Charlotte Regional Indicators Project

The Charlotte Regional Indicators Project is an ongoing benchmarking initiative that provides objective, reliable, and relevant data on a wide range of indicators affecting the region’s quality of life.

Click on the Regional data tab to explore the data.

About the program

The Charlotte Regional Indicators Project tracks and assesses key indicators of quality of life for the 14-county Charlotte region. Funded by a combination of grants from the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Foundation For The Carolinas, and Advantage Carolina, the Indicators Project includes data across 11 topical areas at the county, MSA, and regional levels.

The Charlotte Regional Indicators Project was publicly launched in November, 2007, marking the culmination of more than three years of work by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute staff and more than 100 Task Force volunteers from around the region. The Indicators Project made available for the first time a comprehensive collection of quantitative measures of the region’s quality of life, showing current and historic trend data for 54 indicators in 11 theme areas, in the form of an Indicators Project Report, which were available both online and in printed format.

In 2010, the original set of indicators was condensed to present a set of key indicators, and in 2011, the website was transformed from an electronic version of the 2007 Indicators Report into an interactive data portal that provided users with direct access to the data and continuous rather than periodic updating of the data. In 2014, the Regional Indicators website was moved under the institute’s main website with improved form and function. The indicator data available remain the same, but they are now easier to find and use, with fewer pages to jump between and more interactive features on the charts and maps.

Indicator Partners

To complement the Charlotte Regional Indicators Project, the institute launched the Indicator Partners Program in 2010. This is an initiative to form long-term, strategic data partnerships between the institute and community organizations.

For each partner, the institute develops and maintains a set of indicators and presents the data through an individualized, interactive web portal on the institute’s website. The institute also provides each partner with technical assistance, on-demand support for presentations and events, and analytical expertise. In addition to the set of indicators, the institute also conducts smaller one-time projects and analyses to support the work of the partner organizations.

Current partners:

Past partners: