What is the Index?
The Solano County Index tells a story through indicators that measure the strength of our economy and the health of our community – highlighting challenges and providing an analytical foundation for leadership and decision making.
What is an Indicator?
Indicators are measurements that tell us how we are doing; whether we are going up or down, going forward or backward, becoming better or worse, or staying the same. All indicators use the most comprehensive data from the latest year available.
Good indicators do the following:
• They are bellwethers that reflect fundamentals of long-term regional health;
• They reflect the interests and concerns of the community;
• They are statistically measureable on a frequent basis; and
• They measure outcomes, rather than inputs. Appendix A provides detail on data sources for each indicator.
What is an Industry Cluster?
Several of the economic indicators relate to “industry clusters.” An industry cluster is a geographic concentration of independent, internationally competitive firms in related industries, and includes a significant number of companies that sell their products and services outside the region. Healthy, outward-oriented industry clusters are a critical prerequisite for a strong economy. Appendix B identifies the specific subsectors included in each cluster.