The Inclusive Growth Score™

Unlocking the power of data to help communities thrive

Search by census tract, county, city or state

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How it Works

Introducing the Inclusive Growth Score™

Explore all census tracts including 8,764 Qualified Opportunity Zones.

Measures of inclusion and growth indicate how economies are faring in each census tract and the impact of economies on its residents

Analyze similarities and differences across all census tracts.

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Methodology

Data-driven insights to measure and track inclusive growth

Our Inclusive Growth Score™ blends open-source data with a proprietary layer of insights based on Mastercard’s aggregated and anonymized transaction data. The Inclusive Growth Score represents the degree to which the environment, economy and community in each census tract benefit from equitable growth. When complemented by local knowledge, the Score helps identify and prioritize opportunities for revitalization and measure changes to economic health over time. Contact us with any questions and comments on the platform.

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“Real change calls for companies to take action: to bring to the table their technologies and infrastructure, capital and creativity and ability to scale solutions. When we do this, we create a sustainable system where everyone benefits – employees, citizens, customers, companies and governments.”

Portrait of Ajay Banga Ajay Banga
President and CEO, Mastercard

Data for Good

Better outcomes begin with better inputs

Mastercard leverages the power of data for good. It is committed to increasing the capacity of the public and social sectors to solve systemic problems using real evidence. All insights are developed under Mastercard’s deep and longstanding commitment to privacy and data protection, information security, and data responsibility, as reflected in Mastercard’s Data Responsibility Principles.

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“By integrating purpose into our business strategy, we recognize that success for the company is inextricably linked to the well-being of communities and countries. It is the path to shared prosperity that benefits us all.”

Portrait of Shamina Singh Shamina Singh
Founder & President, Center for Inclusive Growth

Bringing retail to Chicago’s South Side

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth has been analyzing the effects of economic development in neighborhoods – in part by leveraging insights based on Mastercard’s anonymized and aggregated transaction data. One example of this insight-mining is an initiative that examined the economic growth potential of merchants as a result of increased traffic from bike-sharing programs and free Wi-Fi in New York City neighborhoods, another is how local crime may affect retail. The Center most recently turned its attention to Pullman.

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Finding the Path to Inclusive Growth

Nashville is one of the nation’s leading metro areas for automotive manufacturing and as automobiles become more information-enabled, communications equipment will be integral. The same equipment and services would also complement Nashville’s music recording industry. Information and communication technologies and services could also help unlock important new insights in clinical health, where Nashville is a leader.

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Using Data-Driven Insights to Help Revive a Historic Neighborhood

“The CID district is helping to redevelop the social fabric of the neighborhood,” said Norman Barnum, chief financial officer for the New Orleans Business Alliance and project lead for development of the 25 Qualified Opportunity Zones in New Orleans, LA (NOLA). The Business Alliance is a public-private partnership and serves as the City of New Orleans official economic development organization. Barnum states further that “While you can’t take away the 50 years lost by the community because of the Interstate, the CID was put into place to recognize a wrong and create opportunity for a new right.”

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Measuring the Impact of "Smart City" Innovations

Billions of dollars have been invested in everything from smart parking meters to smart street lights and entire electrical grids. Spending around the globe on smart-city initiatives could total $41 trillion over the next 20 years, according to some estimates. With such sums at stake and urban sustainability a growing priority for cities, policymakers, planners and investors alike are keen to understand the impact of these projects to determine whether they are indeed smart, at least financially. But the task is not easy.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Here’s what you need to know

Mastercard leverages the power of data for good. It is committed to increasing the capacity of the public and social sectors to solve systemic problems using real evidence. All insights are developed under Mastercard’s deep and longstanding commitment to privacy and data protection, information security, and responsible data management.

Existing data sets that can show economic activity or depression at the level of granularity of census tracts and at higher frequency intervals are few and far between. Through analysis of aggregated and anonymized data, whether census, spend, or other commercially available data, Mastercard can better understand economic growth trends and depressions at the census tract level

Mastercard represents a large number of cardholders in various countries around the globe. We recognize that this cardholder population may not be representative of the overall population in each country, particularly when a significant proportion of the population relies on cash for payments. When insights are applied to broader population, we model those insights to broader spending patterns. For calculating the Inclusive Growth Score, we also layer publicly available information, such as census data, and independent research into our analysis to help build out a complete picture of spending. In fact, Mastercard’s spending insights derived from Mastercard’s anonymized and aggregated transactions represent less than 30% of the data powering the Inclusive Growth Score.

Mastercard’s longstanding commitment to privacy and the care with which we handle data are a vital part of our responsibility to our customers, accountholders, and employees, and help us earn and maintain their trust.

Mastercard insights can inform policymakers about current trends of economic activity. And over time, help demonstrate the broader inclusive impact of investor dollars.

One of the core strategies for the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth is to drive economic development that improves the lives of all members of a community. An important part of that is bridging the gap between maximizing profits for investors and maximizing impact for mayors.

Mastercard’s data insights may be generated for all Opportunity Zones (rural and urban). Mastercard’s ability to provide insights will be dependent on the availability and sufficiency of aggregated and anonymized data for the census tracts.

Alongside our partners, we are able to tell a story that is greater than just Mastercard insights and is inclusive of other information to help tell a more complete story. For instance, with Brookings, we’ll be able to help cities by sharing informative insights about the future industries and jobs that will drive growth at a hyperlocal level.

The Inclusive Growth Score can help identify the communities most vulnerable to the pandemic, by the broad set of measures around economy, place, and community.

Contact Us to discuss partnership opportunities.

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