Mission:
To ensure that every place in the United States is a community of opportunity by raising awareness about the state of opportunity and economic mobility in the nation and championing federal and state legislation which helps guarantee that every American has the opportunities needed to climb the economic ladder of success.

Background:
The Opportunity Index was created by Opportunity Nation, a bipartisan cross-sectoral campaign of Be the Changecomprising more than two hundred nonprofits, businesses, educational institutions, faith-based and community-based organizations, and individuals working to expand economic opportunity and close the opportunity gap in the U.S. The index measures economic opportunity and mobility at the county and state levels based on a range of indicatorsrelated to the economy, education, and community health, including unemployment and poverty rates, household income, housing costs, high-speed Internet access, preschool enrollment, educational attainment, volunteerism rates, crime rates, access to primary care and healthy food, and membership in social, civic, sports, and/or religious groups. In addition to a score in each category as well as an overall opportunity score, the index provides individual state rankings and grades for twenty-four hundred counties.

Outstanding Web Features:
Visitors to the site can browse state rankingsbased on more than a dozen indicators in three categories: the economy, education, and community. An interactive map lets users access the same information by county and/or create side-by-side comparisons with other states or counties.