How the Rural Health Score is calculated

1. 1

   Every area starts from a regional baseline

   Each of the 15 dimensions begins at a baseline estimate for a town of this size and location, drawn from public data. This is a neutral starting point — not a judgement about your town.

2. 2

   Community voices move the score

   When a resident speaks or types about an area, an AI reads it and decides whether it points to a problem, a strength, or is neutral, and how urgent it is. That becomes a small nudge up or down.

3. 3

   Scores are combined and banded

   Each dimension score is the baseline plus every nudge, kept between 0 and 100. The overall town score is the average of all 15. Scores are then banded into Healthy, Watch, or At risk.

We deliberately keep each submission's effect small so no single voice can swing a score. A negative comment nudges a dimension down by 2 to 6 points depending on urgency; a positive one lifts it by 2 to 4; a neutral one does not move it. Scores are always kept between 0 and 100.

Because effects are small and additive, a score only shifts meaningfully once several residents raise the same theme — which is the point. It reflects the community, not the loudest individual.

A score with no local voices behind it is only a baseline estimate. We never hide that. Every score carries a confidence level based purely on how many residents have contributed to it.

Because each submission moves a score only slightly and scores are capped, a burst of identical submissions cannot manufacture a crisis or hide one. Councils see the underlying voice count and confidence level alongside every number, so a score built on thin input is visibly flagged rather than presented as fact.

This tool is designed to surface where a community needs attention and to prompt a closer look — not to replace formal data collection or funding assessment on its own.