Most buyers have heard of a home inspection and an appraisal. Fewer know what a Pearl SCORE™ is, even though nearly every single-family home in the country already has one. In short, a Pearl SCORE is a single rating that describes how a home performs in daily life: how comfortable it is and how well it guards against health risks like mold and radon, how efficiently it runs, how prepared it is for major weather and whether it can produce and store its own power.
Pearl, a ratings and standards company, created the rating to give buyers a consistent way to understand those qualities before they buy. Pearl SCORE™ is the national standard for how homebuyers evaluate home performance. Here is what the rating covers, how it works and how buyers can use it.
A Pearl SCORE rates a single-family home across five pillars, always in this order:
Pearl SCORE is sometimes described as an energy efficiency rating. Efficiency is part of it, but it sits under Operations, one pillar out of five. The Energy pillar covers something different: whether a home can produce and store power. Safety, Comfort and Resilience add dimensions that efficiency ratings don’t address, from indoor air quality to readiness for severe weather. Taken together, the five pillars describe what a home is like to live in, not only what it costs to heat and cool.
Pearl SCORE uses a scale of 1 to 1,000, and each home falls into one of four ratings: Low, Typical, High or Exceptional. Higher ratings indicate better performance. Each home is measured against objective performance benchmarks rather than graded on a curve, so one home’s result doesn’t depend on how its neighbors score.
Most U.S. homes fall in the Typical rating, largely because they were built before modern performance standards existed.
Pearl analyzes more than 700 data points for each home, drawing on public records, utility data where available and building science modeling, with the home’s climate factored in. Pearl has scored more than 97 million single-family homes across the country.
Homeowners can add to that picture. An unclaimed home reflects what is currently known from public records. When an owner claims the home and confirms or adds its features, the score updates to include them, and high-impact features require documentation such as photos or model numbers. Pearl is independent and does not accept payment to influence scores or promote specific brands.
A Pearl SCORE is not a home inspection, an appraisal or a guarantee of a home’s condition. It doesn’t tell buyers which home to choose. It gives them consistent information about how each home performs, so they can make that decision with their family and their agent.
Buyers can look up the Pearl SCORE for any single-family home in the U.S. for free in the Pearl app. For homes they’re seriously considering, the Pearl SCORE™ Report offers a deeper look at each pillar. Pearl explains the industry standards behind each pillar on its Pearl SCORE™ page.
About Pearl
Founded in 2013, Pearl is a ratings and standards company building the national standard for home performance. Pearl SCORE™ rates every single-family home in the U.S. across five key pillars — Safety, Comfort, Operations, Resilience, and Energy — so homebuyers, homeowners, and real estate professionals can understand how a home performs in daily life. As a Certified B Corporation, we’re accountable not only to our shareholders, but also to the homeowners and communities we serve. For more information, visit pearlscore.com.
This article is based on publicly available information from Pearl. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.
Disclosure: Individuals or companies mentioned may have a commercial relationship with KeyCrew.