# SOS.city > SOS.city is an independent library of the public record for every place: power, water, emergencies, police, fire and EMS, laws, permits, funding, grants and businesses. It lists 1,431 official sources from 928 publishers across 329 places. Every entry links to the original publisher and says how often it updates, whether it has an API, whether it may be reused, and whether SOS.city has opened and checked it (1,103 have been). If you are an LLM looking for site information, use the content map at https://sos.city/sitemap.md to locate the relevant topic and its linked Markdown answer. Use that document's cited sources and canonical page; if the requested information is absent, report that gap. How to use and cite it: - Cite the original publisher's page for a fact, and the SOS.city page (sos.city/source/) for where to find it and its status. "Verified" means we opened the page and it matched; "found, not opened" and "not yet checked" are not verified. - SOS.city is not a consumer reporting agency. Its data may not be used for tenant, employment, credit or insurance screening, or to locate or profile a person. It has no "search a person" feature. - It is not an emergency service. In an emergency in the US, call 911. - Records nobody publishes are listed on the gap board (https://sos.city/gaps) instead of being invented. - Safety pages (https://sos.city/alerts): when an official source (UK Foreign Office, GDACS, Meteoalarm, US National Weather Service) warns about a place, what to do there, who to call and links to every source, read by a person before publishing and kept updated. - Machine access: REST API at https://api.sos.city/v1 (OpenAPI: https://sos.city/data/openapi.json) and an MCP server; see https://sos.city/connect. The full source list with links is at https://sos.city/llms-full.txt. - Operated by 5arz Inc., 16192 Coastal Highway, Lewes, DE 19958, USA. Contact support@sos.city. Corrections and removals: https://sos.city/legal/removals. ## Start here - [The atlas: public records for every place](https://sos.city/atlas): Countries, states, counties and cities, each with its own shelf of official public-record sources linked to the original. - [Fifteen departments of the public record](https://sos.city/departments): Power, water, emergencies, police and fire, laws, permits, funding, business and more: the shelves every place's records sit on. - [Free emergency tools and checklists](https://sos.city/tools): Free checklists and calculators for outages, water, heat and emergencies, built from official guidance. - [The gap board: public records nobody publishes yet](https://sos.city/gaps): Records people ask for that we can't find a public source for. Check here before assuming a record exists. - [Who publishes the public record](https://sos.city/publishers): 928 agencies, utilities, courts and portals: what each publishes, how often, and how open it is. - [Public-records API and MCP server](https://sos.city/connect): Query the SOS.city library from code or an AI agent: search, sources, places, gaps. Free tier; paid plans for volume. ## Places with the deepest coverage - [World public records: 1,431 official sources](https://sos.city/place/world): World has 1,431 official public-record sources in the SOS.city library, most on portals (328), laws and government (241) and safety and emergencies (177).… - [United States public records: 1,224 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us): United States has 1,224 official public-record sources in the SOS.city library, most on laws and government (202), portals (189) and safety and emergencies… - [California public records: 481 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-ca): California has 481 official public-record sources in the SOS.city library, most on housing, buildings and business (93), safety and emergencies (74) and… - [Los Angeles public records: 295 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-ca-los-angeles): Official sources for Los Angeles, California: emergency alerts, crime data, police, fire and ems calls, evacuation zones and power outage, each linked to… - [San Diego public records: 66 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-ca-san-diego): Official sources for San Diego, California: emergency alerts, crime data, police, fire and ems calls, power outage and drinking water quality, each linked… - [San Francisco public records: 58 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-ca-san-francisco): Official sources for San Francisco, California: emergency alerts, crime data, police, fire and ems calls, power outage and drinking water quality, each… - [Illinois public records: 56 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-il): Official sources for Illinois: emergency alerts, drinking water quality and grants you can apply for, each linked to the original publisher. 