Long Distance Investing: How to do a macro-analysis?

[Alex Panayiotou]

Hi BP Community - I'm looking to begin investing outside my local area, and I'm trying to cast a broad net around the country, then hone in on specific states/cities/neighborhoods. I understand that it's important to look at things like population growth, job growth and average income changes, diversity of local industries, unemployment rate, etc. but what I'm having trouble with is finding reliable sources of this kind of information online. Does anyone have suggestions on some good sites that would help me put together this view?

I also recognize that a form of this question may have been asked before, but couldn't find the exact one so feel free to point me in that direction.

Thanks!