At a glance
Understanding the characteristics of a community is essential for public health practices like program planning and epidemiologic studies. These data are particularly important for public health emergency preparedness.
We Track That
Community characteristics include information about an area’s natural features. An example is how much land is covered by forests or water. They also include a community's human-made features. Examples include housing types and locations of hospitals, schools, or other public services.
A key step in public health planning and response is identifying a community's
- most likely hazards,
- populations at increased risk,
- available resources, and
- ability to respond.
With knowledge of local infrastructure, vulnerabilities, and resources, public health professionals can act quickly during emergencies. They can establish priorities and take proper actions during the emergency or disaster response.
Types of Data
The Tracking Program uses several national data sources to obtain state and local community characteristics data. Sources include the following.
- Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
- American Hospital Association
- American Community Survey (U.S. Census Bureau)
This flooding indicator provides county level data on the FEMA designated Special Flood Hazard Area. This includes number of square miles within the area, the number of people living in the area, and the number of housing units within the area. These data can be used to estimate the number of people and housing units at risk from flooding.
This indicator provides information about the housing units within a community. It includes the total number of housing units, the number and percent of housing units with 10 or more units, more people than rooms, and no vehicle available. In addition, you can find the number and percent of vacant housing units, renter-occupied housing, and mobile homes. Also included are data on the number and percent of the population living in group quarters. Census tract, county, and state level data are available.
This internet access indicator includes number and percent of people with access to a computer with internet (but no cell phone). It includes the number and percent of households with smartphones, households with a smartphone but no other device, and households with no internet access. Additionally, you can find number and percent of people who have a computer without an internet subscription, with different age, income, and education options. Census tract, county, and state level data are available.
This land cover indicator provides census tract, county, and state level data on the percent of land covered by water, percent of land covered by forest, and percent of developed imperviousness.
This land use indicator provides census tract, county, and state level data. It includes data on the percent of land used for agriculture and percent of developed land use. It also provides rural-urban county classifications.
This infrastructure indicator provides county-level data on the numbers of hospitals, numbers of hospital beds, percentage of hospitals located within a flood hazard area, and percentage of hospital beds located within a flood hazard area. These data can be used to identify community vulnerabilities, plan resource needs, and inform disaster preparedness efforts.
This indicator estimates the amount of vegetation (all plant life) in a census tract. Data are available for all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Access the Data
Use the Data Explorer to create custom maps, tables, and charts.
View data in simple Quick Reports.
Get machine-readable data from the Application Program Interface (API).
Data in Action
Public health professionals can use the Tracking Network's community characteristics data in several ways.
- Identifying households or areas likely to be affected by an emergency
- Assessing the number of available resources within a community
- Calculating the resources needed for a response or public safety