How Scoring Works
Understanding the severity scoring system
Overview
Each restaurant receives a severity score based on its recent inspection history. The score determines the badge color displayed on the main page. Higher scores indicate more serious or more frequent health code issues.
Severity Badges
Scoring Rules
Scores start at 0 and points are added based on inspection outcomes:
| Condition | Points | Time Window |
|---|---|---|
| Closure | +3.0 | Within 180 days |
| Conditional approval or failed inspection | +2.0 | Within 180 days |
| Each critical violation (capped at +2.0) | +0.5 | Within 365 days |
| Two or more adverse inspections | +0.5 | Within 365 days |
Restaurant-Level Score
When a restaurant has multiple inspections, the scores from each inspection are combined. A restaurant that is currently operationally closed receives an additional +5.0 points, pushing it to the top of severity-sorted results.
Inspection Outcomes
- Approved
- The restaurant passed inspection with no significant issues.
- Conditional Approved
- The restaurant is allowed to continue operating but has violations that must be corrected.
- Unsatisfactory / Re-Inspection Required
- The restaurant failed inspection and must be re-inspected before receiving approval.
- Closure / Re-Inspection Required
- The restaurant was ordered to close due to serious health code violations. It must correct all issues and pass a re-inspection before reopening.
Data Source
Inspection data is scraped from the City of Albuquerque Environmental Health Department weekly inspection reports. The data pipeline runs automatically and accumulates historical records over time.