Recently, Opportunity Nation and Child Trends piloted a Metro-Level Opportunity Index (Metro Index), a modified version of the annual Opportunity Index focused on the nation’s metro areas.

Mirroring the Opportunity Index which summarizes important economic, educational, health and civic indicators of opportunity for the nation, all states and nearly 2,100 counties, the Metro-Level Opportunity Index includes data for 13 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs)— geographic areas defined by the Census Bureau and unified around a common urban core area. Together, these MSAs include over 76 million people—nearly one-quarter of the US population. The MSAs were selected to participate in this pilot because of their population size, Opportunity Grades received by their component counties and the presence of organizations doing work that is relevant to the Opportunity Index.

• The Metro Index includes data for:
• Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD
• Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH
• Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI
• Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
• Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA
• Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI
• Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
• Memphis, TN-MS-AR
• New Orleans-Metairie, LA
• New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ
• Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
• Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
• Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV