inspections
How to Check Restaurant Health Inspection Scores
Every city with a health department inspects restaurants regularly — but the results are scattered across different government websites with different formats. Here's how to find inspection scores in major US cities and what the numbers actually mean.
Where to find inspection scores by city
Each city publishes inspection data differently. New York City uses the DOHMH restaurant inspection portal. Chicago has its own data portal at data.cityofchicago.org. San Francisco publishes through the Department of Public Health. Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle, Boston, and Dallas each have their own systems. There's no single national database for restaurant inspections.
What inspection scores mean
Scoring systems vary by city. In NYC, lower scores are better — 0-13 is an A, 14-27 is a B, and 28+ is a C (failing). In other cities, higher percentages are better. Critical violations (those that directly risk foodborne illness) are weighted more heavily than general violations like missing signage.
The fastest way to check
Instead of navigating multiple city portals, food safety apps like Panko Alerts aggregate inspection data from 8+ cities into a single feed. You can search by restaurant name, filter by city, and see scores with plain-language violation summaries — all in one place.
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