Thousands of data points on the Island environment, government, demographics and more were released in a new report from the Martha’s Vineyard Commission last week.

A 150-page document that lays out everything from the Island’s population to electric use, the new Martha's Vineyard Statistical Profile is an update to the commission’s previous report released in 2019. It aims to gather public data from dozens of sources and package it in one convenient place.

“The goal is pretty much just to collect all available public data…and organize it in a consistent way so that people can refer to it for their own planning purposes,” said Alex Elvin, the commission’s research and communications manager.

“There’s a ton of data, like literally thousands of datasets out there, that are in all different, hundreds of different locations,” he said. 

Included in the 2023 statistical profile, Mr. Elvin said, are data from the 2020 census, reflections on the impacts of Covid on-Island and information gathered from federal, state and municipal sources. 

The profile also incorporates datasets not previously included in previous snapshots, Mr. Elvin said, including state data on the level of water pumped from public wells on-Island. 

“It’s like 1.1 billion gallons that those wells are pumping from the aquifer,” he said. “It’s an incredible amount. And I think it’s more than we thought.”

New data has also shown that Vineyard Transit Authority ridership has yet to recover to pre-pandemic levels, despite a speedy economic recovery from Covid. 

In addition to being available to the public, Mr. Elvin said, the new statistical profile may prove useful to municipal planners and local nonprofits looking to gain access to grant funding. 

“It just helps anyone kind of get some context around whatever silo they’re in,” he said. 

The new Martha’s Vineyard Statistical Profile is available on the Martha’s Vineyard Commission website.