Forsyth County Indicators

Indicators are measures of community performance that provide insight into how well or poorly Forsyth County is doing from a human wellbeing perspective. We maintain and regularly update indicators categorized across the following community sectors:

Indicators serve the important function of alerting a community to changing conditions. These changes may be good (for example, an increasing high school graduation rate), bad (deteriorating air quality), or ambiguous. Community indicators are most effective at communicating change — less so at illuminating why conditions are changing or even what we, collectively, should do about it. Deeper investigation is often required to address these complex questions.

Annual Indicators

Annually-updated indicators are intended to inform long-term community performance. Indicators, contributors, and measures are relatively more sophisticated and designed for consistent annual tracking for longitudinal data.

 

Civic Engagement

View all civic engagement-related content.

IndicatorMeasure
Electoral ParticipationPercent of eligible residents participating in General and Presidential Elections

Economy Indicators

View all economy-related content.

IndicatorMeasure
EmploymentEmployment rate
HomeownershipOwner-occupied homes
Housing BurdenHousing costs for residents is at least 30% of individual income
Income by QuintileIncome by quintile
Income InsufficiencyEarnings, estimated expenses
Median Household IncomeMedian household income
Median WagesMedian hourly wages for a typical worker
PovertyPercent of residents living below the poverty threshold

Education Indicators

View all education-related content.

ConceptIndicatorMeasure
Academic SuccessEarly Childhood LiteracyEarly Childhood Literacy
Academic SuccessReading ProficiencyReading Proficiency
Academic SuccessMath ProficiencyMath Proficiency
Academic SuccessPreparation for College and CareerPreparation for College and Career
Academic SuccessHigh School GraduationHigh School Graduation
Educational AttainmentPost-Secondary CompletionPost-Secondary Completion

Environment and Sustainability Indicators

View all content related to environment and sustainability.

IndicatorMeasure
Air QualityFederal air quality index

Health and Wellness Indicators

View all content related to health and wellness.

IndicatorMeasure
Infant HealthInfant mortality rate
Suicide RateRate of suicides per 100,000 people

Safety Indicators

View all safety-related content.

IndicatorMeasure
Accidental DeathDeath due to unintentional injury
Violent CrimeViolent crime composite

Social Justice Indicators

View all content related to social justice.

IndicatorMeasure
Gender Equity in PayRatio of earnings of female versus male workers
Income DistributionPalma Ratio
Median Income DisparitiesGender and Race/Ethnic disparities in median income

Key Indicators Terms

Sector
Sector: A category designed to allow focus on a particular aspect of the community, as identified by community member (i.e. Education, Economy, Health and Wellness).
Contributing Indicator

Contributing Indicator: Measures that contribute to a core indicator in a significant way. Contributing indicators are not perceived to be important in their own right, only in how they relate to or contribute to a core indicator.

Concept
Concept: Conceptual categories used to organize and classify indicators.

Example: Academic Success is a concept of the Education sector that contains core indicators, such as Early Literacy, Reading Proficiency, Math Proficiency, ACT, and High School Graduation.
Measure
Measure: The thing that is measured to provide data for core and contributing indicators.

Example: To understand high school students’ preparedness for college and career, we measure composite ACT scores.
Core Indicator
Core Indicator: A general, high-level measure of community performance in a specific area, commonly perceived as important at face value.

Example: Air quality is generally considered to be an important community indicator in its own right.
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