Economic Opportunity Grows in More Than 40 States
Improvements in education, healthcare, and the economy helped to drive an increase in Americans’ overall access to opportunity in 2017, according to the 2017 Opportunity Index released today by Opportunity Nation. The Opportunity Index is an annual composite measure of opportunity for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, including rankings and data for more than 2,000 counties. The 2017 edition finds that overall opportunity increased for residents of 43 states and the District of Columbia, and that the number of disconnected youth – young adults who are not in school and not working – dropped below 5 million for the first time in the Index’s history.