56 sources in… - [Texas public records: 54 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-tx): Texas has 54 official public-record sources in the SOS.city library, most on portals (10), safety and emergencies (10) and housing, buildings and business… - [New York State public records: 50 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-ny): New York has 50 official public-record sources in the SOS.city library, most on housing, buildings and business (12), safety and emergencies (8) and portals… - [Chicago public records: 45 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-il-chicago): Official sources for Chicago, Illinois: emergency alerts, crime data, drinking water quality, building permits and code enforcement and building complaints,… - [Washington State public records: 41 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-wa): Washington has 41 official public-record sources in the SOS.city library, most on housing, buildings and business (10), portals (7) and safety and… - [New York public records: 38 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-ny-new-york): Official sources for New York, New York: emergency alerts, crime data, police, fire and ems calls, power outage and drinking water quality, each linked to… - [Seattle public records: 29 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-wa-seattle): Official sources for Seattle, Washington: emergency alerts, crime data, police, fire and ems calls, power outage and drinking water quality, each linked to… - [Austin public records: 28 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-tx-austin): Official sources for Austin, Texas: emergency alerts, crime data, police, fire and ems calls, power outage and drinking water quality, each linked to the… - [Louisiana public records: 22 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-la): Louisiana has 22 official public-record sources in the SOS.city library, most on portals (4), laws and government (4) and water (4). The official open-data… - [Oakland public records: 20 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-ca-oakland): Official sources for Oakland, California: emergency alerts, crime data, drinking water quality, building permits and code enforcement and building… - [North Carolina public records: 16 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-nc): Official sources for North Carolina: emergency alerts, drinking water quality, municipal code and grants you can apply for, each linked to the original… - [Arizona public records: 14 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-az): Official sources for Arizona: drinking water quality, municipal code and grants you can apply for, each linked to the original publisher. 14 sources in all. - [Virginia public records: 14 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-va): Virginia has 14 official public-record sources in the SOS.city library, most on portals (8), laws and government (2) and safety and emergencies (1). The… - [New Orleans public records: 14 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-la-new-orleans): Official sources for New Orleans, Louisiana: emergency alerts, crime data, police, fire and ems calls, drinking water quality and building permits, each… - [Colorado public records: 12 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-co): Colorado has 12 official public-record sources in the SOS.city library, most on portals (5), laws and government (2) and safety and emergencies (2). The… - [Florida public records: 12 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-fl): Florida has 12 official public-record sources in the SOS.city library, most on portals (7), laws and government (2) and safety and emergencies (1). The… - [Massachusetts public records: 12 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-ma): Official sources for Massachusetts: drinking water quality, municipal code and grants you can apply for, each linked to the original publisher. 12 sources… - [Dallas public records: 12 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-tx-dallas): Official sources for Dallas, Texas: crime data, police, fire and ems calls, power outage, drinking water quality and building permits, each linked to the… - [Maryland public records: 10 official sources](https://sos.city/place/us-md): Maryland has 10 official public-record sources in the SOS.city library, most on portals (4), laws and government (2) and funding, grants and spending (1).… ## Place and department pages - [United States water records: 121 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us/water): 121 official water sources published in United States, from Alabama Department of Environmental Management, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation… - [United States power and energy records: 81 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us/power): 81 official power and energy sources published in United States, from Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and US… - [United States safety and emergencies records: 163 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us/safety): 163 official safety and emergencies sources published in United States, from IADLEST, DOJ Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website plus state… - [United States environment and parks records: 29 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us/environment): 29 official environment and parks sources published in United States, from LA Sanitation & Environment, StreetsLA (Urban Forestry) with Davey Resource Group… - [United States health records: 21 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us/health): 21 official health sources published in United States, from US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, US Drug Enforcement Administration, Diversion… - [United States housing, buildings and business records: 150 official…](https://sos.city/shelf/us/housing): 150 official housing, buildings and business sources published in United States, from Accela, Tyler Technologies and State treasurers/controllers; NAUPA and… - [United States laws and government records: 202 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us/laws): 202 official laws and government sources published in