Identifying low-income census tracts - with no population?

Cora Weissbourd over 8 years ago

Hi ACS Data Community,

Does anyone know of or recommend any methods for defining census tracts as low-income when resident population data is not available? This can occur in low-population areas where data has been suppressed due to sample size, or in tracts without residents (vacant or industrial land, for example).

We were wondering if any studies or research had created criteria for identifying low-income areas without population data: for example, if a vacant tract is surrounded by low income tracts, or using some other method. This might not be recommended or feasible - and that would be good to know as well.

Please let me know if there is any other information I can provide - any suggestions you have would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Cora

Mark Mather over 8 years ago

Cora,
I can't point you any specific studies that have done this at the neighborhood level but I would think SNAP (food stamp) receipt or a measure of educational attainment could potentially be used to identify low-income areas in the absence of reliable income data.
I wouldn't suggest labeling an area as 'low-income' in cases of vacant tracts because you would need a resident population, by definition, to have a low-income population.
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