The Centers for Disease Control Social Vulnerability Index shows which communities are especially at risk during public health emergencies because of factors like socioeconomic status, household composition, racial composition of neighborhoods, or housing type and transportation. The CDC SVI uses 15 U.S. census variables to identify communities that may need support before, during, or after disasters. Learn more here. The condition is the overall ranking of four social theme rankings where lower values indicate high vulnerability and high values indicate low vulnerability. Quintiles for this condition were determined for all the Census tracts in King County. Quintile 1 is the most vulnerable residents, Quintile 5 is the least vulnerable residents. Data is released every 2 years following the American Community Survey release in December of the year following the Survey. The most recent data for 2018 was downloaded from the ATSDR website.

OverviewThis feature layer visualizes the 2022 overall SVI for U.S. counties and tractsSocial Vulnerability Index (SVI) indicates the relative vulnerability of every U.S. county and tract16 social factors grouped into four major themesIndex value calculated for each county for the 16 social factors, four major themes, and the overall rankWhat is CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index?ATSDR’s Geospatial Research, Analysis & Services Program (GRASP) has created the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) to help emergency response planners and public health officials identify and map the communities that will most likely need support before, during, and after a hazardous event.SVI uses U.S. Census data to determine the social vulnerability of every county and tract. CDC SVI ranks each county and tract on 16 social factors, including poverty, lack of vehicle access, and crowded housing, and groups them into four related themes:Socioeconomic StatusHousehold CharacteristicsRacial & Ethnic Minority StatusHousing Type & TransportationVariablesFor a detailed description of variable uses, please refer to the full SVI 2022 documentation.RankingsWe ranked counties and tracts for the entire United States against one another. This feature layer can be used for mapping and analysis of relative vulnerability of counties in multiple states, or across the U.S. as a whole. Rankings are based on percentiles. Percentile ranking values range from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating greater vulnerability. For each county and tract, we generated its percentile rank among all counties and tracts for 1) the sixteen individual variables, 2) the four themes, and 3) its overall position.Overall Rankings:We totaled the sums for each theme, ordered the counties, and then calculated overall percentile rankings. Please note: taking the sum of the sums for each theme is the same as summing individual variable rankings.The overall tract summary ranking variable is RPL_THEMES.Theme rankings:For each of the four themes, we summed the percentiles for the variables comprising each theme. We ordered the summed percentiles for each theme to determine theme-specific percentile rankings. The four summary theme ranking variables are:Socioeconomic Status - RPL_THEME1Household Characteristics - RPL_THEME2Racial & Ethnic Minority Status - RPL_THEME3Housing Type & Transportation - RPL_THEME4FlagsCounties and tracts in the top 10%, i.e., at the 90th percentile of values, are given a value of 1 to indicate high vulnerability. Counties and tracts below the 90th percentile are given a value of 0. For a theme, the flag value is the number of flags for variables comprising the theme. We calculated the overall flag value for each county as the total number of all variable flags.SVI Informational VideosIntroduction to CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)More Questions?CDC SVI 2022 Full DocumentationSVI Home PageContact the SVI Coordinator

The Centers for Disease Control Social Vulnerability Index shows which communities are especially at risk during public health emergencies because of factors like socioeconomic status, household composition, racial composition of neighborhoods, or housing type and transportation. The CDC SVI uses 15 U.S. census variables to identify communities that may need support before, during, or after disasters. Learn more here.The condition is the overall ranking of four social theme rankings where lower values indicate high vulnerability and high values indicate low vulnerability. Quintiles for this condition were determined for all the Census tracts in King County. Quintile 1 is the most vulnerable residents, Quintile 5 is the least vulnerable residents. Data is released every 2 years following the American Community Survey release in December of the year following the Survey. The most recent data for 2018 was downloaded from the ATSDR website. This data is also available from Esri's Living Atlas of the World. Source: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

