CREC provides the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) with high-talent staff and management support, access to its broad network of economic and data professionals, and a foundational base upon which it can sustainably grow. CREC also coordinates and plans the annual C2ER Conference and organizes and coordinates its regular trainings

On behalf of C2ER, CREC has developed a national database of state business incentives with profiles on more than 1900 programs. The database (http://stateincentives.org/) was designed to give economic developers a one-stop resource for comparing incentive programs. Data provided in the database includes a fully searchable text description of the program as well as other […]

CREC conducts a quarterly survey of prices for a basket of consumer goods and services.  Published by C2ER, the Cost of Living Index provides a useful and accurate measure to compare cost of living differences among urban areas. Items on which the Index is based have been carefully chosen to reflect the different categories of […]

The C2ER Annual Conference is held in conjunction with the LMI Institute Annual Forum, creating the premier national event for economic development researchers and labor market information analysts. The 2018 Conference will be held in Atlanta, GA, June 4-8. Conference highlights include industry-leading keynotes, training classes and breakout sessions, the annual State Economic Researchers’ Roundtable, […]

Since 2000, the the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) has organized more than 50 one- and two-day professional development training seminars on a variety of topics for the Council for Community & Economic Research (C2ER). The curriculum includes more than 20 different topics such as: Data Collection Introduction to Data for Economic Development Practitioners Community Profiling: The Basics […]

The 2018 Cost of Living Index Annual Review is now available. C2ER annually publishes an unweighted average of prices accumulated from the previous three quarters. See the 10 most & least expensive urban areas in the U.S. See our full press release here. 

C2ER and LMI Institute staffers, Spencer Abrams and Jennie Allison, visited St. Louis Missouri January 16 – 17, 2019 to meet with local stakeholders to plan the 2019 Annual Conference. Stay tuned for the official launch and agenda release in the next two weeks.

Each year, the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) hires a number of interns who help the organization during the busy summer period. Each is offered an opportunity to learn how the organization helps municipalities, states, and regions respond to changes in local job markets; and CREC specifically works with undergraduate and graduate students who need academic credit. […]

CREC managed the C2ER and LMI Institute Annual Conference June 4th – 8th in Atlanta, GA. Presentations from the conference have been uploaded here.

The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) published their second quarter update for the Cost of Living Index (COLI).

The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) published quarter 1 of the 2016 Cost of Living Index (COLI). This is first publication to include San Juan, Puerto Rico

The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) released the 2016 County Level Index. The dataset includes 3,114 US counties based on an econometric model that identifies key determinants of an area’s cost of living.

The Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER) has published the 2015 Annual Average Cost of Living Index (COLI).

Each year, the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) hires a number of interns who help the organization during the busy summer period. Each is offered an opportunity to learn how the organization helps municipalities, states, and regions respond to changes in local job markets; and CREC specifically works with undergraduate and graduate students who need academic credit. […]

Each year, the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) hires a number of interns who help the organization during the busy summer period. Each is offered an opportunity to learn how the organization helps municipalities, states, and regions respond to changes in local job markets; and CREC specifically works with undergraduate and graduate students who need academic credit. […]