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Census tracts that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution are highlighted as being disadvantaged on the map. Federally Recognized Tribes, including Alaska Native Villages, are considered disadvantaged communities, whether or not they have land.

Zooming in and selecting shows information about each census tract.

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Download the data with documentation and shapefile from the downloads page.

How to use the map:

Zoom in a plus icon indicating that the user can zoom in
* , search a magnifying glass icon informing the user can search , or locate yourself a gps icon informing the user can locate and select to see information about any census tract.

Things to know:

The tool uses census tracts a tract icon informing the user of census tracts . Census tracts are a small unit of geography. They generally have populations a people icon informing the user of communities of between 1,200 - 8,000 people.

Communities that are disadvantaged live in tracts that experience burdens. These tracts are highlighted a blue circle icon informing the user of what a disadvantaged community is depicted as on the map.

The tool ranks most of the burdens using percentiles An icon that a bell curve or gaussian distribution . Percentiles show how much burden each tract experiences when compared to other tracts.

Thresholds An icon shows a up arrow with a lower limit implying that it's above a threshold , or cutoffs, are used to determine if communities in a tract are disadvantaged. Certain burdens use percentages An icon that depicts a part of pie chart being removed or a simple yes/no An icon that depicts a check mark conveying yes and/or no .

Land within the boundaries of Federally Recognized Tribes and point locations for Alaska Native Villages are highlighted a blue circle icon informing the user of what a disadvantaged community is depicted as on the map. These communities are also considered disadvantaged.

U.S. Territories note

Not all the data used in the tool are available or used for all U.S. Territories, and there is one dataset not used in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico: The data used for Puerto Rico are from all relevant and available fields in the energy, housing, legacy pollution, transportation, and workforce development categories. The following data are used: low income, projected flood risk, energy cost, lack of indoor plumbing, lead paint, housing cost, proximity to hazardous waste facilities, proximity to Superfund or National Priorities List (NPL) sites, proximity to Risk Management Plan (RMP) facilities, diesel particulate matter exposure, traffic proximity and volume, underground storage tanks and releases, wastewater discharge, low median income, poverty, unemployment, and high school education. Linguistic isolation was removed for Puerto Rico based on feedback received during the beta period.

American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands: For these U.S. Territories, the tool uses the following data: low income, unemployment, poverty, low median income, and high school education. These burdens are in the workforce development category. Due to limited data availability, tracts in these U.S. Territories are also considered disadvantaged if they meet the low income threshold only.

Tribal Nations note

To respect Tribal sovereignty and self-government and to fulfill Federal trust and treaty responsibilities to Tribal Nations, land within the boundaries of Federally Recognized Tribes are designated as disadvantaged on the map. Alaska Native Villages are included as point locations that are smaller than a census tract. The boundaries of census tracts and the lands of Federally Recognized Tribes are different.

This decision was made after meaningful and robust consultation with Tribal Nations. This is consistent with CEQ’s Action Plan for Consultation and Coordination with Tribal Nations, the Memorandum on Tribal Consultation and Strengthening Nation-to-Nation Consultation, and Executive Order 13175 on Consultation and Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments.