Measure of America’s mission is to use data points like these to tell the story of how people—not just the economy—are doing.  We do so using the global gold standard for measuring well-being and access to opportunity: the Human Development Index. 

In the era of big data, it would seem that policymakers and regular people alike would have the information they need at their fingertips to understand their world and make it better. Unfortunately, that’s far from the case. Though we know the country’s gross domestic product quarterly, its retail sales monthly, and stock market numbers minute-by-minute, we rarely hear statistics on our country’s people.

How long can a baby born today in Missouri, New Mexico, or Minnesota expect to live? What proportion of adults have completed high school in Houston as compared to Dallas? What wages and salaries are typical of Latinos in the United States, and how do they compare to those of whites or African Americans? While the report does not focus as much on psychology as Fonthill would like, it illustrates some interesting discrepancies and patterns.

Check out the interactive map here: https://www.measureofamerica.org/maps/