Determining viable sizes for Indiana communities based on essential establishments and services

Large cities and urban areas are constantly changing as the world’s population continues to increase. People tend to move away from small rural areas to cities for better jobs, more convenience, and a potentially higher quality of life. The problem with this is that there are some people who need to (or prefer to) live in rural areas. Is it possible for small communities to provide a satisfactory quality of life and be considered viable places to live? Because of the subjectivity associated with quality of life, this study focuses on determining if there is a minimum population at which a community can be considered viable for economic development. In order to determine community viability, six essential establishments and services were analyzed – fire departments, police departments, schools, water services, wastewater services, and grocery stores. Population showed a strong correlation to the number of establishments and services in a community, so binary logistic regression models were built to estimate the populations required for a community to sustain a given establishment or service, and a multinomial logistic regression model was constructed to explain the relationship between population and the probability that a community has varying numbers of establishments and services. The models, plots, and tables produced during this process can provide economic development organizations with a method for screening community investments and strategies for assigning local funding. In addition, communities can use the information to increase their investment potential and overall quality of life.