BEV BUTULA: Keeping state’s score now easier than ever

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The Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau just released The Wisconsin Scorecard.

The document is “a compendium of 50-state rankings spotlighting Wisconsin as it compares to other
states.” The report covers four broad topics: Demographic and Social, Health and Education, Government Finance and Economic, and Environment and Energy Rankings.

Reading the introduction to this 48-page report will help the user understand not only the type of data available, but also how the data was obtained.

I found several sections of interest. The Demographic and Social Rankings includes information on population change, incarceration rate, and poverty rate. The Health and Education Rankings outlines how Wisconsin compares to other states in life expectancy, obesity rate, high school completion rate, student to teacher ratio, and much more. The document can be very helpful when researching a variety of areas.

My personal favorite however, is the 50-state ranking for average commute time. Wisconsin ranks 38th with an average commute time of 21.6 minutes. The 50-state average is 23.5 minutes. North Dakota has the lowest at just 16.1 minutes. I would have thought New York would rank No. 1, however, the “winner” is Maryland at 31.8 minutes.

Click on “The Wisconsin Scorecard” link HERE to check it out.

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