Data for Market Evaulation

[Conn G.]

First post, Woohoo!

Right now, I am currently deciding whether to invest out of state or in my backyard, Cincinnati. However, I am having trouble evaluating/comparing my backyard city with others. 

Questions for the smart people of BP:

What resources do you use to evaluate the macroeconomics for a city? 

 -  Do you use websites like FREDs (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/) and look at the unemployment rate, home ownership, median income, and etc

- And/Or do you look at nation news to see which city is getting/has the new multibillion-dollar plant?

What resources do you use to evaluate the microeconomics for a city? 

- I think Trulia's Market Trends (https://www.trulia.com/research/market-trends/) is helpful but is it accurate?

What resources do you use to see if the city and state are landlord friendly?

- Is there an easier way to weed out states without wasting time reading about each one?

My focus is on 3 bed 2 bath SFRs under $150k for buy&hold and cash flow investing.

There is so much data online, that it's sometimes overwhelming to comprehend and correlate with what you are trying to achieve as an REI.

Any advice would be appreciated!