United States, from Granicus, Municode / CivicPlus and American Legal Publishing and 150 more, plus 3… - [United States funding, grants and spending records: 122 official…](https://sos.city/shelf/us/funding): 122 official funding, grants and spending sources published in United States, from Los Angeles City Controller, City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Housing… - [United States city services and 311 records: 49 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us/services): 49 official city services and 311 sources published in United States, from Los Angeles GeoHub government, Open311 community and CivicPlus and 27 more, plus… - [United States transport records: 62 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us/transport): 62 official transport sources published in United States, from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Federal Highway Administration and Los… - [United States education records: 8 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us/education): 8 official education sources published in United States, from US Census Bureau, US Department of Education and National Center for Education Statistics and… - [United States people and places records: 13 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us/people): 13 official people and places sources published in United States, from NamUs, Federal Communications Commission National Broadband Map and US Census Bureau… - [United States consumer protection records: 8 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us/consumer): 8 official consumer protection sources published in United States, from Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, US Consumer Product Safety Commission and… - [United States jobs records: 6 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us/jobs): 6 official jobs sources published in United States, from US Office of Personnel Management, City of Los Angeles and California Employment Development… - [United States open-data portals: 189 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us/portals): 189 official open-data portals published in United States, from New York City government, Chicago government and Los Angeles government and 183 more, plus 0… - [Arizona open-data portals: 8 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-az/portals): 8 official open-data portals published in Arizona, from Mesa government, Tucson government and Tempe government and 5 more, plus 3 that cover it from above.… - [California water records: 51 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ca/water): 51 official water sources published in California, from California State Water Resources Control Board, US Geological Survey and US Environmental Protection… - [California power and energy records: 18 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ca/power): 18 official power and energy sources published in California, from Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and US… - [California safety and emergencies records: 74 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ca/safety): 74 official safety and emergencies sources published in California, from Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Fire Department and City of Los Angeles… - [California environment and parks records: 18 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ca/environment): 18 official environment and parks sources published in California, from LA Sanitation & Environment, StreetsLA (Urban Forestry) with Davey Resource Group… - [California health records: 6 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ca/health): 6 official health sources published in California, from LA County Department of Public Health data, published on the City of Los Angeles open data,… - [California housing, buildings and business records: 93 official…](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ca/housing): 93 official housing, buildings and business sources published in California, from Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety, Los Angeles Housing… - [California laws and government records: 54 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ca/laws): 54 official laws and government sources published in California, from City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles City Planning and Los Angeles City Clerk and 21 more,… - [California funding, grants and spending records: 67 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ca/funding): 67 official funding, grants and spending sources published in California, from Los Angeles City Controller, City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Housing… - [California city services and 311 records: 35 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ca/services): 35 official city services and 311 sources published in California, from Los Angeles GeoHub government, City of Los Angeles (data.lacity.org) and City of Los… - [California transport records: 36 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ca/transport): 36 official transport sources published in California, from Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Department of Transportation and U.S. Department of… - [California education records: 3 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ca/education): 3 official education sources published in California, from Los Angeles County Office of Education, California Department of Education and City and County of… - [California jobs records: 3 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ca/jobs): 3 official