Structural economic change is inherently impacting upon community systems. Sustainable and adaptive processes are critical for community systems to respond and manage economic structural change. Resilience is an emerging change management approach for sustainable regional development; yet, the literature is void of instruments for long-term structural change. This research developed an 18-item index for measuring resilience in this context. A three-stage approach was used to develop, test and validate the index items, including (1) review of existing indicators, (2) Delphi panel, and (3) resident survey. The index was developed over four dimensions and validated in two regional Australian communities. Future research should further test this instrument.