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Methodology

This tool identifies commmunities that are economically disadvantaged, overburdened by certain environmental risks, and marginalized by legacies of historic underinvestment. A community qualifies as 'disadvantaged' when a census tract is at or above a certain threshold for a climate or environmental burden indicator and also above a certain threshold for a socioeconomic indicator. Census tract geographical boundaries are determined by the U.S. Census Bureau once every ten years. This tool untilizes the census tract boundaries from 2010.

Under the current formula, a census tract will be considered disadvantaged:

IF it is above the threshold for one or more climate or environmental indicator

AND it is above the threshold for one or more socioeconomic indicator

THEN the community is considered disadvantaged.

Communities will be defined as disadvantaged if they meet the qualifications under one or more of the 8 categories of criteria below.

Draft communities list v0.1 (111MB)
The package includes draft v0.1 of the list of disadvantaged communities (.csv and .xlsx) and information (.pdf) about how to use the list. Last updated: 12/13/21

* Low Income

At or above 65th percentile for percent of census tract population of households where household income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty level

Categories

Climate change

IF at or above 90th percentile for expected agriculture loss rate OR expected building loss rate OR expected population loss rate

AND is low income *

THEN the community is disadvantaged.

Clean energy and energy efficiency

IF at or above 90th percentile for energy cost burden score OR PM2.5

AND is low income *

THEN the community is disadvantaged.

Clean transportation

IF at or above 90th percentile for diesel particulate matter or traffic proximity and volume

AND is low income *

THEN the community is disadvantaged.

Affordable and sustainable housing

IF at or above 90th percentile for lead paint AND the median home value is less than 90th percentile OR at or above the 90th percentile for the housing cost burden

AND is low income *

THEN the community is disadvantaged.

Reduction and remediation of legacy pollution

IF at or above 90th percentile for proximity to hazardous waste facilities OR proximity to NLP sites OR proximity to RMP sites

AND is low income *

THEN the community is disadvantaged.

Critical clean water and waste infrastructure

IF at or above 90th percentile for wastewater discharge

AND is low income *

THEN the community is disadvantaged.

Health burdens

IF at or above 90th percentile for asthma OR diabetes OR heart disease OR low life expectancy

AND is low income *

THEN the community is disadvantaged.

Training and workforce development

IF at or above 90th percentile for low median income relative to area median income OR at or above the 90th percentile for linguistic isolation OR unemployment OR for percentage individuals in households at or below 100% federal poverty level at or above 90%

AND where the high school degree achievement rates for adults 25 years and older is less than 90%

THEN the community is disadvantaged.

Datasets used in methodology

Low Income

Percent of a block group's population in households where household income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty level.

Expected Agriculture Loss Rate

Economic loss rate to agriculture resulting from natural hazards each year.

Expected Building Loss Rate

Economic loss rate to buildings resulting from natural hazards each year.

Expected Population Loss Rate

Rate relative to the population in fatalities and injuries resulting from natural hazards each year. Population loss is defined as the Spatial Hazard Events and Losses or National Centers for Environmental Information’s reported number of fatalities and injuries caused by the hazard occurrence. To combine fatalities and injuries for the computation of population loss value, an injury is counted as one-tenth (1/10) of a fatality. The NCEI Storm Events Database classifies injuries and fatalities as direct or indirect. Both direct and indirect injuries and fatalities are counted as population loss. This total number of injuries and fatalities is then divided by the population in the census tract to get a per-capita rate of population risk.

Energy burden

Average annual energy cost ($) divided by household income.

PM2.5

Fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller.

Diesel particulate matter

Mixture of particles that is part of diesel exhaust in the air.

Traffic proximity and volume

Count of vehicles (average annual daily traffic) at major roads within 500 meters, divided by distance in meters (not km).

Housing cost burden

Households that are low income and spend more than 30% of their income to housing costs.

Lead paint

Percent of housing units built pre-1960, used as an indicator of potential lead paint exposure in homes.

Median home value

Median home value of owner-occupied housing units in the area.

Proximity to hazardous waste facilities

Count of hazardous waste facilities (Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities and Large Quantity Generators) within 5 km (or nearest beyond 5 km), each divided by distance in kilometers.

Proximity to National Priorities List (NPL) Sites

Count of proposed or listed NPL - also known as superfund - sites within 5 km (or nearest one beyond 5 km), each divided by distance in kilometers.

Proximity to Risk Management Plan (RMP) Sites

Count of RMP (potential chemical accident management plan) facilities within 5 km (or nearest one beyond 5 km), each divided by distance in kilometers.

Wastewater discharge

Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators (RSEI) modeled Toxic Concentrations at stream segments within 500 meters, divided by distance in kilometers (km).

Asthma

Weighted number of respondents people who answer “yes” both to both of the following questions: “Have you ever been told by a doctor, nurse, or other health professional that you have asthma?” and the question “Do you still have asthma?”

Diabetes

People ages 18 years and older who report having ever been told by a doctor, nurse, or other health professionals that they have diabetes other than diabetes during pregnancy.

Heart disease

People ages 18 years and older who report ever having been told by a doctor, nurse, or other health professionals that they had angina or coronary heart disease.

Low life expectancy

Average number of years of life a person who has attained a given age can expect to live.

Low median Income

Median income of the census tract calculated as a percent of the area’s median income.

Linguistic Isolation

Households in which no one age 14 and over speaks English only or also speaks a language other than English

Unemployment

Number of unemployed people as a percentage of the civilian labor force

Poverty

Percent of a tract's population in households where the household income is at or below 100% of the federal poverty level.

High school degree achievement rate

Percent of people ages 25 years or older in a census tract whose education level is less than a high school diploma.
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