New Metis Brain Capital Index Data Reveals Why Arizona Must Invest in Brain Health, Brain Skills, and the Arts
By the Arizona Brain Capital Alliance (ABCA)
What if we could measure how well Arizona is developing and protecting the brainpower of its people?
What if we could see whether our state is building the brain health and brain skills needed for educational success, workforce innovation, economic growth, and healthy aging?
Now we can begin answering those questions.
The newly available Metis U.S. Brain Capital Index Dashboard provides an important look at how Arizona compares with the rest of the nation.
And the results should get our attention.
Arizona is falling behind national averages in brain capital, and the gap has widened over time.
For the Arizona Brain Capital Alliance (ABCA), these findings reinforce why our organization was created. Arizona needs a coordinated, statewide effort to strengthen brain health and brain skills across every generation.
What Is the Metis U.S. Brain Capital Index?
The Metis U.S. Brain Capital Index brings together publicly available data to help communities understand the conditions that support brain health and brain skills.
Brain capital has two essential components:
- Brain Health: The cognitive, emotional, neurological, and behavioral health that supports human functioning and well-being.
- Brain Skills: The educational, social, creative, and innovation-related abilities that help people learn, adapt, solve problems, and contribute to society.
The dashboard allows policymakers, educators, business leaders, healthcare professionals, and community organizations to examine trends, compare states, and identify areas needing improvement.
Importantly, Brain Capital Index (BCI) scores are not percentages or school grades. They are composite index scores that help us understand relative conditions and changes over time.
The dashboard currently presents historical data through 2022. While these numbers do not tell us exactly where Arizona stands in 2026, they establish an important baseline for action.
Arizona’s Brain Capital Score: A Concerning Trend
According to the Metis dashboard, Arizona’s Brain Capital Index score declined from approximately 50.8 in 2007 to 45.1 in 2022.
During that same period, the national average moved from approximately 54.0 to 50.4.
Arizona scored approximately 5.3 index points below the national average and 4.2 points below its peer group of similarly populated states.
Even more concerning, Arizona’s score fell noticeably after 2019, following a pattern of decline also visible nationally.
The dashboard does not establish what caused the decline. However, it gives Arizona leaders a compelling reason to investigate the underlying conditions and develop targeted solutions.
We cannot improve what we are unwilling to measure. And now that we have these measurements, we have a responsibility to act.
Arizona Is Lagging in Both Brain Health and Brain Skills
One of the most revealing Metis visualizations compares states by their Brain Health and Brain Skills percentiles.
In 2022, Arizona was positioned at approximately:
- 36th percentile for Brain Health
- 20th percentile for Brain Skills
This places Arizona in the dashboard’s Development Lagging quadrant, below the 50th percentile in both categories.
These are percentile positions, not national rankings or percentages of potential achieved.
The findings suggest that Arizona faces challenges in both the health-related conditions that support cognitive functioning and the learning and innovation conditions that help people develop essential skills.
This matters for everyone.
When children lack opportunities to develop strong learning skills, when adults face preventable brain health challenges, and when communities have limited access to enriching experiences, the consequences can extend into education, workforce participation, and economic opportunity.
Where Does Arizona Need the Most Improvement?
The Metis dashboard examines five action areas that influence brain capital.
Here is how Arizona compared with the national reference point in 2022:
| Action Area | Comparison Score |
|---|---|
| Learning and Skills | −1.3 |
| Health and Wellbeing | −0.5 |
| Innovation Capacity | −0.5 |
| Opportunity and Equity | −0.3 |
| Infrastructure and Environment | 0.0 |
These are standardized national comparison scores, not percentages. Negative values indicate conditions below the national reference point.
1. Learning and Skills: Arizona’s Greatest Challenge
Arizona’s largest measured gap was in Learning and Skills, at −1.3.
This action area includes conditions related to education, learning, adaptability, and the development of capabilities needed to participate in the economy.
This finding should concern every Arizona educator, parent, employer, and policymaker.
As artificial intelligence transforms the workforce, human skills such as creative thinking, critical thinking, communication, and adaptability are becoming increasingly important.
Arizona must strengthen the learning environments that help children and adults develop these abilities.
2. Health and Wellbeing: Building Healthier Brains
Arizona scored −0.5 in Health and Wellbeing.
This category considers physical, mental, and neurological conditions that influence healthy brain development and functioning.
Brain health must become a lifelong priority, beginning in early childhood and continuing through older adulthood.
Prevention, education, healthy lifestyles, and access to supportive community environments all have roles to play.
3. Innovation Capacity: Developing Our Human Advantage
Arizona also scored −0.5 in Innovation Capacity.
This area measures conditions that support research, entrepreneurship, technology, and the creation and application of new ideas.
Arizona is attracting significant technology investment, but technological infrastructure alone does not guarantee a thriving innovation economy.
We must also invest in the creative and cognitive abilities of the people who will design, manage, and improve these technologies.
Why the Arts Must Be Part of Arizona’s Brain Capital Strategy
One of the most important opportunities emerging from these findings is the role of the arts in strengthening brain capital.
