USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.

Data Sources for Rural Development Priorities

This document supplements information found on the USDA Rural Development priorities web page,

available at this link: https://www.rd.usda.gov/priority-points. While not intended to replace formal program

application materials, our goal is to help Rural Development customers better understand the RD application

process. Additional questions can be addressed by state-based program staff (a list of state offices is

available at this link: https://www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd/state-offices). If you have questions about the data 

used in determining Rural Development priority points, please email RD.Innovation.Data@usda.gov 

Creating More and Better Markets 

Economic Impact Indicators from Dashboard include: 

• COVID-19 confirmed cases (per 10,000 population, using data from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus

Resource Center (available at this link: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/)

• Distressed Communities Index (DCI) – available at this link: https://eig.org/dci

• Job Loss Projections (using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics)

• CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) – the Race / Ethnicity Composition and English Proficiency

component (available at this link: https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/index.html)

• The DCI is comprised of seven publicly-available metrics that evaluate a number of socioeconomic

measures of a community’s economic well-being. However, there is an overlap in the data between

the DCI and SVI socioeconomic indicators. In an effort to not overly weight these factors, we included

only those SVI components not captured in the DCI.

• Distressed Communities Look-Up Map (available at this link:

https://ruraldevelopment.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=06a26a91d074426d944

d22715a90311e)

Geography level: County

Note: U.S. Territories can obtain points by using local data regarding how COVID-19 has impacted the 

proposed project area. 

Advancing Racial Justice, Place-Based Equity, and Opportunity

Uses the CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI): 

https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/fact_sheet/fact_sheet.html

The SVI helps identify communities vulnerable to inequity. The degree to which a community exhibits certain 

social conditions – such as high poverty, low percentage of vehicle access, or crowded households – may 

affect that community’s ability to prevent human suffering and financial loss in the event of disaster. 
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.

Together, these factors describe a community’s social vulnerability. The SVI ranks each census tract on 15 

social factors and groups them into four related themes. These themes include:

• Socioeconomic Status: Population below poverty line, number of unemployed residents, household

income, and population with no high school diploma

• Household Composition: Population ages 65 or older, ages 17 or younger, residents with a disability,

and single-parent households

• