Our Work

Youth Disconnection Interactive Tool

Millions of young people in the United States are neither working nor in school. Explore the latest youth disconnection data for yourself in this interactive tool.

Building Bright Futures in Greater Houston

Broad Recovery, Persistent Inequity: Youth Disconnection in America

Broad Recovery, Persistent Inequity presents 2022 youth disconnection rates for the United States as a whole as well as by gender, race and ethnicity, region, state, metro area, and congressional district.

A Portrait of Newark

A Portrait of Newark is an extensive study of well-being across race, place, and gender, and youth disconnection across Newark, New Jersey.

Ensuring an Equitable Recovery: Addressing Covid-19’s Impact on Education

Ensuring an Equitable Recovery presents 2021 youth disconnection rates for the United States as a whole as well as by gender, race and ethnicity, region, state, metro area, and congressional district.

Youth Disconnection in The Rapides Foundation Service Area, 2023

Youth Disconnection in The Rapides Foundation Service Area 2023 provides an in-depth look at youth disconnection in The Rapides Foundation Service Area (TRFSA, which includes parishes in Central Louisiana).

Well-Being in Rural California

Well-Being in Rural California 2023 is a study of well-being across race, place, and gender.

Spotlight on Del Norte County

The Spotlight on Del Norte County is an extensive study of county-wide well-being across race, place, and gender.

Spotlight on Mendocino County

The Spotlight on Mendocino County is an extensive study of county-wide well-being across race, place, and gender.

Spotlight on the Inland Empire

The Spotlight on the Inland Empire is an extensive study of well-being across race, place, and gender in Riverside County and San Bernardino County.

A Portrait of the Valley

A Portrait of the Valley is an extensive study of well-being across race, place, and gender across the San Joaquin Valley.

Spotlight on Del Norte County & Spotlight on Mendocino County

Spotlight on Del Norte County and Spotlight on Mendocino County paint a picture of well-being and access to opportunity in Mendocino and Del Norte Counties today.

Building Bright Futures for Youth in Los Angeles

Building Bright Futures for Youth in Los Angeles: Spotlight on Young Women provides an in-depth look at youth disconnection in Los Angeles County. The report also has a special focus on young women.

Building Bright Futures for Youth in New Orleans

Building Bright Futures for Youth in New Orleans: Spotlight on Young Women provides an in-depth look at youth disconnection in Greater New Orleans (the New Orleans metropolitan area). The report also has a special focus on young women.

A Disrupted Year: How the Arrival of Covid-19 Affected Youth Disconnection

On the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of teens and young adults disconnected from both work and school in the United States was lower than it had been in over a decade. Between 2010 and 2019, the youth disconnection rate fell 27 percent, driven largely by the steady increase in youth employment in the years following the Great Recession.

California Latino Power Map

The California Latino Power Map showcases the most comprehensive list of Latino-led nonprofits in California and presents the challenges and opportunities communities face through a wide range of socioeconomic indicators.

A Portrait of California 2021–2022

A Portrait of California 2021–2022: Human Development and Housing Justice, the third volume in Measure of America's Portrait of California series, takes a human development approach to understanding the country's most populous and diverse state.

A Decade Undone: 2021 Update

A Decade Undone: 2021 Update, a follow-up to last year's A Decade Undone: Youth Disconnection in the Age of Coronavirus, presents 2019 youth disconnection rates for the United States as a whole as well as by gender, race and ethnicity, region, state, metro area, county, congressional district, and public use microdata area (PUMA).

Mapping America Tool

With over 100 indicators, Mapping America allows users to explore data like they never have before. Users can plug in their zip codes to locate human development levels within their own communities, compare places and indicators, and more.

DATA2GOHEALTH.NYC

DATA2GOHEALTH.NYC builds on DATA2GO.NYC, its sister tool, and provides reliable, up-to-date information on neighborhood assets and challenges across a broader range of health sectors.

A Portrait of Louisiana 2020

A Portrait of Louisiana 2020: Human Development in an Age of Uncertainty uses the human development approach and the American Human Development Index to explore well-being and access to opportunity among different groups of Louisianans.

Strengthening the Data Capacity of NYC Nonprofits

Measure of America launched Learning What Works (LWW), a free technical assistance program designed to increase nonprofit leaders’ capacity to use data.

A Decade Undone: Youth Disconnection in the Age of Coronavirus

This report, written in the months before the pandemic, presents youth disconnection rates for the United States as a whole as well as by gender, race and ethnicity, region, state, metro area, county, and congressional district.

OurHome.NYC

OurHome.NYC is a free, easy-to-use online mapping and data tool that depicts the relationship between health, as measured by life expectancy, and housing across more than 300 New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) developments.

