The EcoTrends project was established in 2004 by Dr. Debra Peters (Jornada Basin LTER, USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range) and Dr. Ariel Lugo (Luquillo LTER, USDA-FS Luquillo Experimental Forest) to support the collection and analysis of long-term ecological datasets. The project is a large synthesis effort focused on improving the accessibility and use of long-term data. At present, there are ~50 state and federally funded research sites that are participating and contributing to the EcoTrends project, including all 26 Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites and sites funded by the USDA Agriculture Research Service (ARS), USDA Forest Service, US Department of Energy, US Geological Survey (USGS) and numerous universities. Data from the EcoTrends project are available through an exploratory web portal (http://www.ecotrends.info). This web portal enables the continuation of data compilation and accessibility by users through an interactive web application. Ongoing data compilation is updated through both manual and automatic processing as part of the LTER Provenance Aware Synthesis Tracking Architecture (PASTA). The web portal is a collaboration between the Jornada LTER and the LTER Network Office. The following dataset from Baltimore Ecosystem Study LTER (BES) contains human population density measurements in numberPerKilometerSquared units and were aggregated to a yearly timescale.

The EcoTrends project was established in 2004 by Dr. Debra Peters (Jornada Basin LTER, USDA-ARS Jornada Experimental Range) and Dr. Ariel Lugo (Luquillo LTER, USDA-FS Luquillo Experimental Forest) to support the collection and analysis of long-term ecological datasets. The project is a large synthesis effort focused on improving the accessibility and use of long-term data. At present, there are ~50 state and federally funded research sites that are participating and contributing to the EcoTrends project, including all 26 Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites and sites funded by the USDA Agriculture Research Service (ARS), USDA Forest Service, US Department of Energy, US Geological Survey (USGS) and numerous universities. Data from the EcoTrends project are available through an exploratory web portal (http://www.ecotrends.info). This web portal enables the continuation of data compilation and accessibility by users through an interactive web application. Ongoing data compilation is updated through both manual and automatic processing as part of the LTER Provenance Aware Synthesis Tracking Architecture (PASTA). The web portal is a collaboration between the Jornada LTER and the LTER Network Office. The following dataset from Baltimore Ecosystem Study LTER (BES) contains percent urban population measurements in percent units and were aggregated to a yearly timescale.

After each decennial census, the Census Bureau delineates urban areas that represent densely developed territory, encompassing residential, commercial, and other nonresidential urban land uses. In general, this territory consists of areas of high population density and urban land use resulting in a representation of the "urban footprint." Urbanized areas (UAs) contain 50,000 or more people. Each urban area is identified by a 5-character numeric census code that may contain leading zeroes.Date: 1/1/2016 (2010 Census boundary)Update: none planned, 2020 boundaries will be added separatelySource: Census TIGER/Line. More information on Census geography can be found at https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/tiger-line.html.

The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future (CLF) obtained the food permit list from the Baltimore City Health Department in August 2011, which includes all sites that sell food, such as stores, restaurants and temporary locations such as farmers' market stands and street carts. The restaurants were grouped into three categories, including full service restaurants, fast food chains and carryouts. Carryout and fast food chain restaurants were extracted from the restaurant layer and spatially joined with the 2010 Community Statistical Area (CSA) data layer, provided by BNIA-JFI. The prepared foods density, per 1,000 people, was calculated for each CSA using the CSA's population and the total number of carryout and fast food restaurants, including vendors selling prepared foods in public markets, in each CSA. Source: Johns Hopkins University, Center for a Livable FutureYears Available: 2011, 2013, 2018, 2019

