Redfin has recently launched a new mapping tool in partnership with the White House Opportunity Project, an initiative using open source data and digital resources to help families and communities. Opportunity Score is an online tool that helps Americans find homes within a 30-minute car-free commute of nearby jobs paying at least $40,000 per year. The tool assigns a selected location a rating from 0 to 100, representing the level of ease with which someone without a car could access a job within 30 minutes. A score of 100 represents the best rating that an area can receive for accessibility to jobs. 

 

As one might expect, when looking at the Chicago metro region, most of the highest rated areas are near the city and inner-ring suburbs. But even in parts of Kane County users will note that some locations near bus and rail transit lines rank in the 30s and 40s. One area in Elgin scored 53, identified as having "good job accessibility."

 

On the right side of the map, the web tool offers an information panel with details about jobs and housing costs for a selected location. Job categories are listed as a percentage of an area's total employment base. Housing costs for an area are listed as median home and rental prices for dwellings with one to four bedrooms.