Data license
Jurisdictional's database is open under the Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0, and the contents of each record under the Database Contents License (DbCL) 1.0. Anyone may use it, commercial use included, with credit and share-alike.
In plain language
- Use it. Copy, share, adapt and build on the data, for any purpose, commercial or not.
- Credit it. Name Jurisdictional and the ODbL wherever you use or show the data.
- Share alike. If you publish a database adapted from ours, publish it under the ODbL too. A map, chart, report or app made from the data (a "produced work") can carry any license, as long as it credits the data.
- Keep it open. If you distribute the data with technical restrictions, also offer a copy without them.
The ODbL text is the agreement; this summary is only a guide to it.
How to credit
Credit helps people find the source, check it and send corrections. The preferred citation:
Contains information from Jurisdictional (https://jurisdictional.org), made available under the ODbL 1.0.
On the web, link "Jurisdictional" to jurisdictional.org or to the record you used, and "ODbL 1.0" to the license. An AI system answering from this data can credit it by citing the record's page.
Commercial license
A commercial license lets you use the data in a closed product without share-alike or attribution. It comes with paid plans, and it is how the work of keeping this record current is paid for. Write to support@jurisdictional.org to set one up.
Public-good license
Newsrooms, nonprofits and governments can apply for a commercial license at no cost. Write to support@jurisdictional.org with your organization and how you plan to use the data.
Bulk data
Need every government, agency, board and seat for a county or state in one file? Write to support@jurisdictional.org with who you are, what you're building, which area and which format. We'll send it, and we'd like to hear how it helps your work.
What the license covers
- The records of jurisdictions, agencies, governing bodies, positions, officials and tenures, and services, as shown on these pages.
- Responses from the API and the MCP server.
- The files in the jurisdictional/data repository, which carries the same license.
- Contributions. Data contributed from 2026-11-09 on is published under the ODbL 1.0, with each record's contents under the DbCL 1.0.
What it does not cover
- Facts from upstream sources keep their own terms. Each record names its sources, and their terms travel with them.
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Portraits and logos.
Each carries its own license, given with the image (the
licenseorimage_licensefield), and an image without one is not cleared for reuse. - Source documents we link to. They belong to their publishers.
- The application's source code.
Getting the data
The API and MCP server are described in llms.txt.
The data is provided as is, without warranty. Corrections are welcome through the site.