Making the Connection

This report presents the latest available data on youth disconnection for the United States as a whole as well as by gender, race and ethnicity, region, state, and metro area. It also examines a key factor preventing young people from staying in school and the workforce: disparities in access to reliable and affordable transportation.

Measuring America: 10 Years and Counting

“Measuring America: 10 Years and Counting” explores trends in American Human Development Index scores over the past decade by race and ethnicity, gender, and U.S. state, revealing the uneven nature of America’s rebound from the 2007 financial crisis.

Two Futures: The Economic Case for Keeping Youth on Track

Building on Measure of America’s Disconnected Youth Series, Two Futures: The Economic Case for Keeping Youth on Track finds that by the time they reach their thirties, those who had been working or in school as teens and young adults earn $31,000 more per year.

NYC Community Portraits

This site features the community portraits created by nearly 20 NYC-based human services organizations to illuminate important well-being challenges and unmet human needs in their neighborhoods or fields using the indicators found in DATA2GO.NYC.

A Portrait of New York City 2018

A Portrait of New York City 2018: Well-Being in the Five Boroughs and the Greater Metro Area examines well-being and access to opportunity for different geographies and demographic groups in New York City and the greater New York–New Jersey–Connecticut metropolitan area using the human development framework and index.

More Than a Million Reasons for Hope

This report analyzes youth disconnection in the United States by state, metro area, county, and community type, and by gender, race, and ethnicity. It is the first in Measure of America’s disconnected youth series to compare American and European metro areas or to examine disconnection by group characteristics.

A Portrait of Los Angeles County

A Portrait of Los Angeles County is an exploration of how LA County residents are faring in terms of well-being and equity.

Highway to Health

Highway to Health: Life Expectancy in Los Angeles County reveals up-to-date life expectancy calculations for cities and unincorporated areas within Los Angeles County, the first release of such data in more than a decade.

Cottage Data2Go

Cottage Data2Go is a free, interactive online mapping and data tool that brings together data on a broad range of social and health factors that reflect the well-being of Santa Barbara County residents.

Who Graduates?

Beginning in 2016, Measure of America worked with the New York Times for nearly a year to develop a custom dataset that analyzes NYC high school graduation rates in a way that hasn’t been done before.

Promising Gains, Persistent Gaps

Since Measure of America first wrote about youth disconnection half a decade ago, public awareness of both the plight and the promise of young people who are not in either school or the workforce has grown by leaps and bounds. This report takes a look at the disconnected youth population, what particular challenges they face, and what strategies have been shown to work.

Measure of America at the Smithsonian

Measure of America work was featured in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum's third exhibition in a series about socially responsible design, "By the People: Designing a Better America."

Retail and Opportunity

Past research on workers in the retail sector showed that individuals face many obstacles on the path to economic success. This research investigated how retail employment relates to broader community conditions and individual-level characteristics with the aim to answer three questions.

High School Graduation in New York City

High School Graduation in New York City: Is Neighborhood Still Destiny? is an in-depth look at disparities in on-time high school graduation rates by New York City neighborhood.

Opportunity Index 2015

Focusing on three main dimensions, the Opportunity Index provides rankings of states and counties, and is the centerpiece of a nationwide campaign to refocus priorities on access to opportunity for all Americans.

Zeroing In on Place and Race

Zeroing In on Place and Race is an in-depth look at how disconnected youth are faring in America's cities, with data included on disconnected youth by state, congressional district, county, gender, and by race and ethnicity.

Geographies of Opportunity

Geographies of Opportunity: Ranking Well-Being by Congressional District is an in-depth look at how residents of America's 436 congressional districts are faring in three fundamental areas of life: health, access to knowledge, and living standards.

A Portrait of California 2014–2015

This 2014–2015 update of the 2011 California report allows us to compare outcomes from one place to another and to look at changes over time. The result is a comprehensive reference tool and a critical starting point for informed discussions on policy solutions.

Opportunity Index 2014

Focusing on three main dimensions, the Opportunity Index provides rankings of states and counties, and is the centerpiece of a nationwide campaign to refocus priorities on access to opportunity for all Americans.

Connecting Youth and Strengthening Communities

This report explores the relationship between civic engagement and opportunity. It provides data and analysis that builds on previous studies that found associations between civic engagement and economic opportunity.

Historical Report of Opportunity

“Historical Report of Opportunity,” the first statistical measure of national and state opportunity levels over the past four decades, uses publicly available data to provide a holistic picture of how the climate for opportunity has changed in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

A Portrait of Sonoma County

A Portrait of Sonoma County: 2021 Update, a follow-up to our 2014 report, paints a picture of well-being and access to opportunity in Sonoma County today, identifies areas of positive change, and draws attention to both new and persistent challenges.

