A national survey found that 64% of economic development offices (EDOs) struggle to access reliable data even as economic growth remains every mayor’s top priority. Most still lack the analytical infrastructure to align decisions with fiscal and market realities.
Why Economic Development Offices Need Better Market Intelligence
U.S. municipalities are under immense pressure to make data-driven decisions but most lack the tools, capacity, skills, and staff to do it. Across the country, economic development offices (EDOs) are being asked to guide growth, attract investment, and manage housing and infrastructure challenges with limited staff and outdated data systems.
A survey of more than 200 EDOs found that 64% struggle to access reliable, up-to-date data, and many still stitch together charts and graphs from public sources to brief city councils and investors.¹ Even as economic development remains the #1 mayoral priority nationwide, few local governments have the analytical infrastructure to align their decisions with fiscal or market realities.
The Growing Data Gap in Local Economic Development
Local governments have no shortage of information, but what’s missing is intelligence.
EDOs collect data on jobs, housing, and demographics, but few have the fiscal modeling, GIS capacity, or staff expertise to translate that data into action.
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The OECD found that fewer than half of U.S. cities use data to align budgets with strategic priorities.²
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Internal audits, like in Denton, TX, have explicitly recommended hiring outside experts to conduct comprehensive economic analyses.³
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Fast-growing communities especially across the Southeast, Texas, and Mountain West are contracting private analysts just to understand housing demand, infrastructure costs, and fiscal impacts.⁴
The result is a widening gap between what cities need to measure and what their current teams can deliver.
What We See Missing
To move from data collection to informed decision-making, economic development offices increasingly need:
- Fiscal Impact Modeling — to understand how new development truly affects tax revenues and service costs.
- After-Tax Incentive Analysis — to evaluate how abatements and credits shape both investor returns and public benefits.
- Investor-Grade Market Studies — detailed, data-driven research that goes beyond demographics to model demand and supply dynamics.
- Interactive Dashboards — visual, GIS-enabled tools that make data accessible across departments and to stakeholders.
- Custom Research Packages — tailored to each community’s unique economic base, industry mix, and fiscal structure.
Why Hiring a Firm Makes Sense
Economic development decisions are increasingly complex. Between fiscal multipliers, migration trends, and shifting capital flows, the technical demands now exceed what many small or mid-sized EDOs can manage internally.
Hiring a specialized firm isn’t about outsourcing strategy, it’s about building capacity.
Partnering with external analysts allows municipalities to:
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Ground policy and incentive decisions in quantitative, defensible analysis.
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Communicate clearly with investors, taxpayers, and state agencies.
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Prioritize scarce resources toward projects with the highest return — economic and fiscal.
For fast-growth regions, these capabilities are no longer optional. They’re essential to staying ahead of the curve.
¹ EcDev.org Economic Development Data Survey, 2023–24
² OECD, Innovation and Data Use in Cities, 2021
³ City of Denton, TX, Internal Audit, 2020
⁴ Town of Zebulon, NC; Ridgeland, SC; Pease Development Authority, NH — 2024–25 market study RFPs and consultant reports