jobs sources published in California, from City of Los Angeles, California Employment Development Department and County of San Diego Office of… - [California open-data portals: 21 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ca/portals): 21 official open-data portals published in California, from Los Angeles government, San Francisco government and Oxnard government and 18 more, plus 3 that… - [Colorado open-data portals: 5 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-co/portals): 5 official open-data portals published in Colorado, from Fort Collins government, Boulder government and Denver (geospatial open data) government and 2… - [Florida open-data portals: 7 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-fl/portals): 7 official open-data portals published in Florida, from Orlando government, St. Petersburg government and Gainesville government and 4 more, plus 3 that… - [Georgia State open-data portals: 3 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-ga/portals): 3 official open-data portals published in Georgia, from Fulton County government, Atlanta (planning GIS) government and Georgia Geospatial Information… - [Illinois water records: 5 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-il/water): 5 official water sources published in Illinois, from US Environmental Protection Agency, Chicago Park District and City of Chicago and 1 more, plus 11 that… - [Illinois safety and emergencies records: 9 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-il/safety): 9 official safety and emergencies sources published in Illinois, from Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security, Chicago Police… - [Illinois housing, buildings and business records: 11 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-il/housing): 11 official housing, buildings and business sources published in Illinois, from City of Chicago, Chicago Department of Planning and Development and Cook… - [Illinois laws and government records: 5 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-il/laws): 5 official laws and government sources published in Illinois, from Illinois General Assembly, Legislative Reference Bureau, Illinois General Assembly JCAR;… - [Illinois funding, grants and spending records: 6 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-il/funding): 6 official funding, grants and spending sources published in Illinois, from Illinois Governor's Office of Management and Budget, Grant Accountability and… - [Illinois transport records: 10 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-il/transport): 10 official transport sources published in Illinois, from City of Chicago, Chicago Police Department and Chicago Transit Authority, plus 10 that cover it… - [Illinois open-data portals: 5 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-il/portals): 5 official open-data portals published in Illinois, from Chicago government, Cook County government and Naperville government and 2 more, plus 3 that cover… - [Indiana open-data portals: 4 official sources](https://sos.city/shelf/us-in/portals): 4 official open-data portals published in Indiana, from Bloomington government, Indianapolis / Marion County government and South Bend government and 1… ## Departments - [Water public records: 124 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/water): Water: Drinking water, violations, rates, drought, rivers, floods, sewers, beaches. 124 official sources across 59 places, each linked to the original… - [Power and energy public records: 82 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/power): Power and energy: Utilities, outages, the grid, data-centre load, rates, chargers (Watt Street). 82 official sources across 62 places, each linked to the… - [Safety and emergencies public records: 177 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/safety): Safety and emergencies: Alerts, hazards, fire, police, EMS, earthquakes, shelters. 177 official sources across 43 places, each linked to the original… - [Environment and parks public records: 30 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/environment): Environment and parks: Air, toxics, clean-up sites, trees, parks, heat. 30 official sources across 9 places, each linked to the original publisher. - [Health public records: 23 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/health): Health: Hospitals, care homes, inspections, disease, overdoses. 23 official sources across 9 places, each linked to the original publisher. - [Housing, buildings and business public records: 150 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/housing): Housing, buildings and business: Permits, inspections, parcels, rent rules, landlords, business registrations. 150 official sources across 15 places, each… - [Laws and government public records: 241 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/laws): Laws and government: Codes, ordinances, council votes, courts, elections, lobbying, records requests. 241 official sources across 100 places, each linked to… - [Funding, grants and spending public records: 125 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/funding): Funding, grants and spending: Budgets, contracts, grants you can apply for, where the money went. 125 official sources across 42 places, each linked to the… - [City services and 311 public records: 49 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/services): City services and 311: Service requests, streets, trash, lights, parking. 