About Michigan Signals
Free, data-driven community dashboards for every Michigan county.
What Is Michigan Signals?
Michigan Signals is a free, publicly accessible platform that tracks community conditions across Michigan counties. We pull data from U.S. Census Bureau, Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), HUD, FBI Crime Data Explorer, County Health Rankings, and MISchool Data, and present it in unified county dashboards that update automatically.
The goal is simple: make the data that already exists about Michigan communities easy to find, understand, and use.
Why We Built This
Community data in Michigan is technically public, but accessing it requires knowing which federal database holds which indicator, navigating multiple agency websites, and downloading CSV files that need significant technical knowledge to interpret.
That creates an information gap. Organizations with dedicated research staff get access to community intelligence that smaller nonprofits, local journalists, community groups, and individual residents cannot easily replicate.
Michigan Signals closes that gap by doing the work once and making the results available to everyone.
How It Works
Every county dashboard on Michigan Signals is powered by an automated data pipeline. Data is collected from primary sources on a regular schedule, processed into a consistent format, and published directly to each county page. The process runs without manual intervention, which means dashboards reflect the most current available data at all times.
We are transparent about what each number means, where it comes from, and how current it is. Every data point on a dashboard includes its source and the date it was last updated.
Who This Is For
Michigan Signals is built for journalists covering local issues, foundation and nonprofit staff making funding and program decisions, business owners evaluating markets, civic leaders tracking progress, researchers studying regional trends, and residents who want to know more about where they live.
No data science background required.
Data Integrity
We do not alter or editorialize source data. When a data source is updated (annually, monthly, or more frequently), our pipeline fetches the new values and republishes the dashboard. Historical data is retained where sources provide it.
If you believe a data point on any dashboard is incorrect, use the contact form and we will investigate.
Contact
Questions, corrections, partnership inquiries, or press contact: