Call it a case of the rich getting richer - a Ball State study of the quality of life in Indiana's 92 counties shows that the best-off places, financially speaking, appear to also be the best places to live.
The data, based on the measurements of people, health, education, governmental impact and arts and entertainment, is part of a new study by the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State. First news reports from the study concentrated on the health of Indiana residents, but aggregate data from all five categories shows that counties with the highest per capital income also rank the highest in overall quality of life.
Four of the top five counties in terms of the combined data were in the Indianapolis area: Hamilton, Boone, Marion and Johnson counties. Dubois County in southwestern Indiana ranked fourth.
Delaware County, meanwhile, just barely made the top third at No. 32. The CBER report ranks each county and gives grades on a curve. Delaware County's best score was in arts and entertainment, where it ranked 15th and earned a B+. Its lowest ranking was in the people category, which measures poverty and unemployment rates. Here, Delaware County ranked 74th and earned a D+.
John Fallon, vice president of Economic Development, said the rankings should be an incentive to improve the community. He hopes students and faculty can help by offering expertise through immersive programs.
"I've maintained that a university can only be as good as the community in which it exists," he said. "We have a vested interest in each other's success."
He came to Ball State in March to lead the Building Better Communities department, in which students work with Indiana communities to improve outreach and development. He said he's too new to the position to have a solid plan for improving Delaware County, but he'd like to start by contacting Mayor Dennis Tyler to talk about possibilities with collaboration.
"Nobody should be happy about this," Fallon said. "This should be kind of a call to action to able bodied people to find a way to contribute to improving this."
The Indiana Community Asset Inventory and Rankings also measured static and changeable public amenities. Delaware County ranked on the low end for static amenities, including forests, wildlife and bodies of water. The county ranked better in areas that can be influenced - such as creating public parks, camping and fishing areas and school grounds - which shows that positive change is happening.
The report includes information that has been collected by other economists at Ball State and around Indiana, as well as federal and state reports. Michael Hicks, director of CBER, led the study; he could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
One of the county's strengths, the report found, was in the area of arts and entertainment. Many students said while they don't plan on settling down in Muncie, they enjoy the night life and entertainment scene while in college.
Senior marketing major Jessica Beck said she likes getting to know people in the community.
"I love to volunteer, and when it's time to have fun, I go to Doc's Music Hall downtown to get the best live music experience," she said.
On the other hand, Chris McBride, another senior marketing major, said he's concerned about poverty in the area.
"There is nothing appealing in the city other than Ball State University," he said. "The city has no money, which leads to a lot of frowned upon behaviors, most of which is unseen. It's messed up here, and it's getting worse."
That's just the sort of thing Fallon and others want to improve through economic development projects. But change won't happen overnight.
"I don't have a bag of tricks over here," he said. "But we do have a lot of resources clear across the community. Think of resources, immersive learning projects, for example."
Fallon said he's happy to call Muncie his home. His family lived in Farmington Edition northwest of the new soccer fields back in 1987, when he worked in the department that preceded Building Better Communities. When he returned in 2007, he was happy to find that not a lot had changed. In fact, his family moved to a home just a block and a half away from his first house in Muncie.
"Physically, it didn't change much at all," he said. "The people are different. But the neighborhood is kind of characterized by big, tall trees, and our backyard butts up against a farm."
On Saturdays, he can hear the announcer for home soccer meets.
"It feels good," he said. "It just feels right."
Alana Jackson contributed to this story.
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Delaware County's ranking by category
People: D+, 74th
Human capital: education: C, 49th
Human capital: health: C, 66th
Government impact and economy: C, 42nd
Arts, entertainment and recreation: B+, 15th
Public amenities: changeable 106.8
Public amenities: status: 86
**Rankings were not given for public amenities. A score of 100 was the average in both categories.
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