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:
- Civic Engagement
- Economy
- Education
- Environment and Sustainability
- Health and Wellness
- Safety
- Social Justice
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.
Indicator | Measure |
---|---|
Electoral Participation | Percent of eligible residents participating in General and Presidential Elections |
Economy Indicators
View all economy-related content.
Indicator | Measure |
---|---|
Employment | Employment rate |
Homeownership | Owner-occupied homes |
Housing Burden | Housing costs for residents is at least 30% of individual income |
Income by Quintile | Income by quintile |
Income Insufficiency | Earnings, estimated expenses |
Median Household Income | Median household income |
Median Wages | Median hourly wages for a typical worker |
Poverty | Percent of residents living below the poverty threshold |
Education Indicators
View all education-related content.
Concept | Indicator | Measure |
---|---|---|
Academic Success | Early Childhood Literacy | Early Childhood Literacy |
Academic Success | Reading Proficiency | Reading Proficiency |
Academic Success | Math Proficiency | Math Proficiency |
Academic Success | Preparation for College and Career | Preparation for College and Career |
Academic Success | High School Graduation | High School Graduation |
Educational Attainment | Post-Secondary Completion | Post-Secondary Completion |
Environment and Sustainability Indicators
View all content related to environment and sustainability.
Indicator | Measure |
---|---|
Air Quality | Federal air quality index |
Health and Wellness Indicators
View all content related to health and wellness.
Indicator | Measure |
---|---|
Infant Health | Infant mortality rate |
Suicide Rate | Rate of suicides per 100,000 people |
Safety Indicators
View all safety-related content.
Indicator | Measure |
---|---|
Accidental Death | Death due to unintentional injury |
Violent Crime | Violent crime composite |
Social Justice Indicators
View all content related to social justice.
Indicator | Measure |
---|---|
Gender Equity in Pay | Ratio of earnings of female versus male workers |
Income Distribution | Palma Ratio |
Median Income Disparities | Gender and Race/Ethnic disparities in median income |
Key Indicators Terms
Sector
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
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
Example: To understand high school students’ preparedness for college and career, we measure composite ACT scores.
Core Indicator
Example: Air quality is generally considered to be an important community indicator in its own right.