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SUBJECT AREAS:
- College Educated Work Force -
- Adults with at least a BA/BS degree, adults with at least a MA/MS degree, adults with a professional degree, adults with at least a Ph.D. degree.
- Health Care Cost & Availability -
- Includes a comparison of health care facilities, health care providers, health insurance cost, doctor visit cost, and malpractice insurance cost.
- Logistics Infrastructure -
- Evaluates the overall logistics infrastructure of the entire metro area based upon 10 major categories, including the transportation and distribution (T&D) industry, T&D work force, road infrastructure, road congestion, road conditions, interstate highway access, vehicle taxes & fees, railroad access, water port access, and air cargo access.
- Public Schools -
- Compares the average quality of public schools throughout the metro area, including academic performance, public education resources, and adult education & income of the adult community.
- Quality of Life -
- The ability to enjoy the fruits of a middle class lifestyle at a reasonable cost. Includes 9 major categories: affordable housing, public schools, crime & safety, standard of living, traffic & commuting, adult education levels, adult education opportunities, work force employability, and commercial air access.
- State Government Tax & Spending -
- Compares the general tax bite, state spending on infrastructure, state debt management, 5-year trends in taxing, spending and debt management, and whether or not a state has right-to-work legislation.
MAJOR CATEGORIES:
- Academic Performance -
- Compares the average college board scores, as well as average graduation rates of the school district.
- Adult Education & Income Levels -
- Compares the education and income of the adults within the school district. This factor is used primarily for benchmarking and accounts for only 5 percent of the overage public education score.
- Adult Education Levels -
- Looks at the education level of the adult population, including percentage with a bachelor's, masters, Ph.D., professional degree, as well as the percentage employed in science and engineering.
- Adult Education Opportunities -
- Compares the availability of post-secondary education opportunities for adults, including community colleges, as well as colleges and universities that offer bachelors, masters and Ph.D. degrees.
- Adults with at least a BA/BS Degree -
- Percentage of the adult population with at least a bachelor's degree.
- Adults with at least a MA/MS Degree -
- Percentage of the adult population with at least a master's degree.
- Adults with at least a Ph.D. Degree -
- Percentage of the adult population with Ph.D. degree.
- Adults with a Professional Degree -
- Percentage of the adult population with a professional degree.
- Affordable Housing -
- Includes average home price and average rental costs for one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom rentals.
- Air Cargo Access -
- Includes the number of air courier companies, as well as the total air cargo tonnage for the metro.
- Commercial Air Access -
- Based upon average passenger volume of all airports located within the metro area.
- Crime & Safety -
- Based upon FBI per capita violent crime and property crime rates.
- Doctor Visit Cost -
- Includes the average cost for a visit to a doctor, dentist, and optometrist.
- Employment Profile -
- Looks at the local work force in terms of average annual pay, average wage per job, unemployment rate, population between the ages of 18 and 34, and the adult education evels.
- Five-Year Trends in State Taxing, Spending & Debt Management -
- Trends over the past 5 years in reliance on individual income taxes and corporate income taxes, as well as improvement is the state's debt service ratio, improvement in the state's total debt, and decreases in the amount of spending on government administration.
- General Tax Bite -
- Includes tax revenue per capita, percent of state revenues derived from corporate, as well as individual, income taxes, percent of state revenues from sales taxes and the percent of revenues derived from property taxes.
- Health Care Facilities -
- Includes quantity and quality of hospitals.
- Health Care Providers -
- Includes physicians and nurses per capita.
- Health Insurance Cost -
- Includes average cost of health care insurance for employers and for employees.
- Interstate Highway Access -
- Includes the number of interstate highways that pass through the metro area, as well as the number of interstate auxiliary routes (i.e., beltways, bypass, etc.).
- Malpractice Insurance Cost -
- Includes malpractice insurance premiums per doctor, as well as the AMA Medical Liability Crisis rating.
- Public Education Resources -
- This category measures a community's financial commitment to education and includes beginning and average teacher salaries, as well as per pupil expenditures and
student-teach ratio.
- Public Schools -
- Overall quality of academic results of public schools based upon metro-wide average scores from Expansion Management's annual Education Quotient study of 2,800 secondary school districts nationwide.
- Railroad Access -
- Includes the number of railroad carriers that service that metro.
- Road Conditions -
- Includes the percentage of bridges that are obsolete or structurally deficient, including five-year trends, and average roughness of roads.
- Road Congestion -
- Includes such things as roadway miles per capita, total miles of freeways, average daily freeway traffic, and average daily traffic per freeway lane.
- Road Infrastructure -
- Includes public roads mileage, capital outlay for roads and bridges, highway maintenance per mile, and highway law enforcement investment.
- Standard of Living -
- Median family income, per capita income, cost of living, unemployment rate, tax burden and per capita disposable income.
- State Debt Management -
- Includes the state debt service ratio, state debt per capita, and state debt per total revenues.
- State Right-to-Work Laws -
- Whether or not the state has "right-to-work" legislation.
- State Spending on Infrastructure -
- Includes spending on highways, education, helath, police protection and parks & recreation.
- Traffic & Commuting -
- Includes average commute time to work, as well as the percentage of population that works outside of their county of residence.
- Transportation & Distribution Industry -
- Number of companies in the metro area that are engaged in transportation and warehousing (T&W) industry sector, along with the annual revenue generated by T&W industry sector.
- Transportation & Distribution Work Force -
- Includes the total annual payroll of companies in the T&W industry sector, the total number of employees, the average salary and the T&W revenue per employee.
- Vehicle Taxes & Fees -
- Includes highway user taxes and fees, as well as motor fuel excise taxes.
- Water Port Access -
- Includes total tonnage for all ports located within the confines of the metro area.
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