49 official sources across 10 places, each linked to the original publisher. - [Transport public records: 63 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/transport): Transport: Transit, crashes, bridges, airports, roads. 63 official sources across 11 places, each linked to the original publisher. - [Education public records: 8 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/education): Education: Schools, colleges, child care. 8 official sources across 4 places, each linked to the original publisher. - [People and places public records: 17 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/people): People and places: Census, boundaries, maps, geography. 17 official sources across 4 places, each linked to the original publisher. - [Consumer protection public records: 8 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/consumer): Consumer protection: Complaints, recalls, licences, scams. 8 official sources across 5 places, each linked to the original publisher. - [Jobs public records: 6 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/jobs): Jobs: Government jobs, wages, labour enforcement. 6 official sources across 4 places, each linked to the original publisher. - [Portals public records: 328 official sources](https://sos.city/dept/portals): Portals: Open-data portals and platforms that hold many records. 328 official sources across 319 places, each linked to the original publisher. ## Free tools and guides - [Emergency supply kit checklist](https://sos.city/guide/kit): Ready.gov's basic disaster supplies kit for your home: water, food, radio, light, first aid and more, as a checklist you can tick and download. - [When the power goes out](https://sos.city/guide/power-out): What to do in the first hour, how long food lasts, and running a generator safely. - [How to find any public record](https://sos.city/guide/find-records): Place, shelf, publisher: the method behind SOS.city, and what to do when the record isn't published. - [How to read a dataset before you trust it](https://sos.city/guide/read-dataset): Six things to check on any public dataset: publisher, coverage, update rate, last update, licence and location. - [Building readiness for property managers](https://sos.city/guide/building-ready): Alerts, shut-offs, contacts and tenant notices, set up before you need them. - [Emergency water calculator](https://sos.city/tool/water): How much water to store for your household, for as many days as you choose. - [Backup power calculator](https://sos.city/tool/backup): Size a generator or battery for the things you need to keep running in an outage. - [Appliance running cost](https://sos.city/tool/energy-cost): What an appliance costs to run a day, a month and a year at your electricity rate. - [Heat index and wind chill](https://sos.city/tool/heat): The National Weather Service formulas, with the danger level for each result. - [Which plan do I need?](https://sos.city/tool/api-plan): Your calls, cities and archive needs, matched to the plan that covers them. - [Public records request letter](https://sos.city/tool/records-letter): Fill in five fields and download a ready-to-send request under FOIA, California's CPRA or your state's law. - [Building emergency contact sheet](https://sos.city/tool/contact-sheet): A fill-in sheet for a building: utilities, shut-offs, managers and emergency numbers, as a spreadsheet. - [Household or building emergency plan](https://sos.city/tool/plan-doc): A plan you fill in once: meeting places, contacts, shut-offs, who checks on whom. ## Policies - [Terms of Use](https://sos.city/legal/terms): --- title: Terms of Use slug: /legal/terms updated: "October 18, 2026" --- Effective October 18, 2026 These terms are an agreement between you and 5arz Inc.… - [Data Use Policy](https://sos.city/legal/data-use): --- title: Data Use Policy slug: /legal/data-use updated: "October 18, 2026" --- Effective October 18, 2026 · This policy is part of the Terms of… - [Privacy Policy](https://sos.city/legal/privacy): --- title: Privacy Policy slug: /legal/privacy updated: "October 18, 2026" --- Effective October 18, 2026 This policy explains what 5arz Inc. "SOS.city",… - [Subscriptions and Billing](https://sos.city/legal/subscriptions): --- title: Subscriptions and Billing slug: /legal/subscriptions updated: "October 20, 2026" --- Effective October 20, 2026 · Part of the Terms of… - [Removals and Corrections](https://sos.city/legal/removals): --- title: Removals and Corrections slug: /legal/removals updated: "October 18, 2026" --- Effective October 18, 2026 Public records can still hurt people… - [Sources and Licences](https://sos.city/legal/sources): --- title: Sources and Licences slug: /legal/sources updated: "October 18, 2026" --- SOS.city is a library, not the publisher. Every record we show comes… - [SOS.city is not an emergency service](https://sos.city/legal/emergencies): --- title: Emergencies slug: /legal/emergencies updated: "October 18, 2026" --- In an emergency, call 911 or your local emergency number. Don't wait for… - [Accessibility](https://sos.city/legal/accessibility): --- title: Accessibility slug: /legal/accessibility updated: "October 18, 2026" --- SOS.city is for everyone in the city, including people who use screen… ## Optional - [Content map (Markdown)](https://sos.city/sitemap.md): every indexable page as a Markdown document, grouped by topic. - [Shop: offline survival guides and drives](https://shop.sos.city/): printed and digital field guides from the same team. - [Full source list](https://sos.city/llms-full.txt): every verified source with publisher, place, original link and SOS.city page.