This feature layer visualizes the 2018 overall SVI for U.S. counties and tractsSocial Vulnerability Index (SVI) indicates the relative vulnerability of every U.S. county and tract15 social factors grouped into four major themesIndex value calculated for each county for the 15 social factors, four major themes, and the overall rankWhat is CDC Social Vulnerability Index?ATSDR’s Geospatial Research, Analysis & Services Program (GRASP) has created a tool to help emergency response planners and public health officials identify and map the communities that will most likely need support before, during, and after a hazardous event.The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) uses U.S. Census data to determine the social vulnerability of every county and tract. CDC SVI ranks each county and tract on 15 social factors, including poverty, lack of vehicle access, and crowded housing, and groups them into four related themes:SocioeconomicHousing Composition and DisabilityMinority Status and LanguageHousing and Transportation VariablesFor a detailed description of variable uses, please refer to the full SVI 2018 documentation.RankingsWe ranked counties and tracts for the entire United States against one another. This feature layer can be used for mapping and analysis of relative vulnerability of counties in multiple states, or across the U.S. as a whole. Rankings are based on percentiles. Percentile ranking values range from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating greater vulnerability. For each county and tract, we generated its percentile rank among all counties and tracts for 1) the fifteen individual variables, 2) the four themes, and 3) its overall position. Overall Rankings:We totaled the sums for each theme, ordered the counties, and then calculated overall percentile rankings. Please note: taking the sum of the sums for each theme is the same as summing individual variable rankings.The overall tract summary ranking variable is RPL_THEMES. Theme rankings:For each of the four themes, we summed the percentiles for the variables comprising each theme. We ordered the summed percentiles for each theme to determine theme-specific percentile rankings. The four summary theme ranking variables are: Socioeconomic theme - RPL_THEME1Housing Composition and Disability - RPL_THEME2Minority Status & Language - RPL_THEME3Housing & Transportation - RPL_THEME4FlagsCounties in the top 10%, i.e., at the 90th percentile of values, are given a value of 1 to indicate high vulnerability. Counties below the 90th percentile are given a value of 0. For a theme, the flag value is the number of flags for variables comprising the theme. We calculated the overall flag value for each county as the total number of all variable flags. SVI Informational VideosIntroduction to CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)Methods for CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)More Questions?CDC SVI 2018 Full DocumentationSVI Home PageContact the SVI Coordinator

The CDC\ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) is a tool, created by the Geospatial Research, Analysis and Services Program (GRASP), to help public health officials and emergency response planners identify and map the communities that will most likely need support before, during, and after a hazardous event. The tract-level SVI shows the relative vulnerability of the population of every U.S. Census tract. The county-level SVI shows the relative vulnerability of every U.S. county population. The SVI ranks tracts (or counties) on 16 social factors, described in detail in the documentation. The tract (or county) rankings for individual factors are further grouped into four related themes. Thus each enumeration unit receives a ranking for each Census variable and for each of the four themes, as well as an overall ranking.

This is the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) [1]. This is often used by the emergency response community to anticipate areas where social support systems are weaker, and residents may be more likely to need help. A map viewer for the national database can be found here [2].

November 2023 updates: at the time of Hurricane Harvey, the latest SVI was based on 2014 census data. The CDC SVI website and feature services have since changed. See the current (updated) links for more details.

Subsets of CDC's 2014 SVI for the Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma hydrologic study areas can be downloaded from the contents list below.

[1] SVI web site [https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/index.html [2] SVI interactive map [https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/interactive_map.html]

This dataset tracks the updates made on the dataset "CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) Mapping Dashboard" as a repository for previous versions of the data and metadata.

Wisconsin DNR Web map displaying the CDC Social Vulnerability Index 2018 at the census tract Level, centered on Wisconsin. The 2018 Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) layer was created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) / Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) / Geospatial Research, Analysis, and Services Program (GRASP). Visit https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/index.html for more information.

This data set contains the relative social vulnerability of Census tracts areas in Utah. Data is from the ATSDR's Geospatial Research, Analysis & Services Program. Data set contains 15 social factors, including employment, minority status, & disability.

This feature layer visualizes the 2018 overall SVI for U.S. counties and tractsSocial Vulnerability Index (SVI) indicates the relative vulnerability of every U.S. county and tract15 social factors grouped into four major themesIndex value calculated for each county for the 15 social factors, four major themes, and the overall rankWhat is CDC Social Vulnerability Index?ATSDR’s Geospatial Research, Analysis & Services Program (GRASP) has created a tool to help emergency response planners and public health officials identify and map the communities that will most likely need support before, during, and after a hazardous event.The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) uses U.S. Census data to determine the social vulnerability of every county and tract. CDC SVI ranks each county and tract on 15 social factors, including poverty, lack of vehicle access, and crowded housing, and groups them into four related themes:SocioeconomicHousing Composition and DisabilityMinority Status and LanguageHousing and Transportation VariablesFor a detailed description of variable uses, please refer to the full SVI 2018 documentation.RankingsWe ranked counties and tracts for the entire United States against one another. This feature layer can be used for mapping and analysis of relative vulnerability of counties in multiple states, or across the U.S. as a whole. Rankings are based on percentiles. Percentile ranking values range from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating greater vulnerability. For each county and tract, we generated its percentile rank among all counties and tracts for 1) the fifteen individual variables, 2) the four themes, and 3) its overall position. Overall Rankings:We totaled the sums for each theme, ordered the counties, and then calculated overall percentile rankings. Please note: taking the sum of the sums for each theme is the same as summing individual variable rankings.The overall tract summary ranking variable is RPL_THEMES. Theme rankings:For each of the four themes, we summed the percentiles for the variables comprising each theme. We ordered the summed percentiles for each theme to determine theme-specific percentile rankings. The four summary theme ranking variables are: Socioeconomic theme - RPL_THEME1Housing Composition and Disability - RPL_THEME2Minority Status & Language - RPL_THEME3Housing & Transportation - RPL_THEME4FlagsCounties in the top 10%, i.e., at the 90th percentile of values, are given a value of 1 to indicate high vulnerability. Counties below the 90th percentile are given a value of 0. For a theme, the flag value is the number of flags for variables comprising the theme. We calculated the overall flag value for each county as the total number of all variable flags. SVI Informational VideosIntroduction to CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)Methods for CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)More Questions?CDC SVI 2018 Full DocumentationSVI Home PageContact the SVI Coordinator

