Urban across the Country

Urban’s researchers partner with state and local leaders to provide the evidence, tools, and support they need to improve lives and strengthen communities. This work includes strategic advising to translate research into action, program evaluations to measure effectiveness, and research and data analysis to inform decisionmaking. Our experts develop custom data tools and modeling to support equitable resource allocation and lead community-engaged research and convenings to ensure policies reflect local priorities.

Use this page to explore Urban’s work. Search by region to see examples of our research, and filter by evidence and products to narrow results by topic or type of work.

Dive deeper into your state and community with our data tools. View highlighted tools below, select “Data tools” under “Filter by Product Types,” or head directly to our data tools page.

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State and community data tools
Explore our work by state
Research Report How New City Movements Affect Home Values
Our research analyzes property values before and after incorporation in majority-white and majority-Black new cities and in areas left unincorporated in the metropolitan area of Atlanta.
Four multicolored tents sit on a cobbled sidewalk along a street.
Samantha Batko, a homelessness policy expert at the Urban Institute, spoke with Denver 7 News about her and her colleagues’ evaluation of Denver, Colorado’s All In Mile High initiative, which aims to end unsheltered homelessness by the end of 2026.
A young man with dark hair and a beard focuses on a computer screen in a communal working space.
Following the Trump administration's funding and staffing reductions at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, former employees are increasingly securing jobs in the private sector as “disaster consultants,” or contractors hired by states and cities to help with disaster recovery.
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The 2025 reconciliation bill, signed into law by President Trump on July 4, 2025, included a provision that allows states to opt into participating in a federal tax credit scholarship program. This brief uses evidence to explain how such a federal tax credit might need to be implemented and raises
A man with light hair and a beard sits at a table in a brightly lit room in front of a laptop, scrutinizing one of a few sheets of paper and typing into his phone.
In an op-ed for Governing, Sarah Rosen Wartell, president of the Urban Institute, laid out three policy pathways leaders can explore to address Americans’ cost-of-living concerns.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA - 29 April 2022: Cars moving around the court buildings in center City Philadelphia.
Traffic stops are among the most common interactions the public has with the police, and these stops, especially pretextual stops, can lead to various negative consequences.