As communities increasingly focus on livability and quality of life, they are turning their attention to a holistic understanding of well-being beyond economic growth. Rather than pursuing growth for growth’s sake, they are asking critical questions about what motivates people to want to live, work or raise a family in a given community.
Researchers from the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at UW–Madison, who collaborate as part of the Rural Livability Project funded through the Wisconsin Rural Partnerships Institute, recently published an analysis on four dimensions of prosperity across the U.S. and throughout Wisconsin. The four dimensions they measured were poverty, unemployment, housing and education. The analysis was presented as part of WIndicators, a short-form series from the Division of Extension that looks at data surrounding a range of issues relevant to Wisconsin communities.
The scientists found that Wisconsin is at the center of the largest concentration of community-level prosperity in the U.S., routinely faring better than the national average on all four dimensions. Though Wisconsin counties are doing well, the most prosperous places in the state have shifted over time and the factors that underlie prosperity have also changed. These findings are consistent with national trends showing that the ways in which prosperity evolves over time are incredibly diverse and complex.
Other key points include:
- Prosperity is a dynamic process that changes over time, not a static state.
- There are hundreds of pathways to prosperity, suggesting the need for a nuanced, place-specific interpretation of what makes somewhere a good place to live.
- Prosperity is not restricted by metro status; rural places routinely have some of the highest place prosperity scores.
To read the full report and see maps visualizing the data, visit the WIndicator at https://economicdevelopment.extension.wisc.edu/articles/windicators-volume-7-issue-2-understanding-wisconsin-prosperity-in-the-national-context/.
The scientists who carried out the work are Danielle Schmidt, graduate student, Tessa Conroy, associate professor and extension specialist, and Steven Deller, professor and extension specialist. The Rural Livability Project is supported by the Wisconsin Rural Partnerships Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, part of the USDA-funded Institute for Rural Partnerships and the United States Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration in support of Economic Development Authority University Center.