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Calcimator

Community Facility Needs Calculator

Estimate required schools, fire stations, libraries, police, and recreation facilities from population growth projections.

Inputs

years
sq ft/capita

Results

Projected Population

60,950

Schools Needed (projected)

19

New Schools Required4
Fire Stations Needed7
New Fire Stations2
Library Space Needed36,570 sq ft
Library Branches4
Police Officers Needed146
New Officers Required26
Recreation Centers2
Community Centers4
New Library (sq ft)6,569.83
How to Use This Calculator
  1. Enter Current Population, Annual Growth Rate, and Planning Horizon.
  2. Set School-Age Population, Students per School, and Pop. per Fire Station.
  3. Adjust Library Space Standard, Police Officers per 1,000 as needed.
  4. Review Projected Population and Schools Needed (projected).
  5. Use New Schools Required and Fire Stations Needed to inform your decision.

How the result changes with Current Population

Current PopulationProjected PopulationSchools Needed (projected)
204,500249,28475
703,250857,258258
1,301,7501,586,826477
1,800,5002,194,799659

What each input means

Current Population
Current population of the community or service area.
Annual Growth Rate
Expected annual population growth rate.
Planning Horizon
Number of years to project facility needs.
School-Age Population
Percentage of population that is school age (K-12). US average is ~17%.
Students per School
Average student capacity per school building.
Pop. per Fire Station
Target population served by each fire station. NFPA suggests 8,000-15,000.
Library Space Standard
Library space per capita. ALA recommends 0.6-1.0 sq ft per person.
Police Officers per 1,000
Sworn officers per 1,000 population. US average is ~2.4.

How this is calculated

Worked example, using the default values

  1. Identify Input Parameters
    4 parameters
    Current Population = 50000, Annual Growth Rate = 2, Planning Horizon = 10, School-Age Population = 18 = 8 input(s) provided
  2. Calculate Projected Population
    Projected Population
    60950 = 60950
  3. Calculate Schools Needed
    Schools Needed
    19 = 19
  4. Calculate New Schools Required
    New Schools Required = max(0
    4 = 4
  5. Calculate Fire Stations Needed
    Fire Stations Needed
    7 = 7

Engine last updated . Checked against 2 independently-derived tests — how we verify calculators.

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