JUNE 29, 2023 – The U.S. Census Bureau today released the 2021 Community Resilience Estimates (CRE), the 2021 Equity Supplement (CRE for Equity), and new ranking tables of U.S. areas most socially vulnerable to hurricanes and other risks.

The CRE help gauge a community’s capacity to withstand and recover from a disaster — such as a hurricane or hazardous event. Data come from the 2021 American Community Survey, 1-year microdata modeled with Population Estimates Program data. The CRE uses small area estimation modeling that combine multiple data sources to improve data quality for smaller geographies.

Resilience to a disaster is partly determined by the vulnerabilities within a community. Social vulnerability is measured in the CRE based on 10 ACS indicators: 

• Poverty status.
• Disability status.
• Number of caregivers in the household.
• Unit-level crowding.
• Vehicle access. 
• Broadband internet.
• Unemployment.
• Communication barrier.
• Age.
• Health insurance.

The 2021 CRE includes ranked tables highlighting the most socially vulnerable counties (top 25) and census tracts (top 100) in the United States. There are two ranking tables: one for all U.S. areas and one that subsets the ranking among counties and census tracts with at least a “moderate” risk of hurricanes using the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index. The Census Bureau plans to release additional season-related ranking tables, like winter weather tables, as the year progresses.

In addition to the standard CRE and ranking tables, the Census Bureau released the 2021 CRE for Equity, which combines the 2021 CRE with demographic and socioeconomic data (e.g., race, ethnicity, income inequality) from the 2017-2021, 5-year ACS; the 2020 Census; and the 2022 Planning Database to highlight social context and further discussions of equity.

Both the standard 2021 CRE and Equity Supplement come with easy-to-use interactive tools.

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