Community Data Tools
Community Data Tools can help Idahoans understand the economic, social and demographic conditions and trends of their own county, other counties and the state. This site is particularly useful to elected leaders, business leaders, grant writers and many others whose work and decisions impact local communities. Resources include:
How to use data to tell your county's story
- Review the questions for each indicator in the "Indicator notes for talking about data" document to learn how each indicator can be used.
- Look at how the indicator has changed over time.
- Compare your county to the state, the nation and/or neighboring counties.
- Look at several indicators at the same time.
- Look at how the indicators relate to changes you see within your community.
For a more detailed discussion of these points, please see Discussing Data (pdf).
Educational methods sheet
The Educational Methods Sheet (pdf) identifies ways UI Extension has used the Data Tools materials.
Select the county from the list below to download the county at a glance brochure (pdf's).
Detailed information and graphs for your county are also available in a PowerPoint format that can be customized for your own presentations and documents. The PowerPoint template is organized by major categories such as population, education, income, housing and more. The University of Idaho provides a tutorial for customizing PowerPoint presentations.
The county brochure and PowerPoint presentation are templates that can be tailored to fit your own needs.
- How to choose which indicators to use
- Don’t forget to update your data
- Filling in the presentation template
- Resources for working with PowerPoint
Download Customizing your county brochure and PowerPoint presentation (pdf) for more information on how to edit these documents.
General cautions about using data
It’s important to understand the data you are presenting. Be sure to note the following when creating your brochure or making a presentation:
- Data are only as good as their sources
- Data are regularly revised and updated
- Definitions matter
- Some data are not reported
For more detailed information about these topics, please download General cautions about using data (pdf).
Online data sources
There are countless data sources available for local, state and national data. To help you focus your research, we've compiled a selection of online resources (pdf) for gathering further data online as well as suggestions for finding local data for your community.
Local data sources
To learn more about what’s happening in local communities, consider contacting local agencies for more information. While data sources vary by county, the following agencies may provide insightful information:
- County assessor's office
- City clerk's office
- Planning and community action agencies
- City and county law enforcement agencies
- Board of realtors
- Local housing agency
- County health department
- Department of health and welfare
Key indicators are taken from the Indicators Idaho website and include the following major categories:
- population characteristics
- income and poverty
- employment
- housing
- family
- education
- health
- crime and safety
- county types