It’s pumpkin spice season!
While you are enjoying pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin spice bars, you will be relieved that we at Minnesota Compass do not mix pumpkin spice in our data. That means you will always find reliable, actionable, and clear data without any extra “spice” – confusion, unnecessary complexity, or biased commentary – that leads users astray or tells misleading stories about our state.
Minnesota Compass is a statewide social indicators project led by Wilder Research. We are driven by the belief that reliable data can transform communities. By tracking trends across crucial areas like education, housing, health, and the economy, Minnesota Compass serves as a foundation for informed decision-making throughout the state.
Here are some examples of how we carry out our three goals, without any extra spice.
We provide credible, easy-to-access data.
Data on Minnesota Compass are from reliable sources such as the U.S. Census Bureau, Minnesota state agencies, and local survey partners. Data from our partners enable us to track more than 40 indicators across 10 topic areas. We include background data and sources, so it’s always clear and transparent where our data come from.
For example, under our Workforce topic area, we track the proportion of adults who are working based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau. In that measure, you can see that almost 4 in 5 working-age adults in our state are working. From there, you can easily dig deeper to explore employment in specific regions or cities, by type of employment, or by demographic characteristics.
We track trends and measure progress.
Our researchers analyze and interpret the data to show how Minnesota is doing on issues that impact our quality of life. Many of our measures track trends going back decades. Long-term trends allow us to measure progress over time and the impact of major events, like the Great Recession in 2008 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, on our quality of life.
For example, we have data on serious crime going back as far as 1990. From these data, we can see that, contrary to popular narratives, serious crime has fallen over the last three and a half decades.
In addition to our interactive trend graphs, we produce one printable document each year – Compass Points! Our annual Compass Points dashboard provides a quick snapshot of the recent trend of all of our indicators.
We improve understanding to help you make data-informed decisions.
The data and analysis we provide help policymakers and nonprofit, business, and community leaders identify, understand, and act on issues that affect lives and communities.
For example, a regional organization was seeking data on literacy across southern Minnesota school districts to include in a letter of support. We have that information! This partner was able to leverage Compass data to support their community in advocating for the necessary funding to support their schools.
An urgent call-to-action:
Advocate for data integrity
Minnesota Compass can only provide relevant and accurate information because of access to reliable data, especially from the U.S. Census Bureau. Recently proposed changes to the 2030 Census could undermine the reliability of data we depend on, and limit the information available for smaller communities. Read more here.
Join Minnesota Compass in submitting public a comment to advocate against changes to the 2030 Census that will limited who is counted.
- Go to regulations.gov and search docket USBC-2026-0628. Comments are due November 2, 2026 at 11:59 PM EST. Anonymous comments are accepted, and it takes about ten minutes.
- Agencies must consider substantive comments, and the most useful ones are specific and grounded in your own work. Name the program, the grant, the report, the population.
- Tell them what you use Census data for, at what geography, and what breaks without it. If you have tried to substitute survey estimates for a small community and watched the margin of error exceed the estimate, describe exactly that. A concrete account from one Minnesota organization carries weight that a hundred form letters do not.
Continue to engage with us!
While we are spice-free, we welcome you to grab your pumpkin spice latte and join us in one of the following ways:
- Sign up for our newsletter. Thousands of Compass users receive our monthly e-newsletter to stay up-to-date on new data and storytelling, event announcements, media coverage, and more. Enter your email address to stay informed!
- Join us on our roadshow. We are visiting every region of the state this fall to share our new regional Compass Points dashboards, discuss quality-of-life trends in local communities, and learn about regional strengths and challenges. Learn more and join us at one of our road show events!
- Request a presentation. Compass staff deliver dozens of presentations, trainings, and workshops each year. Submit a presentation request here!
- Visit (and bookmark) our website. In the past year, we've had nearly 160,000 unique visitors to our website. We invite you to be one of them in the coming year!
