Community indicators set the long-term direction for the county’s strategic planning and budget.

Data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Policy Development and Research (HUD PD&R) and American Community Survey provided by the Urban Institute. This metric reports the share of low-income households at three income levels, low-income (below 80 percent of area median income, or AMI), very low-income (below 50 percent of AMI), and extremely low-income (below 30 percent of AMI), that spend more than half (>50%) of their household income on rent.

American Community Survey data provided by the Urban Institute. To identify income percentiles, all households are ranked by income from lowest to highest. The income level at the threshold between the poorest 20 percent of households and the richest 80 percent is the 20th percentile. Similarly, the threshold between the poorest and richest halves is the 50th percentile (or median), and threshold between the poorest 80 percent and richest 20 percent is the 80th percentile.

Data on County-Level Overall Debt from the Urban Institute's Data catalog (https://datacatalog.urban.org/dataset/debt-america-2022). This dataset contains information derived from a random sample of deidentified, consumer-level records from a major credit bureau. The credit bureau data do not include information about race, so the white and people of color metrics are based on the racial makeup of zip codes within the geographic area (nation, state, county).

Data on homeowners' demographic characteristics from Homeowner Assistance Fund County-Level Targeting Data published in the Urban Institute's data catalog (https://datacatalog.urban.org/dataset/homeowner-assistance-fund-county-level-targeting-data).

American Community Survey data on the share of 3- to 4-year-olds enrolled in nursery school or preschool by race and ethnicity provided by the Urban Institute.

Data from the American Community Survey (ACS) Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) 5-year estimate. Based on workers aged 18-64 who report usually working at least 30 hours per week last year and worked at least 27 weeks out of the year. The definition of poverty is based on HHS poverty guidelines to calculate family-level poverty, which accounts for family size.​

County-level data from Child Care Aware of America on total available licensed childcare slots, as well as the number of slots per 100 infants, toddlers, or preschoolers. This dataset also includes the number of licensed childcare providers and details the shares of providers who offer center-based or family childcare, which is provided in the home of a licensed provider.