Census Housing & Business Context API and MCP server

API access

Your AI client reaches Census Housing & Business Context through one ParcelOps MCP endpoint, so there is no separate key to hold for it and no per-source client to write. Reaching it takes your own credentials (API key).

What this source cannot tell you

• ⚠ Anything outside United States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. A request past that edge comes back empty rather than approximated.
• ⚠ Which years it spans, because the covered period is not declared.
• ⚠ Anything US Census Bureau ACS and County Business Patterns does not publish. ParcelOps returns this source as it stands and never fills a blank field from a different one.
• ⚠ Area-level survey estimates are not facts about a parcel, building, household, tenant, or transaction.
• ⚠ County Business Patterns is county industry context, not property occupancy, vacancy, rent, or transaction data.
• ⚠ Do not use this context to rank neighborhood quality or make protected-class decisions.

Methods (4)

A method is one call your agent can make against this source.

• getHousingProfile

  read

  Get ACS housing estimates and margins of error for one exact geography.

  What you must providegeography

  FreshnessScheduled (source-level)
  Input schema

  {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "geography": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": [
          "state",
          "county",
          "tract",
          "place",
          "zip"
        ]
      },
      "stateFips": {
        "type": "string",
        "pattern": "^\\d{2}$"
      },
      "countyFips": {
        "type": "string",
        "pattern": "^\\d{3}$"
      },
      "tract": {
        "type": "string",
        "pattern": "^\\d{6}$"
      },
      "placeFips": {
        "type": "string",
        "pattern": "^\\d{5}$"
      },
      "zipCode": {
        "type": "string",
        "pattern": "^\\d{5}$"
      },
      "year": {
        "type": "integer",
        "minimum": 2019,
        "maximum": 2024
      }
    },
    "required": [
      "geography"
    ],
    "additionalProperties": false
  }

• compareHousingAreas

  read

  Compare ACS housing profiles for two to ten exact geographies.

  What you must provideareas

  FreshnessScheduled (source-level)
  Input schema

  {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "areas": {
        "type": "array",
        "minItems": 2,
        "maxItems": 10,
        "items": {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "geography": {
              "type": "string",
              "enum": [
                "state",
                "county",
                "tract",
                "place",
                "zip"
              ]
            },
            "stateFips": {
              "type": "string",
              "pattern": "^\\d{2}$"
            },
            "countyFips": {
              "type": "string",
              "pattern": "^\\d{3}$"
            },
            "tract": {
              "type": "string",
              "pattern": "^\\d{6}$"
            },
            "placeFips": {
              "type": "string",
              "pattern": "^\\d{5}$"
            },
            "zipCode": {
              "type": "string",
              "pattern": "^\\d{5}$"
            },
            "year": {
              "type": "integer",
              "minimum": 2019,
              "maximum": 2024
            }
          },
          "required": [
            "geography"
          ],
          "additionalProperties": false
        }
      }
    },
    "required": [
      "areas"
    ],
    "additionalProperties": false
  }

• getCountyBusinessProfile

  read

  Get paid-employee establishments, employment, and payroll for one county and NAICS code.

  What you must providestateFipscountyFipsnaics2017

  Records returnedcounty-industry-profile

  How to get more resultsnone

  FreshnessScheduled (source-level)
  Input schema

  {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "stateFips": {
        "type": "string",
        "pattern": "^\\d{2}$"
      },
      "countyFips": {
        "type": "string",
        "pattern": "^\\d{3}$"
      },
      "naics2017": {
        "type": "string",
        "pattern": "^(?:00|\\d{2,6})$",
        "description": "Exact 2017 NAICS code, or 00 for all sectors."
      }
    },
    "required": [
      "stateFips",
      "countyFips",
      "naics2017"
    ],
    "additionalProperties": false
  }

  • ⚠ Industry-demand context only; not property occupancy, vacancy, rent, or transaction data.

• getServiceInfo

  read

  Return datasets, variables, vintages, coverage, and use limits.

  FreshnessScheduled (source-level)
  Input schema

  {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {},
    "required": [],
    "additionalProperties": false
  }

Where this source is used

• Housing program eligibility checks

  Check tax credit designations, rural program maps, and existing affordable inventory for an address from your own code.

• Land research

  Parcel records, ground conditions, and what reaches the property line, for raw and rural land.

• Data center siting

  Power, water, transport, airspace, and hazard screening for a site before anyone signs anything.

• Commercial real estate

  Parcel and assessment records, building programs, and the entity on the other side of the deal.

• Residential real estate

  The parcel record, the housing programs that touch an address, and the conditions a buyer asks about.

• Real estate law

  Federal rule text, rulemaking dockets, party records, and the property facts a filing has to state.

• Realtors and brokerages

  The facts behind a listing, the programs a buyer may qualify for, and your own files in the same place.

• What census tract is this address in?
• What hospitals and nursing homes are near this property?