Montgomery Planning unveils Community Trends report and interactive dashboard; committee presses for data updates and housing preferences results

Montgomery Planning briefed the Planning, Housing, and Parks Committee on its new Community Trends report and interactive dashboard, a countywide analysis that organizes Montgomery County into 37 Community Trends Areas (CTAs) and compiles place, people and housing indicators.

James Lee, forecaster and demographic research specialist, explained the project drew on multiple public and private sources and that many indicators run through 2022 because the analysis relies on multi-year American Community Survey estimates. Lee described three headline findings: population growth is concentrated in a handful of areas (five CTAs accounted for roughly 52% of county growth from 2010-2022); about 85% of county land is already developed or unavailable for new development; and the 65-and-older population rose approximately 50% over the period, while other age cohorts grew far less.

Bhavna (planning analyst) reviewed place and housing findings: single-family detached homes occupy about 91% of residential land though they make up roughly 45% of units; multifamily construction accounted for 61% of new housing since 2010, concentrated in high-rise development; median home values range from roughly $305,000 in Leisure World to more than $1.3 million in some Bethesda CTAs. She highlighted that renters' costs rose about 40% from 2010-2022 compared with 14% for homeowners, worsening affordability pressures for renters.

Colin McNamara demonstrated the dashboard's community selector, CTA profiles and comparison tools that let users compare CTAs across dozens of variables and linked visualizations. Staff emphasized the dashboard complements the 400+-page PDF and can help policymakers and the public explore local variation in land use, demographics and housing.

Committee members asked about the CTA boundaries and whether the dashboard could show municipal-level data; staff said CTAs are built from Census block groups to support ACS-based comparisons and that municipal or other geographies could be considered in future iterations. Members also asked about data currency: staff confirmed much of the demographic analysis runs through 2022 and that the housing preferences survey is in analysis with a first look expected by the end of the summer. Council members praised the tool and suggested additional analyses (e.g., childcare costs, regional comparisons, disaggregating age and race) to inform workforce, housing and equity policy.

Chair Fridson closed by thanking staff for the work and adjourning the committee.