Morning Consult, ACBJ launch consumer index for 46 cities

Morning Consult and American City Business Journals have launched the Metropolitan Consumer Sentiment Index, a new quarterly data set that tracks shifts in consumer confidence across 46 U.S. metropolitan areas.

The index offers visibility into how major economic, political, and policy changes are shaping consumer confidence at the metro level — where economic decisions are actually made and felt.

ACBJ will publish coverage of the findings across all of its regional business publications.

“Helping business leaders make informed decisions is at the heart of ACBJ’s mission,” said ACBJ CEO Whitney Shaw in a statement. “Whether they are pursuing a growth opportunity or trying to gauge how a new policy is affecting customers, this index will give our readers an edge.”

The index is powered by Morning Consult’s survey engine, which conducts more than 5,000 daily interviews nationwide.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.