Changelog

All notable changes to the ERC Tool will be documented on this page.

2024-06-20 - ERC Tool V3

Added

  • New Quality of Life category including:

    • Quality of Life percentile over time metric
    • Housing-related indicators

  • New Entrepreneurship metric: Number of startups in each county or region (sourced from PitchBook)

  • Introduction section enhancements:

    • Nonmetro status for each county
    • Population data for each county

  • Update to broadband metrics: FCC NBM data release update

Technical notes

  • Average compensation per worker and Employment metrics have been updated due to the discontinuation of regional data tables from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (result of federal budget cuts)

    • These metrics are now sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW)
    • Using Average annual pay and Average annual employment data

  • Refined the language, metrics, and ETL processes associated with the Form D dataset following insights from the report Rural America’s Struggle to Access Private Capital

  • Reorganized the grouping and order of metrics within the tool based on feedback from Research Director Dr. Amanda Weinstein

  • Revised the names of urbanization level categories for improved clarity and consistency

  • Broadband service data updated with the December 2024 release of the FCC National Broadband Map

    • FCC NBM data now includes satellite service coverage, affecting BSL calculations and rural broadband metrics
      • Integration of satellite service availability has significant impact on total Broadband Serviceable Locations (BSLs)
    • Updated data reflects biannual NBM release cycle with improved coverage metrics

2024-12-20

  • Updated Business Growth data to include the 2022 Business Dynamics Statistics release.

2024-12-18

  • FCC estimates have been updated to use the June 2024 National Broadband Map release.

2024-12-11

  • American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates have been updated from the 2022 vintage to the 2023 vintage. For metrics showing 5-year changes, the earlier comparison vintage has been updated from 2017 to 2018.

2024-10-11 - ERC Tool V2

  • Enable selection of multiple primary counties
  • Make the state and U.S. comparisons optional
  • Add an optional comparison that allows users to select all counties of a given urbanization level
  • Allow users to download the underlying data for each chart using a “Download data” button
  • Allow users to view the exact figures within each line chart by hovering over the desired line at a given year
  • Expand the “Employment by industry” chart from the top 5 industries to the top 10
  • Add geographic comparisons to the “Share of employment by sector” chart
  • Change the chart type of the “Average compensation per worker” chart from a bar chart with data from 2022 to a line chart with data from 2017-2022
  • Change the chart type of the “Real GDP per worker” chart from a bar chart with data from 2022 to a line chart with data from 2017-2022
  • Add the counts of computer and math workers in each geography to the bar chart labels in the “Tech employment” chart
  • Add an “Employment by occupation” chart to the Workforce section
  • Add a “Venture capital per capita” chart to the Entrepreneurship section
  • Add a “Business applications” chart to the Entrepreneurship section
  • Add a “Cost-burdened renters” chart to the Infrastructure section
  • Add a “Cost-burdened owners” chart to the Infrastructure section
  • Add a “Housing permits” chart to the Infrastructure section
  • Add a “Quality of life” chart to the Infrastructure section
  • Remove the “Share of employment in tradable services” chart, as this information is now in the “Share of employment by sector” chart
  • Remove the “Race and ethnicity (race alone)” chart, which only counts people who identified with just one race and are not Hispanic or Latino
  • Add the number of venture capital-backed businesses from 2019-23 to the “Key statistics” of the Entrepreneurship section
  • Add the number of patents granted from 2014-23 to the “Key statistics” of the Entrepreneurship section
  • Update data for the “Broadband service” chart with the latest release (Dec. 2023) of FCC Broadband Data Collection data