Civic Index

Civic indices are tools that allow people to rate a community on a number of different factors relating to quality of life or civic engagement, and sometimes to compute an overall "score" for the community. The tools vary significantly in complexity, style, and purpose.

Civic indices tend to be more objective ways to evaluate communities than interviews, SWOT Analyses, or other similar tools, while accomplishing similar goals. Many civic indices allow communities to objectively analyze their strengths and weaknesses in important areas.

Variables often include measures of economic development, transportation and infrastructure, and social services. Other versions measure community capacity or “softer” elements of community infrastructure, including number of volunteer agencies, charity funding, community leaders, etc.

Civic Indices can be useful for scenario planning, as a way to measure what impact various development or project scenarios will have on certain indicators. By tracking results over a long time period, communities can also gauge their progress in certain areas.

The National Civic League offers one of the premier examples - a 10-point framework for evaluating a community's civic health and for strategic planning based around that evaluation.