What is Prosperity?

What is the Index?

Key Findings

Using the Index

The Working Group

About the Legatum Institute

About the Donors

Insights

The Index can help leaders assess the strengths and weaknesses of different areas to determine how best to drive greater levels of prosperity for all.

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Executive Summary

This essay assesses the different prosperity characteristics within urban counties as compared to their rural counterparts.

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Structural Drivers of Prosperity

This essay looks at the different archetypes of rural prosperity and the differences between them, identifying their relative strengths and weaknesses

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Archetypes of Rural Prosperity

Reports and Data

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<h4 class="heading">About the USPI</h4>
The United States Prosperity Index is published by London-based think-tank the Legatum Institute. It is a transformational tool designed to help state and county leaders, policymakers, investors, business leaders, philanthropists, journalists, researchers, and citizens strengthen the pathways from poverty to prosperity across the nation.

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<h3 class="largeHeading">The United States Prosperity Index 2020</h3>
The Legatum Institute’s United States Prosperity Index provides a comprehensive picture of prosperity for the 50 states of the Union and Washington D.C., as well as the 829 counties of eight selected states: California, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Montana, New York, Oklahoma, and Texas.

The state-level Index allows the potential of each state to be identified and understood and shows where targeted policy interventions could help every state become more prosperous.

The county-level Index allows a more detailed comparison of prosperity within and between the eight selected states to enable more targeted policy responses to drive tangible improvements in prosperity.

State-by-State Overall Rankings

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The U.S. Prosperity Index consists of 11 pillars, built upon 48 actionable policy areas (elements), and is underpinned by over 200 indicators.

Rankings

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As well as the U.S. Prosperity Index report, you can download a range of content including state and county profile datasheets, a detailed methodology report, and the full 2020 dataset.

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The state-by-state and county-by-county maps demonstrate how each area performs across the different domains and pillars of the U.S. Prosperity Index. 
You can find out more information by clicking on an individual state or county. The pull-out box will provide an overview of the area's prosperity over the last decade, in comparison to the U.S. average, as well as full rankings information for all domains and pillars in 2010 and 2020.
You can also download a detailed state or county profile datasheet from the <a href="https://usprosperity.net/downloads/reports?token=null">Downloads</a> section of the site.

The Legatum Institute Foundation is a registered charity No. 1140719. Company limited by guarantee and incorporated in England and Wales No. 7430903. 
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California

Colorado

Georgia

Iowa

Montana

New York

Oklahoma

Texas

The rankings tables show how the 50 states of the Union and Washington D.C. plus the 829 counties of the eight selected states compare across the different domains, pillars, elements, and indicators of the U.S. Prosperity Index. (Please note, element and indicator rankings are only displayed for the state level Index, but are available for counties in the county profile datasheets available to download.) 
We endeavor to create an Index that is methodologically sound, so have consulted academics and experts with particular expertise in the various metrics to determine the best way to measure prosperity across the U.S. 
Our methodology is based on the concept of three domains, capturing institutional, economic, and social wellbeing, that are equally essential to prosperity. These domains are measured through 11 pillars, built upon 48 actionable policy areas (elements), and underpinned by over 200 indicators. For details of how each pillar, element, and indicator is currently weighted in the Index, you can download a copy of our full methodology report in the <a href="https://usprosperity.net/downloads/reports?token=null" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Downloads</a> section of the site, along with the full 2020 dataset.
However, we know that different people may have different views on how important each metric is to a state or county's prosperity. So we have created a Weightings tool that allows you to assign different weights - that is, different levels of importance - to the pillars, elements, and indicators. 
If you click on the 'Adjust Weightings' button, you can choose to assign each metric in the current ranking table a value from x0 to x2 of the default USPI weighting. The tool will then re-calculate the rankings based on your preferences. [Please note that the weighting function is intended to provide only an indicative understanding of how changing the weights can affect the rankings. For more information, please don't hesitate to <a href="https://usprosperity.net/contact?token=null">contact us</a>.]