Built Environment

For Public Health

At a glance

In the United States, public health problems such as obesity, physical inactivity, and others can be influenced by the built environment. The built environment can generally be described as the man-made or modified structures that provide people with living, working, and recreational spaces. Designing these places to encourage healthy choices can improve the health and quality of life of community members.
Family enjoying a picnic in a park.

We Track That

The health and safety of a community are influenced by many factors. For example, the location of parks and schools can affect activity levels, time spent outdoors, obesity rates, and chronic diseases. Exposure to traffic-related air pollution can affect people with breathing problems or cardiovascular diseases. Limited access to supermarkets, supercenters, grocery stores, or other sources of healthy and affordable food may influence diet and impact health.

The Tracking Network contains information about several built environment elements. They were selected because of their relationship to some of the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. These causes include injuries, heart disease, diabetes, and asthma.

Types of Data

The built environment data on the Tracking Network describe access to places where people can participate in physical activity. The data also help estimate exposure to traffic-related pollution.

This "Access to Parks and Schools" indicator estimates the number and percentage of people living within a half mile of a park or a public school.A

This indicator uses census data to provide information about the number of homes built before 1950 and homes built from 1950-1979. Census data do not account for the number of older houses that have been renovated or have had lead removed. This indicator does not consider other sources of lead in the community.

This indicator can be used to provide food access data for populations within census tracts for community planning or research purposes. The data comes from the USDA Economic Research Service Food Access Research Atlas.

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 provides real-time power outage data for immediate insights into areas affected by power loss. This data comes from PowerOutage.us and can enable faster, more efficient emergency responses.

This indicator displays the number and percent of public schools located within 150m of a highway. It also displays the number of people and percentage of a population living withing 150m of a highway.B

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

These community design data can be used for the following actions.

  • Understanding the public health impacts related to access to parks and schools
  • Informing decisions when planning locations of new parks or schools
  • Assessing linkages between proximity to highway and health outcomes
  • Estimating population exposure to traffic-related pollutants
Print
Content Source
National Center for Environmental Health
About This Page
Published: May 15, 2024
Updated: August 26, 2026

This page was last updated on this date. Updates may include minor edits, image changes, or other modifications to page content.

Reviewed: August 26, 2026

The information on this page was last reviewed by subject matter experts to ensure accuracy.

  1. These data are supplied by the National Center for Educational Statistics; Navteq, 2010, Quarter 3, “LANDUSEA” layer for parks; and the U.S. Census (2020).
  2. These data are supplied by Geospatial Research, Analysis and Services Program (GRASP); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (CDC/ATSDR).