Create and measure the benefits of activity-friendly communities

Public health practitioners, researchers, and their partners can use the Economic Indicators Library to understand and measure the benefits of activity-friendly communities. Use the data here to support community planning efforts to benefit people, create prosperity, and better the planet.

The library includes ten economic indicators selected from a longer list developed by an expert panel the National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research held in 2020. The panel included experts from sectors such as housing, transportation, public health, and economic development who prioritized these indicators as being high quality, highly feasible, and having high influence on decision making.

These indicators estimate overall benefits for a community. However, benefits may vary for different demographic groups, such as women, children, older adults, people of color, and people with disabilities.

For a complete list of the 73 indicators identified during the expert panel, see Priorities and Indicators for Economic Evaluation of Built Environment Interventions to Promote Physical Activity, published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health in 2021.