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
Aerial view of people walking
Changing the US Census to exclude people without legal status would have real consequences for state budgets and community well-being.
Smoke billows and a wildfire blazes on a hilltop adjacent to a neighborhood in an arid, hilly region.
Among recent federal spending cuts were those made to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster mitigation programs.
Journal Article Modernizing the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
Since 1992, Medicare has paid physicians and other clinicians through a fee schedule based on a resource-based relative value scale (RBRVS). With 33 years of hindsight, it is clear that the RBRVS-based Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) has not accomplished the lofty aspirations held by its
Brief How Should Colleges Collect Parenting Student Data? (Version 2.0)
Student parents (also known as parenting students) make up nearly one in five undergraduates in the United States. While they earn similar grades as students without children, student parents graduate at much lower rates—even when comparing students with similar backgrounds attending similar types
A woman crafting with young children in a classroom.
To improve child care access and quality, pay raises for the early childhood workforce must be implemented with careful consideration for which staff members are eligible, what the potential drawbacks and barriers to participation are, and how negative market effects can be mitigated.
Brief Thrive Prince George’s: Participant Outcomes at Eight Months
This summary focuses on Thrive Prince George’s guaranteed income pilot participants’ outcomes eight months after the first payments went out. We report on outcomes across five key areas: cash use, housing cost burden, employment, food insecurity, and mental health. Thrive Prince George’s is testing