Social vulnerability refers to the socioeconomic and demographic factors that affect the resilience of communities. Studies have shown that in disaster events the socially vulnerable are more likely to be adversely affected, i.e. they are less likely to recover and more likely to die. Effectively addressing social vulnerability decreases both human suffering and the economic loss related to providing social services and public assistance after a disaster. The development of a social vulnerability index (SVI) from 15 census variables at the census tract level was built by the CDC for use in emergency management.

Social vulnerability refers to the resilience of communities when confronted by external stresses on human health, stresses such as natural or human-caused disasters, or disease outbreaks. Reducing social vulnerability can decrease both human suffering and economic loss. ATSDR's Social Vulnerability Index uses U.S. census variables at tract level to help local officials identify communities that may need support in preparing for hazards, or recovering from disaster.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/ Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry/ Geospatial Research, Analysis, and Services Program. CDC/ATSDR Social Vulnerability Index 2020 Database California. https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/data_documentation_download.html. Accessed on 2/3/2023.

"ATSDR’s Geospatial Research, Analysis & Services Program (GRASP) created Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Social Vulnerability Index (CDC SVI or simply SVI, hereafter) to help public health officials and emergency response planners identify and map the communities that will most likely need support before, during, and after a hazardous event.

SVI indicates the relative vulnerability of every U.S. Census tract. Census tracts are subdivisions of counties for which the Census collects statistical data. SVI ranks the tracts on 15 social factors, including unemployment, minority status, and disability, and further groups them into four related themes. Thus, each tract receives a ranking for each Census variable and for each of the four themes, as well as an overall ranking."

For more see https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/place-health/php/svi/svi-data-documentation-download.html

ATSDR’s Geospatial Research, Analysis & Services Program (GRASP) created Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Social Vulnerability Index (CDC SVI or simply SVI, hereafter) to help public health officials and emergency response planners identify and map the communities that will most likely need support before, during, and after a hazardous event.

SVI indicates the relative vulnerability of every U.S. Census tract. Census tracts are subdivisions of counties for which the Census collects statistical data. SVI ranks the tracts on 15 social factors, including unemployment, minority status, and disability, and further groups them into four related themes. Thus, each tract receives a ranking for each Census variable and for each of the four themes, as well as an overall ranking.

In addition to tract-level rankings, SVI 2018 also has corresponding rankings at the county level. Notes below that describe “tract” methods also refer to county methods.

Additional historical data can be found here: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/data_documentation_download.html

ATSDR’s Geospatial Research, Analysis & Services Program (GRASP) created the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Social Vulnerability Index (CDC SVI or simply SVI) to help public health officials and emergency response planners identify and map the communities that will most likely need support before, during, and after a hazardous event. The SVI is derived from American Community Survey (ACS), 5-year data. The CDC releases updated SVI data every two years. The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) calculates yearly SVI updates in between CDC release years using an R script to reproduce CDC's SVI calculations and newly released ACS 5-year data.All methods and background information for SVI can be found at: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/documentation/SVI_documentation_2018.htmlAs the R script is merely a reproduction of the CDC's calculations, any questions about the CDC's SVI methodology should be directed to svi_coordinator@cdc.govIf you find any discrepancies between the CDC's 2018 SVI values and the 2018 values generated from this R Script, please email gis@azdhs.gov.Please note that the SVI data set generated from this R script does not include 2 variables that are present in the CDC's data set. Those are AREA_SQMI (Tract area in square miles) and E_DAYPOP (Adjunct variable - Estimated daytime population, LandScan 2018). These variables do not affect the SVI calculations but may be useful for mapping the data.LAST UPDATED: October 2021UPDATE FREQUENCY: None planned

Analysis of ‘Socioeconomic Status of CDC Social Vulnerability Index’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/a70b39b7-1151-42dd-b333-d8923d20f22a on 28 January 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

Socioeconomic Status is one of the themes of the Social Vulnerability Index from the CDC. This data set is data from the Social Vulnerability Index. Only the Socioeconomic Status columns are represented in this dataset. Years of data in collection 2014, 2016, 2018

ATSDR’s Geospatial Research, Analysis & Services Program (GRASP) created Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Social Vulnerability Index (CDC SVI or simply SVI, hereafter) to help public health officials and emergency response planners identify and map the communities that will most likely need support before, during, and after a hazardous event.

