How the Building Health Score Works
Every building report carries a score from 0 to 100 and a grade from A to F. This page lists which records count, which carry the most weight, why older problems count less, and how we compare a building with others of its size and age.
The score is a reading of the public record, not an inspection. It counts what tenants reported and what inspectors wrote down. A building where nobody complains can score well while problems go unreported, and an owner who certifies repairs clears violations the score can no longer see. Read the records under the score, not just the number.
The Grade Bands
| Grade | Score | Label | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 90 to 100 | Excellent | Few or no open problems on record. |
| B | 80 to 89 | Good | Minor open items, nothing hazardous outstanding. |
| C | 70 to 79 | Fair | A mixed record worth reading in full before signing. |
| D | 55 to 69 | Poor | Several open problems, often including hazardous conditions. |
| F | 0 to 54 | Critical | Serious open hazards, enforcement action or a vacate order. |
Across the 172,485 NYC buildings with three or more apartments that we scored on October 8, 2026, the distribution looked like this. Most buildings have no open hazardous violation at all, which is why A is the largest band.
What Counts and How Much
The score starts at 100 and loses points for each record type below, more per record for hazardous conditions and enforcement actions than for complaints or minor violations. Every type is capped, so one bad category cannot drive the score to zero on its own; a building reaches F by having problems across several categories, or an enforcement action on top of open hazards. The weight column shows how large each cap is relative to the others.
| Record | Window | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Open HPD Class C violations (immediately hazardous) | Open now, decayed by age | Heavy |
| Open HPD Class B violations (hazardous) | Open now, decayed by age | Heavy |
| Open HPD Class A violations (non-hazardous) | Open now, decayed by age | Light |
| Open HPD violations, any class | Open now, decayed by age | Light |
| Open DOB violations | Issued in the last 10 years, no disposition | Medium |
| Active ECB (OATH) violations | Status active | Light |
| Heat and hot water complaints to HPD | Last 12 months | Medium |
| All HPD complaints | Last 12 months | Light |
| Open HPD litigation | Case not closed | Medium |
| HPD litigation history | Every case, decayed by age | Light |
| Marshal evictions, residential | Last 3 years | Medium |
| DOHMH rodent inspections failed for rat activity | Last 3 years | Light |
| Bedbug filings reporting infested apartments | Last 3 years | Medium |
| Alternative Enforcement Program, active | Current status | Heavy |
| Speculation Watch List | Listed | Light |
| Vacate order with no rescind date | Current | Medium |
| HPD emergency repair (OMO) awards | Last 3 years | Light |
Why an Old Violation Counts Less
HPD leaves a violation open until the owner certifies the repair, and many owners never file the certification for work they did years ago. Of the open HPD violations in the city’s data on October 8, 2026, about three in ten were issued more than ten years ago and one in six more than twenty. A Class C from 2004 still marked open is far more likely to be paperwork than a live hazard. So open HPD violations and litigation history are weighted by age with a half-life of 2 years and a floor of 0.1: a violation from this year counts in full, one from 2 years ago counts half, one from six years ago counts a tenth, and anything older than 10 years is listed on the report but not scored. Complaints, evictions, rodent failures and bedbug filings are not decayed; they are simply limited to recent windows.
Peer Comparison
A 200-unit tower and a six-unit walk-up do not generate complaints at the same rate, and a building from 1905 carries a different record than one from 2015. The score itself stays the same for every building so a number means the same thing everywhere. Underneath it, each report says what share of comparable buildings score lower, where comparable means the same size band and the same era. The bands and their current averages:
| Peer group | Buildings | Average score | Share graded D or F |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 to 5 apartments, built before 1940 | 68,308 | 90.8 | 7.9% |
| 6 to 19 apartments, built before 1940 | 33,083 | 72.6 | 30% |
| 3 to 5 apartments, built 1940 to 1973 | 16,596 | 96.9 | 2.5% |
| 3 to 5 apartments, built 1974 to 2008 | 16,468 | 92.9 | 5.9% |
| 20 to 49 apartments, built before 1940 | 12,158 | 46 | 60.9% |
| 50 to 99 apartments, built before 1940 | 3,887 | 32 | 74.4% |
| 6 to 19 apartments, built since 2009 | 3,672 | 87.6 | 12% |
| 6 to 19 apartments, built 1974 to 2008 | 3,287 | 84.6 | 14.7% |
| 3 to 5 apartments, built since 2009 | 2,565 | 94.4 | 4.5% |
| 100 or more apartments, built 1940 to 1973 | 2,085 | 43.4 | 64.8% |
| 50 to 99 apartments, built 1940 to 1973 | 1,687 | 42 | 66.3% |
| 20 to 49 apartments, built since 2009 | 1,480 | 73.7 | 30% |
| 20 to 49 apartments, built 1974 to 2008 | 1,053 | 67.2 | 35.7% |
| 20 to 49 apartments, built 1940 to 1973 | 913 | 57 | 49.3% |
| 100 or more apartments, built since 2009 | 887 | 61.7 | 44.1% |
| 50 to 99 apartments, built since 2009 | 857 | 62.8 | 42.2% |
| 6 to 19 apartments, built 1940 to 1973 | 830 | 76.7 | 24.6% |
| 100 or more apartments, built 1974 to 2008 | 819 | 55.3 | 50.2% |
| 100 or more apartments, built before 1940 | 807 | 41.3 | 65.9% |
| 50 to 99 apartments, built 1974 to 2008 | 727 | 55.3 | 49.8% |
Limited Data
A report is flagged as limited data when the lot has fewer than three apartments, or when HPD has no registration for it and no agency has any record on file. Small buildings fall outside most of HPD’s registration and inspection rules, so a clean score there rests on very little. Treat it as unknown rather than good.
Refresh and Coverage
A building report is computed live from NYC Open Data each time it is opened, so it reflects the records the agencies had published at that moment. The peer tables, the neighborhood grade distributions and the most distressed buildings lists come from a citywide scoring run of every lot with three or more apartments; the current run is dated October 8, 2026, and the date is printed wherever those figures appear. The data sources page lists every dataset.
What the Score Does Not Do
- It does not rate structural safety. DOB and ECB violations count toward it, but a facade or elevator problem is a separate record you should read in full.
- It does not rate the apartment. Records are kept per building; the report shows apartment numbers on violations where HPD recorded them.
- It does not use crime, transit or school data. Those appear in the neighborhood panel of a report and are scored separately.
- It is not a government rating, a legal finding or a consumer report, and it should not be used to screen individuals.