Disclaimer: These data are updated by the author and are not an official product of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.This project provides two sets of migration estimates for the major US metro areas. The first series measures net migration of people to and from the urban neighborhoods of the metro areas. The second series covers all neighborhoods but breaks down net migration to other regions by four region types: (1) high-cost metros, (2) affordable, large metros, (3) midsized metros, and (4) small metros and rural areas. These series were introduced in a Cleveland Fed District Data Brief entitled “Urban and Regional Migration Estimates: Will Your City Recover from the Pandemic?"The migration estimates in this project are created with data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York/Equifax Consumer Credit Panel (CCP). The CCP is a 5 percent random sample of the credit histories maintained by Equifax. The CCP reports the census block of residence for over 10 million individuals each quarter. Each month, Equifax receives individuals’ addresses, along with reports of debt balances and payments, from creditors (mortgage lenders, credit card issuers, student loan servicers, etc.). An algorithm maintained by Equifax considers all of the addresses reported for an individual and identifies the individual’s most likely current address. Equifax anonymizes the data before they are added to the CCP, removing names, addresses, and Social Security numbers (SSNs). In lieu of mailing addresses, the census block of the address is added to the CCP. Equifax creates a unique, anonymous identifier to enable researchers to build individuals’ panels. The panel nature of the data allows us to observe when someone has migrated and is living in a census block different from the one they lived in at the end of the preceding quarter. For more details about the CCP and its use in measuring migration, see Lee and Van der Klaauw (2010) and DeWaard, Johnson and Whitaker (2019). DefinitionsMetropolitan areaThe metropolitan areas in these data are combined statistical areas. This is the most aggregate definition of metro areas, and it combines Washington DC with Baltimore, San Jose with San Francisco, Akron with Cleveland, etc. Metro areas are combinations of counties that are tightly linked by worker commutes and other economic activity. All counties outside of metropolitan areas are tracked as parts of a rural commuting zone (CZ). CZs are also groups of counties linked by commuting, but CZ definitions cover all counties, both metropolitan and non-metropolitan. High-cost metropolitan areasHigh-cost metro areas are those where the median list price for a house was more than $200 per square foot on average between April 2017 and April 2022. These areas include San Francisco-San Jose, New York, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Miami, Sacramento, Denver, Salt Lake City, Portland, and Washington-Baltimore. Other Types of RegionsMetro areas with populations above 2 million and house price averages below $200 per square foot are categorized as affordable, large metros. Metro areas with populations between 500,000 and 2 million are categorized as mid-sized metros, regardless of house prices. All remaining counties are in the small metro and rural category.To obtain a metro area's total net migration, sum the four net migration values for the the four types of regions.Urban neighborhoodCensus tracts are designated as urban if they have a population density above 7,000 people per square mile. High density neighborhoods can support walkable retail districts and high-frequency public transportation. They are more likely to have the “street life” that people associate with living in an urban rather than a suburban area. The threshold of 7,000 people per square mile was selected because it was the average density in the largest US cities in the 1930 census. Before World War II, workplaces, shopping, schools and parks had to be accessible on foot. Tracts are also designated as urban if more than half of their housing units were built before WWII and they have a population density above 2,000 people per square mile. The lower population density threshold for the pre-war neighborhoods recognizes that many urban tracts have lost population since the 1960s. While the street grids usually remain, the area also needs su

Priority Planting locations by block group for Baltimore City using the index developed by Nowak et al. (unpublished) of the USDA Forest Service Northeastern Experiment Station. The criteria used to make the index were:

   - Population density: the greater the population density, the greater the priority for tree planting

   - Tree stocking levels: the lower the tree stocking level (the percent of available greenspace (tree, grass, and soil cover areas) that is occupied by tree canopies), the greater the priority for tree planting

   - Tree cover per capita: the lower the amount of tree canopy cover per capita (m2/capita), the greater the priority for tree planting


   Each criteria was standardized on a scale of 0 to 1 with 1 representing the census block with the highest value in relation to priority of tree planting (i.e., the census block with highest population density, lowest stocking density or lowest tree cover per capita were standardized to a rating of 1). Individual scores were combined based on the following formula to produce an overall priority index value between 0 and 100:


   I = (PD * 40) + (TS * 30) + (TPC * 30)

   Where I = index value, PD is standardized population density, TS is standardized tree stocking, and TPC is standardized tree cover per capita. Based on this index, Planting priority maps were produced.


   Standardized value for population density was calculated as PD = (PD_n - PD_m) / PD_r, where PD is the value (0-1), PD_n is the value for the census block (population / km2), PD_m is the minimum value for all census blocks, and PD_r is the range of values among all census blocks (maximum value - minimum value). Standardized value for tree stocking was calculated as TS = (100 - ((T/(T+G)) * 100)) / 100, where TS is the value (0-1), T is percent tree cover, and G is percent grass cover. Standardized value for tree cover per capita was calculated as TPC = 1 - [(TPC_n - TPC_m) / TPC_r], where TPC is the value (0-1), TPC_n is the value for the census block (m2/capita), TPC_m is the minimum value for all census blocks, and TPC_r is the range of values among all census blocks (maximum value - minimum value).