The City Health Dashboard is here!
May 24, 2018
Shoshanna Levine
On May 15, we launched the new City Health Dashboard, featuring 36 measures of health and the factors that shape health for the 500 largest cities in the U.S., or those with a population of about 66,000 or above. Our new one-stop resource helps users like you leverage neighborhood- and city-specific data to guide local solutions that create healthier, more equitable communities.
The idea for the City Health Dashboard grew out of work a colleague of ours was doing with the National Resource Network – he heard from mayors and city managers across the country who wanted to address the health needs of their citizens but didn’t have city-level data on health factors like they did for poverty, housing, and other sectors. That is because most health data across the U.S. are provided at the county or state level, not at the city or neighborhood level. So, in January 2017, we launched a pilot version of the City Health Dashboard featuring 26 measures of health and the drivers of health for four cities: Kansas City, Kansas; Flint, Michigan; Providence, Rhode Island; and Waco, Texas. Our goal was always to expand the Dashboard to 500 cities and for it to include a broader array of measures. But we knew we could not do it alone. We partnered with cities, incorporating their feedback to ensure the Dashboard was practical and useful. We used data from multiple national datasets and spent a tremendous amount of time debating which measures to include. And we researched what types of features users needed to uncover challenges and better target strategies to improve health. Now, after more than a year of development, the full Dashboard is here!
So, how can the new City Health Dashboard help you?
Explore and compare metrics within your city
Data on measures such as diabetes, smoking, walkability, and housing costs all paint a picture of health, within the city and neighborhood-by-neighborhood. You can use the Dashboard to compare metrics within your city to find correlation between these health factors.
Dig deeper into what’s contributing to health and opportunity gaps within 500 U.S. cities
Opportunities for health and well-being are not the same across cities. In fact, even neighborhoods right next to each other can provide drastically different opportunities for health and well-being. The Dashboard can help you dig deeper into your city’s data at the city, neighborhood, and demographic level to identify challenges in your community and target actions to address them.
Compare with peer cities
You can use the City Health Dashboard’s unique “compare cities feature” to find your city’s peer cities, or those of similar size or with similar characteristics, and compare them. By comparing your city to peers across the country, the Dashboard can help you learn from them and set realistic goals to address similar challenges.
Take action with evidence-based programs and policies
Every city is unique and will develop its own roadmap toward better health. Once you’ve used the data to identify your community’s health challenges, the Dashboard can help you create a roadmap for your community as you explore examples of evidence-based programs and policies. Not sure where to start? Our launch webinar and tour of the Dashboard can help.