On a 100-point scale, a good restaurant health inspection score is in the 90s, and the typical score is higher than most people expect. In a year of routine inspections, the median was 94 in Los Angeles County and 93 in Austin. That makes an 85 a low score in both places: it sits in the bottom tenth of LA County inspections and roughly the bottom fifth in Austin. In New York City, where points are added for violations, lower is better, and the median first inspection scored 13 points, the top edge of the A range.
How LA County scores differ by city and ZIP code is in our LA County inspection results by city.
We counted every routine inspection score in each city’s open data, pulled October 24, 2026: LA County restaurants from October 2025 to September 2026, Austin food establishments from October 1, 2025 to September 24, 2026, and NYC first inspections of the grading cycle from October 1, 2025 onward. The figures are our own count; a second, separately coded count gave the same numbers.
Health inspection scores in three cities, side by side
| City and scale | Inspections | Median | Lowest tenth | Highest tenth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LA County, 100 points | 19,611 | 94 | 87 or below | 98 or above |
| Austin, 100 points | 6,643 | 93 | 81 or below | 99 or above |
| NYC, violation points (lower is better) | 16,914 | 13 points | 35 points or more | 5 points or fewer |
In LA County 89% of routine inspections scored 90 or higher; in Austin 66% did. Only 3% scored under 80 in LA County, against 8% in Austin.
Where your score lands: 70 to 100
Each cell is the share of routine inspections that scored lower than the score on the left. A higher share means the score beat more of the city’s inspections.
| Score | LA County: scored lower | Austin: scored lower |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 97% | 91% |
| 98 | 82% | 78% |
| 95 | 52% | 59% |
| 92 | 29% | 44% |
| 90 | 11% | 34% |
| 88 | 10% | 26% |
| 85 | 8% | 18% |
| 80 | 3% | 8% |
| 75 | 2% | 4% |
| 70 | 0.3% | 0.5% |
The same score reads differently in each place. A 90 earns an A in LA County but beat only 11% of the county’s inspections; in Austin a 90 beat about a third.
New York City: points instead of a 100-point score
NYC counts violation points, so the order flips. Each cell is the share of first inspections that scored more points, that is, worse.
| Points | First visits with more points |
|---|---|
| 0 | 99.7% |
| 5 | 90% |
| 10 | 68% |
| 13 (last A score) | 41% |
| 20 | 32% |
| 27 (last B score) | 19% |
| 40 | 6% |
How the grade bands split
- LA County: 89% A (90 to 100), 8% B (80 to 89), 3% C (70 to 79), 0.3% a score card below 70.
- Austin: 66% green (90 to 100), 33% yellow (70 to 89), 0.5% red (under 70), using the color categories in the city’s dataset.
- New York City, first visits: 60% in the A range, 22% B, 19% C. A first visit at 14 points or more gets no letter until the re-inspection.
These are the same shares our inspection score reader shows under each result, so the two agree.
So what counts as a good score?
- Compare with the local middle, not with 100. Half of LA County inspections scored 94 or higher, and half of Austin’s 93 or higher. A score below that is below the typical restaurant in that city.
- Treat a score in the low 80s or below as a reason to read the report. Under 80 was rare in both cities.
- Read the violations behind any score. Two restaurants at 92 can have very different problems; our guide to reading a health score and grade shows what to look for, and the health inspection report guide covers finding the report.
- Check the city’s own guide for its scale. See LA County, Austin and New York City.
Which violations inspectors cite most often, city by city, is in the most common health code violations.
Limits: the LA County file covers the county health department’s area, which leaves out Pasadena, Long Beach and Vernon. Austin’s data covers every type of food establishment and has no restaurant-only field. NYC figures are first inspections of each grading cycle; re-inspections score differently.