1. The Livability Index: Great Neighborhoods for All Ages
AARP Public Policy Institute
@AARPpolicy

2. The Livability Index Livability Index Homepage
Getting started is simple!
Users may enter their address, city, state, or zip code on the Livability Index’s homepage, found at:
This slide is the homepage of the Livability Index.
The Index is sensitive to the level of geography entered. If the user inputs an address, a score for the neighborhood is returned. If s/he enters a city name, the score for the city is returned. City scores (and all higher levels of geography) are calculated for the average of all block groups within their boundaries.
At this point in time, the Index does not provide scores at the Metro scale, although three metrics pull data at this level (e.g., social involvement index, basic passage/housing accessibility and jobs per worker).

3. AARP has tools and resources to help
The AARP Livability Index.
aarp.org/livabilityindex
AARP Livable Communities presentation | American Planning Association Webinar, May 20, 2016

4. What’s Unique about AARP’s Livability Index:
Great Neighborhoods for All Ages?

5. What’s Unique about AARP’s Livability Index:
Great Neighborhoods for All Ages?
The Index was designed by experts at the PPI, with guidance from a 30-member
technical advisory committee with expertise in both policy and data analysis across the range of subject areas evaluated by the Index. The selection of metrics was also informed by a national survey of more than 4,500 Americans 50-plus about the aspects of their communities most important to them. The Livability Index measures 60 indicators spread across seven categories of livability: housing, neighborhood,
transportation, environment, health, engagement, and opportunity.

6. Why Did AARP Create The Livability Index?
AARP surveys have clearly shown that people want to age exactly where they are: in their homes and in their communities. They don’t want to be forced to move because their needs can be better met elsewhere. They don’t want to compromise their health and well-being just to stay in their community. The expect that as they age, their communities will offer the type of environment and services that they need to age in place. Unfortunately Americas communities are not prepared to deliver on this expectation.
The AARP Livability Index was designed for local policy makers and other community leaders to better understand their community’s relative strengths and weaknesses for meeting the needs of both older adults in the community AND their families. It’s an Index for all ages b/c when we plan for older adults, we plan for everyone.
It serves all age groups, with a special focus on measuring how well communities are accommodating residents as they age.  
The Livability Index shows what communities look like today and provides resources to help them improve over time.

7. Key Features of the Livability Index
Engagement
Internet Access
Civic Engagement
Social Engagement
Equal Rights
Commitment to Livability
HEALTH
Healthy Behaviors
Access to Health Care
Quality of Health Care
Commitment to Livability
Opportunity
Equal Opportunity
Economic Opportunity
Education
Multi-generational Communities
Local Fiscal Health
Commitment to Livability
Environment
Water Quality
Air Quality
Resilience
Energy Efficiency
Commitment to Livability
Housing
Housing Accessibility
Housing Options
Housing Affordability
Commitment to Livability
Key Features of the Livability Index
• Location search feature—Users can search the livability score for any location in the United States by address, town, city, county, or state.
• Comparison feature—Users can compare the livability score and category scores for up to three locations (any combination of address, town, city,
county, or state).
• Customization feature—Users can customize their scores according to which categories are more or less important to them.
• Map overlays—Users will find demographic information such as race/ethnicity, age, and a visual display of the indicators comprising the livability scores.
• Resources tab—The score results page has a list of resources by category to connect communities to resources that will help them become more livable.
Index Scores
• The Livability Index scores places for their performance on 40 metrics and 20 policies across the seven categories of livability. Metrics measure how livable communities are in the present, while policies capture whether communities are laying the groundwork to become more livable over time. The livability score for a selected neighborhood, city, county or state ranges from 0 to 100.
Category scores also range from 0 to 100.
• We score communities by comparing them to one another, so the average community gets a score of 50. Even the best-performing communities show room for improvement in at least one category.
Transportation
Convenient Transportation Options
Transportation Costs
Safe Streets
Accessible System Design
Commitment to Livability
Neighborhood
Proximity to Destinations
Mixed-use Neighborhoods
Compact Neighborhoods
Personal Safety
Neighborhood Quality
Commitment to Livability

8. The median US community has adopted only six of the 20 policies tracked in the Index. There is still much room for improvement

9. The Livability Index Overview
Metrics & Policies
Metrics and policies are the indicators used to measure livability. They are drawn from over 50 sources of data.
Metrics
Metrics indicate how livable communities are in the present by measuring community characteristics.
40 metrics are used in the Livability Index; 21 of those evaluate livability at the neighborhood scale.
Each category contains 4-9 metrics.
Metrics must be relevant and subject to direct/indirect influence by state and local policymakers.
Policies: Updated Jan 26, 2017
Policies are actions communities can take to improve livability over time.
20 state and local policies are evaluated in the Livability Index.
Livability Index Indicators/Measurements
Indicators include both metrics, which measure what is on the ground today, and policies, which give us a view into the future. All of the metrics and policies within a category collectively provide the basis for evaluating livability for that category.
Metrics
Must measure community characteristics, not characteristics of individuals
Must measure characteristics that would make a community more livable for residents, if improved.
Must be relevant to state/local policymakers
Must be subject to direct or indirect influence by state and local policymakers (e.g. weather cannot be influenced, but weatherization or disaster response can.)
“Indirect influence” refers to characteristics that the private sector directly controls, but that can be influenced by policies or other actions of local government (e.g. number of grocery stores is a private business decision, but zoning and outreach to attract grocers can be done by local government)
Policies
Include policies and programs that impact livability
Must be at the state or local level and relate to an attribute of livability. It is much harder to find national databases of local policies, thus many of the policies are state level policies.
Must be measurable on a binary system – places with “good” or “model” policies receive credit for those policies, while places with poor, incomplete, or nonexistent policies receive no credit
Measures must have a meaningful amount of variation across different geographies (e.g. a metric that has similar values across all U.S. counties is not meaningful; federal policies are not included because they have the same effect across the entire U.S.)
We cannot review individual ordinances or programs for inclusion in the Index; we can only include policies that are tracked and rated by third-party organizations.
Source:propay.com

10. The Livability Index Categories & Attributes Housing Neighborhood
Housing Accessibility
Housing Options
Housing Affordability
Commitment to Livability
Neighborhood
Proximity to Destinations
Mixed-use Neighborhoods
Compact Neighborhoods
Personal Safety
Neighborhood Quality
Transportation
Convenient Transportation Options
Transportation Costs
Safe Streets
Accessible System Design
Environment
Water Quality
Air Quality
Resilience
Energy Efficiency
Commitment to Livability
Health
Healthy Behaviors
Access to Health Care
Quality of Health Care
Engagement
Internet Access
Civic Engagement
Social Engagement
Equal Rights
Opportunity
Equal Opportunity
Economic Opportunity
Education
Multi-generational Communities
Local Fiscal Health
The following slide lists the seven categories with their respective attributes.
Commitment to Livability appears under each of the 7 categories because of the cross-cutting nature of the work. Member communities of the AARP Network of Age Friendly Communities, or comparable program that AARP is able to track, receive a single policy point.

11. The AARP Livability Index: The AARP Livability Index is all about building “Great Neighborhoods for All Ages.” It was designed to provide the best basis for comparing localities across the nation. People, policy makers and the private sector can use the Livability Index to measure how their location – down to the neighborhood level – rates across a broad range of metrics that can be tailored based on a user’s preferences.
Policies
AARP and Local Network