published research articles — original data findings on topics including disaster risk vs. housing costs (the Hazard Premium), food insecurity in fully-employed communities (SNAP economy), economically declining towns vs. retirement communities, and income variation among America's oldest ZIP codes. Each entry includes the key finding, specific quantitative results, caveats, and a URL to the full article. Call this when a user asks about these topics or when published findin

Search Zips

Find ZIP codes matching one or more criteria. Returns a ranked list with scores. Use this first when the user wants recommendations (e.g. "find a low-crime suburb near Denver"). Call get_search_fields first if you're unsure what field names to use. criteria: list of {"field": str, "level": "low"|"medium"|"high"} area_types: "CITY" | "SUBURB" | "SMALL_TOWN" | "RURAL" regions: "northeast" | "southeast" | "midwest" | "southwest" | "west"

Get Zip Profile

Full location profile for one ZIP code across all 12 data domains: demographics, climate, tax, crime, cost of living, voting, education, healthcare, business, air quality, disaster risk, and transit. Use this to get detail on a ZIP after search, or when the user asks about a specific ZIP. For deeper data on one domain, use the domain-specific tools.

Compare Zips

Side-by-side full profiles for 2–5 ZIP codes. Use when the user has finalists and needs to choose between them. Returns the same profile shape as get_zip_profile for each ZIP.

Get Search Fields

Lists every field name, type, and description available for search criteria. Call this when you're unsure what field names to pass to search_zips, or when the user asks what data ZipExplore has.

Get Census Profile

Detailed Census / demographics data for one ZIP code. Use when get_zip_profile's demographics section isn't sufficient depth. Includes population, housing, income distribution, education attainment, economic indicators, internet access, and public assistance rates.

Reverse Geocode

Convert a latitude/longitude coordinate to a ZIP code. Use when the user provides an address or map coordinates rather than a ZIP code.

Get Zip Centroids

Get the latitude/longitude centroid for one or more ZIP codes (max 200). Use when you need map coordinates for a set of ZIPs.

Get Weather Profile

Detailed climate data for one ZIP code. Use when get_zip_profile's climate section isn't sufficient depth. Includes annual/monthly temperature averages, precipitation, humidity, and nearest weather station info.

Get Tax Profile

Detailed tax data for one ZIP code. Use when get_zip_profile's tax section isn't sufficient depth. Includes state income tax, sales tax, property tax effective rates, excise taxes, and IRS income statistics.

Get Crime Profile

Detailed crime data for one ZIP code. Use when get_zip_profile's crime section isn't sufficient depth. Includes violent crime rate, property crime rate, and data quality flags (coverage level, Bayesian shrinkage).

Get Cost Profile

Detailed cost of living data for one ZIP code. Use when get_zip_profile's cost section isn't sufficient depth. Includes fair market rents, housing cost burden, regional price indices, and affordability metrics.

Get Voting Profile

Detailed voting and political data for one ZIP code. Use when get_zip_profile's voting section isn't sufficient depth. Includes presidential election results, partisan lean, congressional and state legislative districts, and state officials.

Get Education Profile

Detailed school data for one ZIP code. Use when get_zip_profile's education section isn't sufficient depth. Includes school counts, student-teacher ratios, graduation rates, per-pupil spending, Title I percentage, and budget breakdown (instruction vs. admin vs. capital). May reflect data from the nearest ZIP if no schools are in this ZIP.

Get Healthcare Profile

Detailed healthcare data for one ZIP code. Use when get_zip_profile's healthcare section isn't sufficient depth. Includes hospital count and ratings, nursing homes, beds per capita, primary care and mental health shortage area designations, pharmacy count, and urgent care count.

Get Business Profile

Detailed business and employment data for one ZIP code. Use when get_zip_profile's business section isn't sufficient depth. Includes top industries, sector breakdowns, total establishments, employment, and annual payroll from Census BDS/CBP data.

Get Air Quality Profile

Detailed air quality data for one ZIP code. Use when get_zip_profile's air quality section isn't sufficient depth. Includes EPA AQS pollutant levels (PM2.5, PM10, ozone, NO2, SO2, CO) and AQI summary.

Get Disaster Risk Profile

Detailed natural disaster risk data for one ZIP code. Use when get_zip_profile's disaster risk section isn't sufficient depth. Includes FEMA NRI overall risk score, individual hazard scores (hurricane, tornado, earthquake, wildfire, flood, etc.), and expected annual loss estimates.

Get Transit Profile

Detailed public transit data for one ZIP code. Use when get_zip_profile's transit section isn't sufficient depth. Includes bus stop count, subway station count, rail station count, light rail count, ferry terminal count, total transit stops, transit commute percentage, and nearest subway/rail distances.