Environmental Public Health Tracking: Populations and Vulnerabilities Data
Vulnerability is how susceptible you are to harm. It is the result of what resources are available to you and the challenges you face. Some populations are more likely to face vulnerabilities than others.
Vulnerabilities help predict health problems and your risk for certain diseases or of public health emergencies and your associated risks. They can also show how diseases develop and change over time and from one place to another.
Return to the Data Dashboards page if you'd like to select a different topic.
Explore definitions and explanations of terminology found on this webpage, like age-adjusted rate and confidence intervals.
Choose a topic below to view the data. Click the "About Data" button in the top right corner of each map to view CDC's (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) data details.
Frequently asked questions
Vulnerability is how susceptible you are to harm. It is the result of what resources are available to you and the challenges you face.
Some populations are more likely to face vulnerabilities than others. They may come from individual, community, or larger population challenges. Some examples of population vulnerabilities are single-parent households, those living with a disability, people experiencing poverty, and those who are unemployed.
It is challenging to measure the relationship between population characteristics and the environment.
There is evidence that shows these vulnerabilities do affect a person's exposure to environmental hazards. For example, racial minorities and low-income populations may have a greater risk for exposure to several environmental conditions that can threaten their health. The greater risk is because those populations are more likely to live near hazardous waste sites, in areas with high air pollution levels, and in poor housing conditions.
Gathering data on populations and vulnerabilities allows public health professionals to identify high risk groups and plan programs and policies that take into account the needs of certain populations.
By tracking these vulnerabilities we are better able to:
- Predict possible health problems and disease risk in populations
- Understand what is influencing human health in the U.S.
- Understand what influences environmental exposures and human health across the U.S.
- Identify community-specific threats and hazards as well as at-risk populations
- Determine where resources are needed to mitigate or prevent illness, injury, and death
Click the "About Data" button in the upper right corner to see the sources of data for each map.
- Percent of population living in poverty
- Age-adjusted prevalence of fair or poor self-reported health
- Low-income energy affordability; average annual energy burden (% of income)
Please note that not all topics are available at both the census tract and county geographies. Check CDC's Data Explorer for many other sets of populations and vulnerabilities data.
There are numerous considerations to keep in mind when interpreting the data. Please visit the CDC National Tracking Program Indicators and Data webpage for additional information.
Interested in environmental health data?
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