FAQs

What’s the best reliance index number?

The reliance index is not a normative index. That is, it’s not “good” or “bad” to have a high or low ranking on the reliance index. Rather, the index indicates how concentrated your regional economy is in “eds and meds.” If your region has a reliance index close to 1, then eds and meds play the same role in your region as they do in the country as a whole. If your region’s reliance index is below 1, eds and meds are slightly less represented in your regional economy than they are in the country as a whole. And, if your region’s reliance index is above 1, your region is more dependent on eds and meds as a sector in the regional economy than as in the country as a whole. For a deeper explanation of reliance change in metro regions between 2004 and 2019, please see our brief published in 2024, Economic Reliance on Anchor Institutions: An Analysis of New Data from the Anchor Economy Initiative .

How is the reliance index calculated?

The reliance index captures the ratio of a region’s anchor institution economic impact divided by the region’s overall economy, divided by the same ratio calculated at the national level. For employment, income, and gross domestic product (GDP), the reliance index calculates the regional share of impact from eds and meds and divides this by the share of impact from eds and meds employment, income, and GDP at the national level . For example, the reliance index takes the regional employment impact from eds and meds, divides that by the total employment impact for a region, then divides that figure by the same ratio of eds and meds employment impact at the national level over total employment at the national level. This calculation (also known as the location quotient) is done for employment, income, and GDP impacts and then averaged together to calculate the reliance index.

Did institutions report their data to the Philadelphia Fed?

No individual institution reported its data to the Philadelphia Fed. The foundation for the economic impact analysis is higher education and hospital institutional reporting to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), which covers 95 percent of U.S. jobs available at the county, metropolitan statistical area (MSA), state, and national levels by detailed industry. The input-output model used for the economic impact analysis — IMPLAN — imputes higher education and hospital operational and capital expenditures for regions based on these employment and income figures and regional and industry sector economic characteristics embedded in the model. See the Methodology section for further details.

Is every hospital and higher education institution in my region included in the data set?

Yes, every higher education and hospital establishment is included in the regional economic impact calculation. In some cases, QCEW suppresses employment and income data from regional higher education and hospital institutions when there are too few establishments and, therefore, the data could be tied back to a specific institution. In the cases of data suppressions to protect the anonymity of establishments, IMPLAN imputes employment and income data based on its model.

Can I see hospital sector and higher education sector impacts separately for my region?

Yes, in 2024 hospital and higher education impacts for jobs, income and GDP are included. On a region’s profile page, users can toggle between combined, hospital and higher ed impacts at the top of each profile page. Using the “compare with other regions” button on the bottom of each profile page, users have the opportunity to compare total anchor impact, hospital impact or higher education impact. Finally, if users download the full data sets, higher education impacts and hospital impacts for jobs, income and GDP are broken out in both the 2004 and 2024 data downloads. (Data is only presented as combined for hospitals and higher eds in the 2019 data download.)

I see the data are displayed at the regional (MSA or nonmetro regional) level. Are the data available for my county, city, or town?

The economic impact data are available at the regional and state levels. The Philadelphia Fed used the 387 metro and 133 nonmetro regions defined by the BLS for the economic impact analysis. (See the Methodology for more specific information on these regions and for a cross-walk of counties to regions.) The Anchor Economy Dashboard can complement county-level data that regions may collect as part of their economic development planning.

Are there any other anchor institutions included in the data set?

For the purposes of the Anchor Economy Dashboard, only hospitals and higher education institutions are considered anchor institutions. In regional anchor institution initiatives, other types of institutions, such as large nonprofits, charitable foundations, and even for-profit companies committed to place, are part of anchor strategies.

Are the impacts that result from out-of-town patients and students and visiting friends and family included in the impact data?

These impacts have been categorized as “ancillary” in previous versions of the data and are excluded from the 2024 data given their very small magnitude relative to larger impacts from employment, operational, and capital expenditures.

Are hospital and higher education operational and capital expenditures still available?

While hospital and higher education operational and capital expenditures are still outputs of the IMPLAN model, these data are no longer displayed on the dashboard as of the most recent update. We have found that users tend to reference the direct, indirect, and induced impacts more frequently and find them easier to interpret than operational and capital expenditures. Because of this, we decided to offer the same detailed impacts for both hospital and higher education sectors instead.

Which input-output methodology was used to calculate impacts?

The Philadelphia Fed partnered with Oxford Economics to calculate the economic impacts of higher education institutions and hospitals using the IMPLAN model for input-output analysis.

Are dollar values adjusted to 2024 dollars in the 2004 and 2019 data?

Yes, dollar values are adjusted to 2024 dollars in the 2004 and 2019 data using industry-specific adjustment factors provided by IMPLAN. Dollar values for GDP and labor income were adjusted in the original detailed modeling results for each of the 546 IMPLAN industries.

Can I compare 2024 data to data from 2004 or 2019?

The regions in the 2024 data are based on the most up-to-date MSA definitions from the OMB’s 2023 Bulletin, whereas the 2004 and 2019 regions are based on definitions from 2018. Because of these definition changes, many regions are not comparable between the 2024 data and the data from previous years. The 2004 and 2019 data files each contain a column titled ‘matches_2024’ that flags regions with consistent geographies (1 = geography matches with 2024 data, 0 = geography has changed). Please reference this column before comparing regions over time. Data from 2004 and 2019 use the same geographic definitions, and thus, remain comparable.

If comparing 2024 data to data from previous years, please note that ancillary impacts were excluded from impact totals in the 2024 data given that these impacts were very small in magnitude compared to operational or capital expenditures. The removal of ancillary spending impacts would not meaningfully affect overall impact totals due to their small size, but should be noted when comparing across years.