At ABCA, we believe Brain Capital Arts must become an important component of Arizona’s brain capital journey.
Music, dance, theater, and visual arts are not simply enrichment activities. They provide opportunities to develop cognitive, emotional, social, and creative skills.
Research across neuroscience, psychology, and education suggests that arts participation can support important dimensions of human development, although effects vary by activity, age, and learning environment.
Consider the skills developed through different artistic experiences:
- Music: Attention, auditory processing, memory, coordination, and collaborative listening.
- Dance: Movement, body awareness, sequencing, coordination, and social connection.
- Theater: Perspective-taking, emotional expression, communication, and collaboration.
- Visual Arts: Observation, imagination, spatial reasoning, creative exploration, and flexible thinking.
These experiences provide opportunities to practice skills that matter in classrooms, workplaces, and everyday life.
They can also create meaningful intergenerational connections, support emotional expression, and encourage community participation.
Arizona already has a rich arts ecosystem, including museums, community arts centers, music organizations, cultural programs, and teaching artists.
What if we intentionally connected these resources to our statewide brain capital strategy?
What if every child had consistent access to high-quality arts education?
What if community arts organizations partnered with healthcare providers, schools, and senior centers to expand opportunities for creative participation?
What if businesses recognized the arts as one way to strengthen the human skills needed for innovation?
The arts should not be treated as an afterthought in Arizona’s brain economy. They should be part of the strategy from the beginning.
Arts investment alone will not solve every challenge revealed by the Index. But it can complement improvements in education, healthcare, and community development.
Five Strategies to Strengthen Arizona’s Brain Capital
The Metis findings give Arizona an opportunity to move from awareness to action.
The Arizona Brain Capital Alliance encourages leaders across the state to consider five priorities.
1. Make Brain Capital a Statewide Priority
Integrate brain health and brain skills into conversations about economic development, education, workforce readiness, public health, and community well-being.
2. Strengthen Early Childhood and Lifelong Learning
Support early brain development, high-quality education, family engagement, literacy, creative thinking, and opportunities for lifelong cognitive enrichment.
3. Expand Brain Capital Arts
Build partnerships among schools, museums, performing arts organizations, community centers, healthcare providers, and businesses to increase access to meaningful artistic experiences.
4. Promote Brain-Healthy Communities and Workplaces
Encourage practices that support sleep, nutrition, movement, stress management, social connection, and opportunities for creative and intellectually stimulating experiences.
5. Use Data to Guide Investment and Measure Progress
Work with researchers, policymakers, and community organizations to examine the underlying Metis indicators, identify disparities, establish measurable goals, and track improvements over time.
The goal should not simply be to raise a dashboard score. It should be to improve the real-life conditions that allow Arizona residents to flourish.
The Arizona Brain Capital Alliance: Turning Data Into Action
The Arizona Brain Capital Alliance was established to help connect research, leadership, and community action across our state.
Following the momentum of Brain Capital at the Capitol on World Brain Day, July 22, 2026, ABCA is working to build a coordinated network of organizations committed to strengthening Arizona’s brain capital.
Our work includes sharing research and data, connecting organizations, hosting statewide conversations, supporting innovative programs, and representing Arizona in national and global brain capital initiatives.
The Metis Brain Capital Index provides an important tool for this mission.
It allows us to move beyond general conversations about the importance of brain health and begin identifying where Arizona needs focused attention.
We encourage organizations throughout Arizona to explore the dashboard, examine the findings, and consider how their work can contribute to stronger brain health and brain skills.
Arizona Has Work to Do. And We Have an Opportunity.
Arizona’s Brain Capital Index results are not a reason for discouragement. They are a call to action.
We have educators, researchers, healthcare professionals, artists, business leaders, and community organizations doing extraordinary work across our state.
Now we need to connect those efforts, share what works, identify gaps, and build a more coordinated approach.
The next chapter of Arizona’s economic development cannot focus exclusively on artificial intelligence, technology, and physical infrastructure.
It must also focus on the human intelligence that makes innovation possible.
If we want Arizona to become a leader in the brain economy, we must first become a leader in developing and protecting the brain capital of our people.
And that means investing in brain health, brain skills, education, creativity, and the arts.
Join the Arizona Brain Capital Alliance
We invite Arizona’s educators, businesses, healthcare organizations, researchers, artists, nonprofits, and policymakers to join us in building a stronger brain capital future.
Together, we can transform research into action and help create a state where every generation has opportunities to develop, protect, and use its brainpower.
Arizona has work to do. Let’s get to work together!
Arizona Brain Capital Alliance (ABCA)
Connecting Research. Empowering Communities. Strengthening Arizona’s Brain Economy.
Brain Capital = Brain Health + Brain Skills
Data source: Metis U.S. Brain Capital Index, Arizona state dashboard, historical data through 2022. Explore the Metis Brain Capital Dashboard. Values are approximated from the supplied charts. The Action Area comparisons include additional measures beyond those used to calculate the BCI.
