Horizon 2020 Data Analysis: Douglas County/City of Lawrence

Abstract

This report, commissioned for the Horizon 2020 strategic planning project, surveys some of the more significant demographic and economic trends in the City of Lawrence and Douglas County, Kansas. Through contrast and comparison with counties with similar characteristics, relative strengths and weaknesses have been assessed.

The Lawrence-Douglas County area is a community with a growing population, high quality work force, and modern economic base, enhanced by the presence of a major regional university. Its development in recent years has been shaped by two significant forces. First, with three colleges, it is a major center for college education. Much of its development has been influenced by its large student population. Second, Douglas County is sandwiched between two metropolitan areas, and has captured some of the spillover benefits from this location. Throughout the report which follows, Douglas County's pattern of performance over the past decade has resembled that of either the out- of-state college communities it is compared with, or that of the metropolitan counties it borders, particularly Johnson County.