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OnTheMap Review

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Should I use OnTheMap?

OnTheMap: Access the LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES) showing where people work and where workers live - onthemap.ces.census.gov

· 2 days ago

Economic developers, transportation planners, and workforce analysts get free block-level commuting data no vendor matches at this price. Sales teams, marketers, and anyone needing current or firm-level detail do not buy this, they skip it.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 40+ public sources. Many search results describe an unrelated SEO agency named On The Map Marketing, not this Census tool.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security postureNo public security findings either way.

Pricing

$0

Public access

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Economic development agencies
  • Transportation planners
  • Workforce boards
  • Site selection analysts

Not for

  • Sales teams hunting leads
  • Marketers needing current-year data
  • Casual users wanting quick answers without training
  • Small businesses without analyst staff

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Data lags: 2023 data released December 2025. Plan analysis around older years.

medium

Expect training time. Census Academy webinars exist because the interface needs instruction.

low

Small counts are suppressed for privacy, so small areas show gaps.

low

No security page found on the official site.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Completely free public tool from the US Census Bureau.
  • Maps where workers live and where jobs sit.
  • Updated with 2023 data in December 2025.
  • Supports site selection and commuting pattern analysis.
  • Free hands-on training webinars from Census Academy.

Cons

  • Data runs behind: 2023 data shipped December 2025.
  • Learning curve; Census Academy runs webinars to teach it.
  • Aggregate counts only, no individual worker or business detail.
  • No security page found on the tool's site.

Sources & method

- 12 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x9review x2news x1

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Completely free government data tool.
  • Ease of use: 3/5. Census Academy training webinars exist to teach it.
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Deep origin-destination data inside a niche mapping scope.
  • Support quality: 3/5. Official webinars and docs, no direct support line.
  • Security posture. No public security findings either way.
  • $0 Price Free public data tool
  • Yes Free tier Entire tool is public and free
  • 2023 Latest data year Update released Dec 18, 2025
  • c. 2006 Launched 10 years noted in 2016 FCSM deck

Pricing

Public access

$0

  • Full LODES mapping and PDF reports
  • OnTheMap for Emergency Management variant
  • Census Academy training included

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

GIS and urban planning Reddit users call OnTheMap a useful tool, and university libraries list it as a standard data resource.

“Useful Tool: Census Bureau's OnTheMap”
Reddit, r/urbanplanning

Companies that use it

  • North Carolina Department of Commerce³
  • DataHaven⁶
  • StatsAmerica
  • City of Spokane Valley
  • University of Texas Libraries

Companies that could

  • PolicyMap⁸ Uses PolicyMap instead
  • Esri⁷ Uses Esri ArcGIS instead
Full analysis

Based on 40+ public sources. Many search results describe an unrelated SEO agency named On The Map Marketing, not this Census tool.

Free Census tool maps where workers live and jobs sit. Gold for planners and analysts, irrelevant for most business teams.

Methodology

Based on 40+ public sources. Many search results describe an unrelated SEO agency named On The Map Marketing, not this Census tool.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. Census Bureau Updates OnTheMap Tool With 2023 Datacensus.gov
    official
  2. OnTheMap for Emergency Management (public data tool)toolkit.climate.gov
    official
  3. OnTheMap, the Go-To Tool for Analyzing Commuting Patterns (NC Commerce)commerce.nc.gov
    official
  4. Using OnTheMap for Labor Force and Employment (Census Academy)census.gov
    official
  5. Using Census OnTheMap for site selectionpillar.codes
    news
  6. Census OnTheMap (DataHaven)ctdatahaven.org
    official
  7. OnTheMap (US Census Bureau) on ArcGIS Hubhub.arcgis.com
    official
  8. PolicyMap Data Sources (LEHD LODES)policymap.com
    official
  9. Useful Tool: Census Bureau's OnTheMapreddit.com
    review
  10. Census LODES and OnTheMap updatereddit.com
    review
  11. OnTheMap: Data Noticeslehd.ces.census.gov
    official
  12. OnTheMap: 10 Years of Distributing Data in a Web GISstatspolicy.gov
    official

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