DATA2GO.NYC

Data2Go.NYC allows users to visualize where people in need are, what resources are available to assist them, where gaps exist, and how different factors interact to shape the choices and opportunities available to them.

Tales of Two Americas

America is the land of opportunity... or is it? The Measure of America series uses "tales of two": juxtapositions of community resources.

2013 Opportunity Index

Focusing on three main dimensions, the Opportunity Index provides rankings of states and counties, and is the centerpiece of a nationwide campaign to refocus priorities on access to opportunity for all Americans.

HALVE THE GAP BY 2030: Youth Disconnection in America’s Cities

In this report we imagine, in very specific terms, a different, better tomorrow. We lay out an ambitious but attainable goal: to halve the gaps between the most- and least-connected neighborhoods and between racial groups in half by 2030.

The Measure of America 2013–2014

This third volume in the Measure of America series measures well-being in three vital areas—health, education, and earnings—that shape the opportunities available to us and enable people to invest in their families and live to their full potential.

State of the Congress 2013

The 113th Congress is the most diverse group of representatives in history. Yet its members are still significantly more likely to be male, white, and over 65 than other Americans. And in terms of basic well-being and access to opportunity, members of Congress are far ahead of the average in earnings and education but lag in life expectancy.

2012 Opportunity Index

Focusing on three main dimensions, the Opportunity Index provides rankings of states and counties, and is the centerpiece of a nationwide campaign to refocus priorities on access to opportunity for all Americans.

One in Seven

An astonishing one in every seven Americans ages 16 to 24 is neither working nor in school—5.8 million young people in all. This brief ranks the country’s 25 largest metropolitan areas as well as the nation’s largest racial and ethnic groups in terms of youth disconnection.

A Day in the Life

A day in the life of a typical American woman reveals an array of public investments that help us build capabilities, decrease risks, and increase resilience.

Women’s Well-Being: Ranking America’s Top 25 Metro Areas

This analysis shows that the well-being of women living in metropolitan America varies tremendously by place as well as by race, ethnicity, age, and martial status.

A Portrait of Marin 2012

A Portrait of Marin highlights actions that Marinites can take to lock in human development successes today while setting the stage for significant budget savings and improved well-being tomorrow.

2011 Opportunity Index

Focusing on three main dimensions, the Opportunity Index provides rankings of states and counties, and is the centerpiece of a nationwide campaign to refocus priorities on access to opportunity for all Americans.

A Portrait of California 2011

A Portrait of California goes beyond the state’s fiscal and budgetary woes to examine the well-being of its people using the American Human Development Index, a measure based on official government data in health, education, and living standards.

The Measure of America 2010-2011: Mapping Risks and Resilience

The book contains American Human Development Index ranking for all 50 states, 435 congressional districts, major metropolitan areas, racial and ethnic groups, as well as men and women.

Open Letter to the Bipartisan Fiscal Commission, October 7, 2010

Letter urges commission to hold a hearing on investments in prevention today that will provide significant returns in money saved or revenues added tomorrow.

A Century Apart: New Measures of Well-being for U.S. Racial and Ethnic Groups

An entire century of human progress separates the worst-off from the best-off groups within the U.S., according to the latest update of the American Human Development (HD) Index.

29 Reasons for Optimism on Health Care Spending

A report by American Human Development Project ranks the 50 states and Washington, D.C. against 80 countries in the world on life expectancy at birth, infant death rates, and annual per person spending on health care.

Goals for the Common Good

This report is a companion piece to the online Common Good Forecaster,™ a joint product of United Way and Measure of America. It takes a closer look at the ten indicators featured on the Forecaster and makes the case for why education matters to each of these critical areas.

A Portrait of Louisiana 2009

This study examines disparities by parish, race, and gender in Louisiana, and calls for action to address the acute human vulnerability that persist four years after Hurricane Katrina.

Common Good Forecaster

The Common Good Forecaster is a tool that shows how vital economic and social issues in your community might change if educational outcomes were better.

A Portrait of Mississippi 2009

A Portrait of Mississippi: Mississippi Human Development Report 2009 examines well being and access to opportunity for different geographies and demographic groups in the state of Mississippi.

The Well-O-Meter™

You have seen where your state and congressional district stack up in the American HD Index rankings, but what about you? Get a general sense of your own human development level by using The Well-O-Meter™.

The Measure of America 2008–2009

The Measure of America is the first-ever human development report for a wealthy, developed nation. It introduces the American Human Development Index, which provides a single measure of well-being for all Americans, disaggregated by state and congressional district, as well as by gender, race, and ethnicity.