Public Data Visibility (PDV) Index — U.S. Counties
Mapping the Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Data Missingness
County-level measure of the accessibility, resolution, and usability of public administrative
data across 8 domains. Color shows each county's within-year percentile rank
(red = data desert, blue = high visibility). 3,144 counties.
Year
2012
National mean PDV
—/ 4.0
Median PDV
—
P10 (data deserts)
—
P90 (high vis.)
—
Counties
3,144
2012
Speed:
Low visibility (data desert)High visibility
Color: within-year percentile rank of PDV score (re-centered each year so contrast is maximized across the panel).
Absolute PDV scores shown in tooltip and stat chips. 8 domains: health, environment, broadband, housing,
transportation, schools, local finance, business & labor.
Source: Siqi Wei and Xiaoyang Zhu. "Public Data Visibility and the Allocation of Competitive Federal Grants." Working paper, CSUN, 2026. ·
siqi.wei@csun.edu