DATE:    12/20/02
CONTACT: Greg Hawkins, (864) 656-0217;greg@strom.Clemson.edu
WRITER:  Susan Bedingfield, (864) 656-3876; sbeding@clemson.edu

Clemson helps consumers find 
county that's right for them.

	CLEMSON   Wondering which county offers the best job 
opportunities or good programs for senior citizens?
	Thanks to the Clemson University's Jim Self Center on the 
Future, a ranking of South Carolina counties is available on the web. 
The center is part of the Strom Thurmond Institute (STI).
	"Ratings of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia have 
been available on our web page for some time," said Greg Hawkins, 
director of the Jim Self Center. "We have expanded that program to 
include South Carolina counties."
	The Economic and Social Well-Being Index represents a series of
measurements that monitor conditions and changes that reflect 
well-being. 
	This index examines quality of life indicators in five 
measurement categories: Income and Employment Prospects; Health and 
Social Conditions;Business Activity and Climate; Human Capital 
Development; Physical Environment Conditions. 
	Each county is ranked on their performance and conditions with 
regards to the 25 measurements, culminating in a rank score for each 
measurement and category of measurements.  
	In addition, the web program is interactive and allows users to 
provide their own individual preferences to recalculate the rankings. 
 	Because the value of any index can be determined by how well it
represents the interests of the user, this Index provides an 
interactive dimension that allows the user to adjust the relative 
impacts or weights of the 25 measurements on the final ranking, 
according to Hawkins.
 	"A retired individual may be more interested in a county or 
state with a low crime rate compared to a county or state with high 
employment possibilities," he said.
   	Series descriptions and instructions are provided with the 
user-friendly tool, and 25 separate measures are combined into one 
grand total.
  	The program can be found by going to
http://www.scfuture.clemson.edu/today&tomorrow/indices/. 
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