SVI indicates the relative vulnerability of every U.S. Census tract. Census tracts are subdivisions of counties for which the Census collects statistical data. SVI ranks the tracts on 15 social factors, including unemployment, minority status, and disability, and further groups them into four related themes. Thus, each tract receives a ranking for each Census variable and for each of the four themes, as well as an overall ranking.

In addition to tract-level rankings, SVI 2018 also has corresponding rankings at the county level. Notes below that describe “tract” methods also refer to county methods.

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

The interactive maps are visual representations of the Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). Data were extracted from the US Census and the American Community Survey.

This feature layer visualizes the 2018 overall SVI for U.S. counties and tractsSocial Vulnerability Index (SVI) indicates the relative vulnerability of every U.S. county and tract15 social factors grouped into four major themesIndex value calculated for each county for the 15 social factors, four major themes, and the overall rankWhat is CDC Social Vulnerability Index?ATSDR’s Geospatial Research, Analysis & Services Program (GRASP) has created a tool to help emergency response planners and public health officials identify and map the communities that will most likely need support before, during, and after a hazardous event.The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) uses U.S. Census data to determine the social vulnerability of every county and tract. CDC SVI ranks each county and tract on 15 social factors, including poverty, lack of vehicle access, and crowded housing, and groups them into four related themes:SocioeconomicHousing Composition and DisabilityMinority Status and LanguageHousing and Transportation VariablesFor a detailed description of variable uses, please refer to the full SVI 2018 documentation.RankingsWe ranked counties and tracts for the entire United States against one another. This feature layer can be used for mapping and analysis of relative vulnerability of counties in multiple states, or across the U.S. as a whole. Rankings are based on percentiles. Percentile ranking values range from 0 to 1, with higher values indicating greater vulnerability. For each county and tract, we generated its percentile rank among all counties and tracts for 1) the fifteen individual variables, 2) the four themes, and 3) its overall position. Overall Rankings:We totaled the sums for each theme, ordered the counties, and then calculated overall percentile rankings. Please note: taking the sum of the sums for each theme is the same as summing individual variable rankings.The overall tract summary ranking variable is RPL_THEMES. Theme rankings:For each of the four themes, we summed the percentiles for the variables comprising each theme. We ordered the summed percentiles for each theme to determine theme-specific percentile rankings. The four summary theme ranking variables are: Socioeconomic theme - RPL_THEME1Housing Composition and Disability - RPL_THEME2Minority Status & Language - RPL_THEME3Housing & Transportation - RPL_THEME4FlagsCounties in the top 10%, i.e., at the 90th percentile of values, are given a value of 1 to indicate high vulnerability. Counties below the 90th percentile are given a value of 0. For a theme, the flag value is the number of flags for variables comprising the theme. We calculated the overall flag value for each county as the total number of all variable flags. SVI Informational VideosIntroduction to CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)Methods for CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)More Questions?CDC SVI 2018 Full DocumentationSVI Home PageContact the SVI Coordinator

Analysis of ‘Minority Status and Language dataset of CDC Social Vulnerability Index’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/b3f1cc0a-87e2-415b-8f3e-a88d23288a10 on 28 January 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

This dataset contains the columns for minority status and language of the complete dataset for the ATSDR’s Geospatial Research, Analysis & Services Program (GRASP) created Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Social Vulnerability Index (CDC SVI or simply SVI, hereafter) to help public health officials and emergency response planners identify and map the communities that will most likely need support before, during, and after a hazardous event.

SVI indicates the relative vulnerability of every U.S. Census tract. Census tracts are subdivisions of counties for which the Census collects statistical data. SVI ranks the tracts on 15 social factors, including unemployment, minority status, and disability, and further groups them into four related themes. Thus, each tract receives a ranking for each Census variable and for each of the four themes, as well as an overall ranking.

In addition to tract-level rankings, SVI also has corresponding rankings at the county level. Notes below that describe “tract” methods also refer to county methods. The following counties in this dataset are : Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Fayette, Hays Lee, Travis, Williamson for the following years 2014, 2016,2018.

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---