The Framework

2026 Civic Information Index Updates 

Adding environmental data to the Civic Information Index has been a goal since we first launched. Natural and built environments shape our health, mobility, and ability to participate in public life. And as climate change accelerates, factors such as increasing air pollution, extreme heat, natural disasters, and wildfires threaten both physical safety and the civic infrastructure that helps communities function in the first place. 

Communities whose residents are spending an outsized share of their income on energy bills, or whose crops and properties are repeatedly damaged by natural disasters, face compounding pressures that can make civic participation and equitable outcomes harder to achieve.

Working with our Advisory Board and a group of data and environment experts, we explored how to best integrate nuanced and often very geographically specific environmental data into the Index. Following the Index’s design and purpose, we wanted to stay focused on a small set of indicators so no individual indicator is crowded out in a busy field of dozens of competing and overwhelming data points. We also needed data that was available for nearly every county in the nation, and we wanted to stay committed to, wherever possible, measuring outcomes — what is actually happening in communities — rather than exposure to risk. 

Measuring outcomes rather than risk

This last design feature is especially relevant in the age of climate change: A county in a hurricane-prone region or an extreme-heat corridor may still fare reasonably well if its infrastructure, economy, and systems are equipped to absorb and recover from an increase in those hazards. Conversely, a place that faces moderate climate risk on paper may fare poorly if its residents lack the resources to protect themselves when conditions worsen. This distinction mattered to us: risk and resilience do not always map onto the same places, and communities that have faced historical disinvestment are often left with little to absorb novel and increasing environmental risks. 

One immediate learning from this process was that there is an urgent need for better county-level data on outcomes for key environmental risks. While data collection often exists at the local level, transparent and accessible county-by-county data sets, for example showing heat-related illness visits to emergency departments, remain elusive. 

Missing indicators matter

As a result, our new environmental pillar includes two outcomes and, for now, one risk measure: (1) household energy burden (how much of their income are people spending on energy), (2) damages from natural disasters to property and crops (natural disasters here range from storms and floods to wildfires to drought), and (3) changes in temperature and relative heat wave days (as a proxy for outcome data on the impact of extreme heat). The environmental resilience pillar also includes a missing dataset: Walkability/ Bikeability was identified as a key built environment factor that impacts civic health. As with all indicators that are deemed important but where no reliable data is available, this is listed as a missing indicator.

We have also added three new indicators across existing pillars, responding to a changed environment and addressing gaps identified in the first edition of the Index.

In the News and Information pillar, we have added local journalist equivalents per 100,000 people, drawn from Muck Rack’s local journalism index. Our first edition included the Medill Local News Initiative’s well-known news deserts database showing the number of news outlets in a county. When we compared this news deserts data to the journalist equivalent data, we found that the two data sets don’t consistently correlate: some counties with multiple outlets had very few journalists, and vice versa. We added the journalist equivalent indicator to add nuance to what we know are difficult to measure realities — not just whether a newsroom exists, but whether there are people doing the reporting.

In the Civic Participation pillar, we added voter registration (as a percentage of the citizen voting age population), drawn from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. There were several motivations to include this data set: The ongoing push to increase voting restrictions in several states stands in the way of civic participation, and is especially relevant at a time of high stake elections amidst two very different visions of America’s future. At the same time, comparing voter registration and voter turnout data shows little overlap in most counties across the nation, providing an important starting point for civic engagement and journalism teams to explore what might be at play locally.   

In the Health and Opportunity pillar, we added mental health providers per 100,000 population, from County Health Rankings. Mental health is a core issue of our time: The Covid-19 pandemic has created a loneliness epidemic, the dwindling social safety net creates new stressors for millions, and an entire generation of young adults is struggling with the impact of social media and a low-opportunity job market on their wellbeing. In this environment, access to mental health care has become an important building block for civic health.