Purdue and OCRA Release New Rural Indiana Stats Website

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A new valuable online data platform - Rural Indiana Stats - is now available to individuals, agencies and organizations in Indiana that want access to a unique mix of data on Indiana’s 92 counties.

The website, a product of a partnership between the Purdue Center for Regional Development and the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs, offers access to more than 80 county-level variables.

 “Rural Indiana Stats is designed to showcase a core set of data items that rural local leaders believe are vital in guiding their community and economic development investments,” says OCRA executive director Bill Konyha.

The major data products available on the Rural Indiana Stats website include:

* County geographic typologies, such as the mix of geographic classifications available to determine the metropolitan/nonmetropolitan status and the economic distress features of counties in the state.

* Housing characteristics, including the stock, age and cost of owner and rental-occupied  housing.

* Local government fiscal information, such as the nature and source of local government revenues and expenditures.

* Socioeconomic characteristics, including the population, economic, health and cultural attributes of Indiana’s counties.

* Community vitality indicators, a mix of six metrics that OCRA is encouraging counties to use to track their socioeconomic progress over time.

“Rural Indiana Stats offers users important options that are not typically available on data sites,” says Bo Beaulieu, the director for Purdue’s regional development center. “These include the ability to compare information on two user-selected counties at the same time, the capacity to visualize data using the online mapping option, and the ability to export data and images for use in reports or other user-defined documents.” 

Konyha adds, “From the inception of the Rural Indiana Stats side, the PCRD/OCRA team has been driven by a desire to produce a site that is easy to use while powerful in its ability to showcase data that align with the information needs of local leaders and groups.”

For more information about the Rural Indiana Stats site, visit http://www.ruralindianastats.com.  Individuals are encouraged to contact the Purdue Center for Regional Development (pcrd@purdue.edu) if they have any questions about the online site or the timeline for future data updates.  

Writer: Bo Beauliu, 765-494-7273, ljb@purdue.edu