It isn’t easy to get up-to-date information about state and local economic conditions. Now, a new one-stop resource from The Tax Policy Center’s State and Local Finance Initiative is available to help. The Initiative published its first quarterly State Economic Monitor today. It’s filled with useful information about state labor markets, housing, tax revenues, and overall economic activity. For example, you can see what’s happening in public and private employment in any given state, follow trends in housing permits and prices, and see how tax revenues are changing. Take tax revenues. In a single table you can see that overall state tax revenues rose by 9.3 percent from the first quarter of 2012 to Q1 of 2013. But you can also see the tremendous variation among states: North Dakota’s revenues were up by nearly 75 percent. Alaska’s were down by 44 percent. Or, take a look at employment. In Alabama, total employment was up by 0.7 percent despite a 1.1 percent decline in public employment.  In Maryland, by contrast, a 0.7 percent increase in public sector jobs helped boost overall employment by 1.3 percent. Lots of good information in one place. Maps, tables, and graphs. The Monitor is data heaven for state and local geeks. Check it out.