Gary North

Here are two free websites that supply crucial information about every town, city, and zip code in the United States. When you have identified a place that sounds as though it's worth looking into, these two sites will help you to eliminate places that don't match your wish list.

The first is City-Data. Here, you will find all sorts of useful information, not the least of which is a comparative statistic for rates of various crimes. It also offers median income, age, racial percentages, and home prices. It lets you compare these figures with other cities in the state.

What is really nice about the site is that it lets you select towns by population: 6,000+, 1000 to 6,000, and under 1,000.

The second site is the Claritas site. Claritas has a huge demographic data base on every zip code in the United States. It sells this information to companies that are developing marketing strategies. Businesses can pay to find out information about residents in any nine-digit zip code: income, tastes, education, and many other relevant facts.

The Claritas system breaks down this information into 66 different "clusters." It turns out that birds of a feather really do flock together.

You can use the site's free Zip Code Look-Up search engine to find out what the five most represented groups are in any zip code. Print out this list. Then look up the details of each group. This information about the 66 groups is published on the site.

To help you put these two tools to work, you should visit my FOR MEMBERS ONLY department, Safe Places. Of course, you may also be interested in these related departments: Real Estate, Retirement, Home Businness, and Your Career.

Meanwhile, don't forget to subscribe to my free Tip of the Week report, which is sent every Saturday morning. The sign-up box is on the Home page.