Minnesotans, we know that, along with the rest of the world, 2020 was a particularly trying year for you. And that’s putting it mildly. But here’s something good that came out of it: the brand-new Minnesota Compass website. Along with a new look, we have new ways of navigating and presenting the data and analysis so many of you have come to rely on for planning, reporting, and evaluation.
WHERE TO BEGIN
The search banner on the homepage is an easy way to begin your search. Do you have a specific topic, location, or quality-of-life indicator in mind? Start here.
Scroll down the homepage to find quick links to new insights, top resources, and some stories about the people and organizations that use our data.
WHAT’S ALL HERE?
The main menu lets you see at a glance what’s on the website.
- ABOUT gives you the who, why, and how of the site. Need to contact a staff member? Trying to figure out how to link to a chart? Want to learn how others are using Minnesota Compass? You’ll find it all here.
- EXPLORE THE DATA is filled with the data and social indicators you need and includes:
- WHO LIVES IN MN provides Minnesota demographics. Along with the data for all Minnesotans, we’ve split the section into the most accessed information, like age, sex, and race and ethnicity. This is where you’ll find data about our cultural communities and immigrant groups, too.
- WHERE THEY LIVE has data profiles by state, county, city, or region, plus neighborhoods and communities in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Duluth, and the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Service Area. Here’s where you’ll find our popular Build Your Own Profile tool to create a custom profile.
- QUALITY OF LIFE gives you pertinent data on many topics that impact the well-being of Minnesota’s residents, like education, health, and workforce, and more.
- SPECIAL PROJECTS is where you’ll find those data sets developed on a particular subject. Go here to get all of our state COVID-19 statistics, our early childhood risk, reach, and resilience data, and STEM information.
- INSIGHTS & ANALYSIS houses all of the data insights and analysis you count on from Minnesota Compass and Wilder Research staff, as well as guest authors who are experts in their fields. Along with our Insights articles, you will find podcasts, story maps and quizzes.
- RESOURCES includes webinars and events, our racial equity resource directory, and the soon-to-be-launched leadership program directory. Want to partner with us on a data and research project? Find out how here.
FOR YOU, BECAUSE OF YOU
We could not have reimagined the website without the support and advice of many, many Minnesotans who have provided funds or expertise to develop a social indicators site that gauges the quality of life of our state. The year 2020 in particular has shown us how crucial it is to be able to measure the health and well-being of our state’s residents, no matter if they live in a metropolitan area, or hail from a small rural community.
PARTNER WITH US
We have some exciting projects in the works that will launch in 2021, including our new Who Leads In MN? and STEM sections. There’s room for more, though. Can we partner with you to bring together data and analysis pertinent to the people you serve? Contact Allison Liuzzi to start the conversation.
LET US KNOW HOW IT’S WORKING FOR YOU
As with many new sites, we expect some glitches, so feel free to reach out and let us know if something isn’t functioning properly or you can’t find that chart that holds your go-to data. We’ll help you find its new location!