Fox Cities LIFE Study

The Leading Indicators for Excellence (LIFE) Study provides a data-focused overview of the quality of life in the Fox Cities area of Wisconsin and offers four priorities for community action. Previous to 2016, the data points were updated every five years. Moving forward, the data points will be updated quarterly. The purpose of the LIFE Study is to spark data-driven conversations within all areas of the community, leading to action and transformative change.

What's New


  • Data: More than 200 data indicators related to demographic, economic, social and health aspects of community life in the Fox Cities are presented, with benchmarking against select counties, Wisconsin, and the nation, with trending information.

  • Research Partner:  The Polis Center, based at Indiana University, is the research partner of the LIFE Study. They specialize in working with their partners to define, measure, and actively improve community health, well-being, and resiliency. They were responsible for data collection, evaluation, and visualizing the data for this website. 

  • Important Note: Data points on this site are "leading indicators", yet a single piece of data cannot tell the whole story. Therefore, we strongly encourage the reader to seek further information for a deeper understanding of the issues presented. On each page, we include an interpretation of the data and link to original source whenever possible. Please let us know if you have questions!