10 Indicators to Change Opportunity: 2023 Opportunity Index
October 1, 2024
The Opportunity Index is an interactive data tool that provides a composite of four distinct dimensions of opportunity—economy, education, health, and community. It provides a snapshot of societal conditions that can be used to identify and improve access to opportunity and presents these indicators at the county, state, and national levels.
Since 2011, the Opportunity Index has tracked how scores have changed over time and what access to opportunity looks like today. The Index provides Opportunity Scores for all 50 states plus the District of Columbia and 2,068 counties, covering 96 percent of the US population.
Many factors influence opportunity, starting with unchangeable characteristics such as gender, race and ethnicity, and family background. The Opportunity Index focuses on other factors that change over time and vary from place to place in response to personal, institutional and policy changes. These include a family’s income and individual health, access to civic engagement in neighborhoods, educational attainment, and inclusiveness of one’s community.
The indicators included in the 2023 Opportunity Index are:
- Economy
- Unemployment Rate
- Median Household Income
- Federal Poverty Line
- Access to Banking Services
- Affordable Housing
- Broadband Internet Subscription
- Education
- Preschool Enrollment
- High School Graduation
- Postsecondary Education Attainment
- Health
- Birth Weight
- Health Insurance Coverage
- Deaths Related to Alcohol/Drug Use and Suicide
- Community
- Volunteering
- Voter Registration
- Youth Disconnection
- Violent Crime
- Access to Primary Health Care
- Access to Healthy Food
- Incarceration Rate
It is important to note that this data is compiled from publicly available sources, resulting in approximately a two-year lag. Regardless, the data reflects real conditions for Americans. While some indicators provide a retrospective view of issues like incarceration, death, and unemployment rates, others take a forward-looking approach, focusing on access to people and resources that can make a positive impact.
While we know existence of people and resources, such as primary care physicians, grocery stores, banks or affordable housing, does not equal access to those resources, the ability to map out where there are gaps in these services is an important takeaway from the Opportunity Index. If we identify particularly poor health outcomes in a specific area and observe that access to primary health care and healthy foods is declining, we can better target resources to those most in need.
The Opportunity Index serves as a powerful starting point for policy discussions to improve opportunity for all Americans. The Forum for Youth Investment is excited to be your thought partner as you examine opportunity in your state and policies to support young people in reaching their greatest potential in education, work, and life.
In partnership with Child Trends and the Schultz Family Foundation, we present the latest data from the 2023 Opportunity Index and discuss key trends from the 2021-2023 Indexes.