Data & transparency
About the data
What was counted, where it came from, what it can and cannot show, and how to check it.
Records and coverage
records opened : complaints, notices of violation, citations, tenant relocations and unfit buildings. Every chart on these pages covers all five record types. A record is counted once, except where a page counts by description.
Source and processing
City of Seattle open data portal, code complaints and violations. Rows are counted as the City published them, and the status words are the City's own. The City's file has no Council district, so STLCA placed each record using its map point and the current district lines.
Descriptions and statuses
Each record has a record type, a status and, for some, one or more descriptions. A record with several descriptions is counted under each one, so description counts add up to more than the number of records. Tenant relocation and unfit building records have no description. All descriptions and all statuses are shown, with nothing grouped.
Limits
The portal does not link a notice of violation to a complaint, so notices per 100 complaints compares two counts, not cases. A blank inspection date does not mean no one inspected. It means the record does not show a date. Newer records have had less time to close.
How to read the charts
Hover over any bar, line, cell or district to see the exact number. Darker shading in a grid means more records. Every page has a Show all the numbers table with every figure behind its charts.
Verification
Every number on these pages is counted from one records file from the City of Seattle open data portal. The totals by year, district and status were rechecked against a second count and matched.