Mayor Donna Deegan says a new data initiative developed by her office and private partners provides a central bank of information to help policymakers assess needs of underserved areas of the community and bring Jacksonville up to par with peer cities in quality of life and economic activity.
Described by the city as a free, web-based resource, State of Jax compares various areas of Jacksonville demographically and also measures the city against 13 similar metros. Deegan introduced it Aug. 5 during a media event at City Hall.
State of Jax analyzes data regarding Jacksonville’s economy, health care and education across residents’ lifespans. The city’s partners in the initiative include the Jacksonville Civic Council, United Way, Nonprofit Center, Community Foundation, the University of North Florida and Jacksonville University.
Deegan and members of her administration said the objective data is designed to guide leaders’ decisions on apportioning resources throughout the community and working to address Jacksonville’s shortcomings compared to other cities.
Elements of the initiative include an interactive public website, stateofjax.org, where visitors can access data on life expectancy, housing affordability, education outcomes, business activity and more
“This is what smart, accountable governments should all be doing,” Deegan said. “Let this be the start of a new chapter for Jacksonville, one where data becomes our shared compass, guiding us toward a healthier, safer, more prosperous city.”
Where it gets the data
The initiative draws from reports by government agencies and private companies, including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Education, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, GoDaddy and more.
State of Jax compares Jacksonville with similar U.S. cities based on size, population demographics, notable industries and if they have a consolidated government. Reports also compare neighborhoods and Jacksonville City Council districts with one another.
In some areas, the data show Jacksonville as a leader among its peer cities. In others, it is near the bottom.
Reports showed that Jacksonville had the fourth-worst life expectancy at birth, the highest patient load per pediatrician and the second-worst labor participation rate among peer cities. Among disparities in neighborhoods and Council districts, Mandarin and College Park had a 25-year gap in life expectancy. City Council District 12 had 8,800 more children per pediatrician than District 5.
Those numbers should encourage leaders to create change, said Parvez Ahmed, the city’s chief of analytics and leader of the State of Jax project.
“I do not want any one of us to be discouraged seeing data like this,” Ahmed said. “This is data that should say what we can do better.”
Deegan included $237,500 for the initiative in her proposed 2025-26 city budget. That includes $200,000 for access to mySidewalk, the data visualization and publication software that powers the site, and $37,500 for development of the state of Jax brand, site and collateral materials.
UNF to study data
The website will be updated as new data reports emerge, leaders said.
UNF students and faculty will work with the data to identify core problems within the city.
“The best way to predict the future is to shape it,” said UNF President Moez Limayem.
“We will have two types of cities in our country: the winners and the losers. And what separates the winners from the losers is exactly this.”
On the private side, leaders were also optimistic that the State of Jax could encourage philanthropy in areas that need it most. Limayem said benefactors want to see the results of their donations, something that the data could provide over time.
“(Philanthropists) require facts, and they require return on investment,” Limayem said. “This is exactly where data comes in to provide the facts where the need is, but also provide the facts that actually their philanthropy made a difference.”
In a news release, Deegan said the initiative “is about sharpening our tools for change” and that the data “is what separates the good cities from the world-class ones.”
“My dearest hope is that this takes the politics out of arguments,” she said during the media event.
“And I know that’s a pipe dream on a lot of levels. But what we’re doing here, we are fact finding, and so people can actually look at the data, know what we are dealing with and create policy accordingly.”