Where is northeast Indiana going?

A look at vehicles' dashboards can tell people how fast they’re going, how much gas is left, where the next exit is on the interstate, what’s playing on the sound system and more.

Could it be that easy to see how a 10-county region is doing economically?

Officials with the Northeast Indiana Regional Dashboard hope so. John Stafford, director of the Community Research Institute at Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, and Katy Silliman, director of the Northeast Indiana Fund’s Vision 2020 project, came to Bluffton Thursday to explain the Northeast Indiana Dashboard — an "apples-to-apples" comparison of similar regions throughout the nation.

The following numbers come from Thursday's report about Northeast Indiana. To read the entire report, click here. To learn more, see the Friday, July 13, News-Banner.

No region was immune from the effects of the recessions, but Northeast Indiana experienced a 14.1% decrease in Change in Employment from 2000 to 2010, making this one of the harder hit areas, ranking below both the Stars and the Peers. Click here to learn more.



When measured in terms of Change in Per Capita Income, the region’s growth was one of the worst in the comparison areas, performing below the Stars and the Peers in both the short-term and the long-term. With a 22.6% change from 1999 to 2009, the region is not even keeping up with inflation. Click here to learn more.



From 2001 to 2010, Northeast Indiana’s increase of 12.1% in Change in Gross Metro Product is competitive and outpaces the Peers; however, in the long-term view the Stars still perform significantly better. (Due to data availability, GMP is used in place of Gross Regional Product –GRP). Click here to learn more.


From 2001 to 2010, an increase of 17.3% in Change in Productivity shows that Northeast Indiana is competitive with the Stars in this measure; however, continued improvement is needed to perform at the level of the Stars. Click here to learn more.



From 2000 to 2010, Northeast Indiana saw a decrease of 10.5% in Change in Young Adult Population (age 25-44), showing that the region has not kept pace with either the Stars or Peers. Click here to learn more.