CORE Score

Measuring Wellbeing

A project of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences' Commission on Reimagining Our Economy, the CORE Score is a new measurement of American wellbeing. While typical economic indicators measure growth, the Score offers a people-centric view of how Americans are doing. The Score is drawn from 11 indicators across four categories: economic security, economic opportunity, health, and political efficacy.

Scroll down to view CORE Scores by county, how Scores have changed over time, and Scores by income, race/ethnicity, age, gender, and education.

CORE Score

Wellbeing

Category 1

Economic Security

Category 2

Economic Opportunity

Category 3

Health

Category 4

Political Voice

CORE Score

Wellbeing

for the nation

4.91

People's economic stability, physical health, political and social efficacy, and overall satisfaction with the state and direction of their lives.

The CORE Score is made up of four categories, each of which incorporates indicators of a different aspect of political economy:

Map

Time Series

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All Counties in US, by Year

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* 5th to 95th percentiles of US counties

Overall CORE Score for 2021

USA

Choose a demographic category to view details. Measures are defined above.

Wellbeing

Low

High

Category 1

Economic Security

Measures

Household financial resilience

Not housing burdened

Poverty

Category 2

Economic Opportunity

Measures

Prime age labor force participation rate

Average education level

Median wage growth

Category 3

Health

Measures

Healthcare coverage

Life expectancy

Category 4

Political Voice

Measures

Quality of representation

Civic participation

Voter turnout

Select a category or metric to view on time series

by Overall

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Select a category to view data

overall

age

education

income

race / ethnicity

sex