What do Sierra Vista and Hinesville Have in Common?

What do Sierra Vista and Hinesville Have in Common?

Sierra Vista, AZ and Hinesville, GA probably don’t seem to have much in common. One is in eastern Arizona and the other is in southeast Georgia. They are both very small cities with populations of around 40,000. What they have in common is a market concentration for computer occupations with…

Where the Vets Live

Where the Vets Live

As we approach this Memorial Day Weekend, we pause to remember the sacrifice made on our behalf by our veterans. Nationwide veterans comprise 8% of the population. But there are clusters of populations where veterans comprise much higher percentages of the population. This article from Trulia published in Forbes back…

EVICTED – The Impact of Housing Affordability

EVICTED – The Impact of Housing Affordability

I was in the Bay Area this week for a health technology conference at Stanford University. I took Lyft back and forth from where I was staying. While conversing with one driver in my rudimentary Spanish, I found out that his family was spending $3,000 a month for a two…

The Aging of Housing in America

The Aging of Housing in America

They are building three new homes across from my house here in Northeast Ohio. It seems we are past the time of the severe slowdown of housing starts and there has been a mini-housing resurgence. Home inventory levels remain low. The problem is, like my new neighbors, new housing tends…

Spring is Here! Which Counties are Physically Active

Spring is Here! Which Counties are Physically Active

I love spring!  As a warm weather person living in the Northeast, I can’t wait to get outside and be physically active. While many are like me, still 29% of the U.S. remains by and large physically inactive and it is very regionally concentrated. The County Health Rankings uses a measure…

Violence Against Women Offenses Up 9.5%

This is the third year that the Campus Safety and Security (CSS) data has released separate violence against women (VAW) offenses. This data captures three types of offenses; domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking and analyzes it for both on campus and off campus locations. Overall, there were 16,183 VAW…

CMS Releases 2016 Opioid Prescription Data

CMS Releases 2016 Opioid Prescription Data

This week, CMS released 2016 Opioid Part D Prescribing Rates data which follows on the heels of the original release several months ago. This data release includes Opioid prescriber, claims, and extended release claims at the national, state, county, and zip code level. We have updated our Opioid Prescribing Rates…

Endowments per Student Down in 2016

Endowments per Student Down in 2016

How financially fit is your institution? One of the measures that Forbes has used in assessing the financial fitness of postsecondary institutions is endowment assets per FTE. This metric takes the value of endowment assets at the end of the year and divides it by the number of FTE’s. In…

Black Disparities in Premature Death

Black Disparities in Premature Death

County Health Rankings has always used Premature Death as a measure in deriving its ranking formula. Years of Potential Life Lost Before Age 75 (or YPLL) counts as 50% of the Health Outcomes score. Every death occurring before the age of 75 contributes to the total number of years of potential…

Villanova vs. Michigan in Athletic Costs

Villanova clearly dominated Michigan on the basketball court and has now won the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament two of the last three years. But how has that success translated to other sports and to the athletic costs in general.    The Equity in Athletics data is released annually by the…

The Reverse Boom – Counties With Natural Population Decreases

The Reverse Boom – Counties With Natural Population Decreases

Population estimates are now trickling out and will continue to be released by the U.S. Census through next summer. Population estimates take into account births, deaths, and migration. As migration has slowed, demographers have focused more on what is called naturalized increases, which is the excess of births over deaths….

Distance Education Programs up 8.2%

Distance Education Programs up 8.2%

Distance Education continues its upward climb according to the most recent distance education data from IPEDS. The number of programs increased 8.2% in 2016, but this increase was less than the whopping 12.6% in 2015. There are now over 29,000 programs offered through distance education. Certificate programs continued their strong…