How the No Regrets Move Index Works

What the No Regrets Move Index Evaluates

The NRMI draws on a structured set of relocation inputs provided by the person or household completing the assessment. These inputs combine the household's own view of how resolved key parts of the decision feel with structured questions about the concrete circumstances of the proposed move.

Together, these inputs allow the assessment to examine planning complexity and unresolved decision risk across the full shape of a relocation — the household's finances, the destination itself, the logistics of the transition, and the readiness of the decision.

Four Decision Domains

For interpretation, the considerations the assessment examines span four broad decision domains:

• Financial Fit — how the move may interact with household income, housing costs, and everyday expenses.
• Location — how well the household knows, has defined, and has tested the destination, including differences in environment and housing-market conditions.
• Logistics — the practical complexity of the transition, including the move itself, support services, and changes to daily life.
• Decision Readiness — how prepared and resolved the overall decision appears to be.

The kinds of considerations a household may examine within these domains include, for example: how secure income will be after the move; how well housing and everyday costs at the destination are understood; how familiar the household is with the destination; whether school, caregiving, or healthcare arrangements must change; and how much the move depends on other events going as planned. These are illustrative examples of the areas the assessment explores — not a complete description of the assessment or its inputs.

The domains help users see where unresolved planning issues are concentrated — for example, whether the open questions are mostly financial or mostly about the destination itself. The domain presentation is an interpretive view that organizes assessment results so they are easier to discuss and act on.

The 0–100 Index

The NRMI produces a single score presented on a 0–100 scale. The direction of the score matters:

• Higher scores indicate more unresolved planning risk or complexity requiring attention. A higher score does not mean that the user should not move.
• Lower scores indicate fewer unresolved planning concerns within the factors assessed. A lower score does not guarantee that a move will succeed or produce a desirable outcome.

Neither a high nor a low score tells anyone whether they should move. The score does not predict relocation success, failure, happiness, or regret.

Interpretation Categories

To make results easier to interpret, each score is presented within an interpretation category. These categories range from relatively limited immediate planning concern at the lower end of the scale through significant unresolved planning risk at the higher end.

These are planning and interpretation categories, not probabilities. A category does not describe the likelihood that a move will succeed, fail, or be regretted. It describes how much unresolved planning complexity the assessment identified within the factors evaluated, so the household knows where closer attention is warranted.

Contextual Information

In addition to the NRMI itself, No Regrets Move™ reports may present contextual information intended to improve understanding of a proposed move — concerning matters such as cost-of-living conditions, housing affordability, employment conditions, commuting and distance, and other destination-related context.

Contextual information is provided to improve understanding of a proposed move and should not be assumed to correspond directly to the NRMI score or to carry any particular scoring weight. It offers context for interpreting the assessment and for conversations with family, advisors, and other professionals.

External Data Sources

Where available, the contextual information above draws on publicly available data from authoritative sources:

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities

Regional Price Parities (RPPs) published by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis are used to provide cost-of-living context between the origin and destination. RPPs express regional price levels relative to the national average and are estimates, not precise household budget forecasts.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Local Area Unemployment Statistics

Destination employment context is drawn from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment figures describe general labor-market conditions at the destination, not any individual's employment prospects.

OpenStreetMap — Geographic Context

Origin and destination locations and the distance between them are resolved using OpenStreetMap/Nominatim geographic data.

The availability and precision of external information can vary by location and over time. These external sources provide context only: the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and OpenStreetMap do not calculate, validate, certify, or endorse the No Regrets Move Index.

Assumptions and Reassessment

The NRMI reflects the information and assumptions supplied at the time an assessment is completed. Relocation plans are rarely static: offers change, timelines shift, housing options evolve, and family circumstances develop.

When important circumstances or assumptions change, users can update the relevant information and submit another assessment to examine how those changed inputs affect the resulting assessment. Each assessment is evaluated on the information provided at the time it is submitted.

Limitations

The No Regrets Move Index has important limitations that users should understand:

• It is a decision-support and planning aid, not a prediction engine.
• It does not guarantee any relocation outcome.
• It does not provide a probability of relocation success, failure, happiness, or regret.
• It depends substantially on information and assumptions supplied by users, which may change.
• It does not replace individualized legal, financial, tax, real-estate, employment, school, safety, healthcare, or other professional advice as applicable. Users should independently verify all material information and consult qualified professionals before making relocation or housing decisions.
• It may incorporate external contextual information that is subject to limitations, estimation, and availability.

Proprietary Methodology

The NRMI methodology and scoring framework are proprietary to No Regrets Move. This page describes the framework at a level intended to help users understand and appropriately interpret the assessment without disclosing the underlying scoring architecture.

How to Use the Index

The purpose of the score is not to produce a simple “move” or “don't move” verdict. Its value is in helping a household ask better questions: What remains unresolved? Which assumptions matter most? And what should we investigate before committing to a location, a property, or a moving plan?

A structured look at the decision tends to be most useful early — before housing, employment, school, or financial commitments narrow the available options.

• Should I Move? A Relocation Decision Framework — a framework for deciding whether a move makes sense at all.
• What Should I Consider Before Relocating? — seven areas to examine once a move becomes a real possibility.
• Sample Assessment — see what a No Regrets Move report looks like at the Snapshot level. The three monthly subscription tiers provide more in-depth reporting.