After months of collection, calculation, and analysis, the 2023 Mad River Valley Annual Data Report is here.
Each year, the Mad River Valley Planning District (MRVPD) collects, analyzes, and shares data pertaining to various community indicators for community use and planning purposes. The effort is focused on helping the community understand how it is doing, identifying what areas can be improved upon, and ultimately enabling data-informed decisions that affect the future.
The 2023 Mad River Valley Data Report focuses on trends relating to population, housing, economics, the environment, town infrastructure, and much more. Within each section, the report explores the long-term changes that have occurred and provides an opportunity to reflect on what these changes may mean for the community.
MRVPD community planner Sam Robinson explained that the report is created using the most recent data available as of July 2023, which includes both the 2021 calendar year and 2022 data where available.
“For much of the U.S. Census Bureau data, we prioritized Decennial Census years in order to minimize the margin of error. American Community Survey data can have high variances for small communities such as our own and was avoided when possible. Depending on the category of our report, the most recent and complete data available may be from 2020, 2021 or 2022, based on source availability. This report was finalized in September 2023,” the introduction of the report explains further.
The Data Report’s primary author is Robinson, a Warren native and resident.
"Despite the fact that I grew up in the Mad River Valley, I learned a lot about this community through the process of working on the 2023 Data Report. It opened my eyes to numerous long-term trends, some that are encouraging and others that are challenging. It raised some important questions that I realize challenge my previous understanding of this place; questions that require attention in order to ensure The Valley is the best it can be for all of our residents and visitors,” Robinson said.
MRVPD’s last full data report was in 2019, at which time the organization doubled its efforts and created the Mad River Valley Community Dashboard as an online tool for accessing data. In 2023, MRVPD has developed both a full printed data report as well as an updated version of the MRV Community Dashboard. Both the 2023 MRV Data Report and MRV Community Dashboard can be found at mrvpd.org/annual-data-reports/.
