Tennessee has introduced a new online dashboard designed to help policymakers move beyond high-level snapshots and look at county-level factors tied to rural quality of life, researchers said. The Tennessee Livability Indicators Dashboard, developed by East Tennessee State University’s Center for Rural Health and Research, brings together data officials said can help explain why some rural counties struggle and where support may be most needed.
The dashboard uses county data drawn from various agencies on about 60 topic areas, said Dr. Qian Huang, a research assistant professor with the university’s Center for Rural Health and Research. Huang said the aim is to connect those variables so leaders and organizations can review how multiple elements of daily life interact at the county level.
Huang said the dashboard provides “easy access to data about everyday life across the state at the county level,” and he described it as a way “to connect more than 60 variables” so policymakers can see “what is happening at the county level.” The project, officials said, grew out of the Tennessee Livability Collaborative, a group of 26 state agencies, departments, commissions and academic institutions that developed the effort to align how the state gathers and shares livability information.
Tennessee’s rural footprint is part of the dashboard’s intended audience. Of the state’s 95 counties, the project said 78 are designated as rural, and 70 counties have more than half of their residents living in rural areas. Officials said the dashboard is structured to let users examine where resources are needed most and which life factors are affecting rural communities.
The dashboard also illustrates how counties can differ on multiple indicators, including income, poverty levels and participation in federal nutrition assistance. Officials said Monroe County is considered 98.2% rural and covers more than 636 square miles, but has a population of 46,064, for about 72.5 people per square mile. In that county, the dashboard shows an average per-capita income of $41,041, 28.6% of the population living at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, and 5,855 individuals—roughly 13%—receiving SNAP benefits.
By comparison, officials said Davidson County—home to Nashville—has nearly 710,000 residents and a population density above 1,130 people per square mile. The dashboard shows Davidson County with an average income per capita of $85,551, 22.43% of the population living at or below 150% of the federal poverty level, and 62,658 individuals receiving SNAP benefits—roughly 9%.
Michael Meit, also with the Center for Rural Health and Research, said the dashboard is intended to “shine a light on rural counties” and help policymakers make more effective decisions. He said policymakers should use tools like the dashboard “to place resources throughout the state where they are needed most,” and he added that poverty and limited economic development can negatively affect a county.
Researchers said the dashboard could be especially useful as Tennessee distributes the first round of federal Rural Health Transformation grants. They said the data provided by the dashboard could help rural advocates document where the state’s portion of the $50 billion federal investment is most needed, and they pointed to health and related indicators—including hospital access, teen birth rates, suicide rates, and access to dental care—as measures that can help track outcomes from grant spending.
Tennessee’s Rural Health Transformation Plan, researchers said, focuses on access and rural health priorities, technology, and keeping rural hospitals open. The state’s written goals include having 80% of rural residents within 30 minutes of care, reducing maternal and infant deaths, expanding broadband connectivity for rural residents so telehealth is available, and preventing rural hospital closures. Meit and Huang said the dashboard will continue to be updated using the most recent data, with the expectation that the tool will help track changes as federal funding begins to reach rural communities.