Description:
This is the second edition of Benchmark Charlotte. The purpose of this report is to provide decision makers in the private and public sectors with a quick, accessible, comparative overview of the Charlotte metropolitan area. Thirty-one indicators for nine metropolitan statistical
areas (MSAs) have been assembled to reflect five broad areas of interest: Employment & Labor Force; Income & Productivity; Livability
and Connectivity; New Economy; and Equity & Diversity. This year,
we have made two changes to the report. First, we changed the
metropolitan areas used for comparison. Second we have refined our
indicators of Equity & Diversity. However, most indicators are the same
as those used in last year’s report. The data used in these benchmarks
are, in most cases, the most current available at the time of writing.
The methodology of the report is quite simple. Within each of the five
categories, data are presented for several indicators. Each indicator is
ranked from one to nine, with scores of one being the most desirable.
When two or more MSAs have identical values for an item, they are
considered tied and given identical rankings. Within each category,
rankings are added together to produce an overall score for the categorywhich is also ranked. The overall ranks for each category are then added together to produce a single, composite ranking of the metro areas.
The report begins with the overall composite rankings and then details
all the individual indicators in each of the five categories. In addition to
raw data and rankings, each indicator is accompanied by a brief narrative describing the rationale for its inclusion and a brief analysis of the results. Data sources and notes about the rankings are located in section seven.
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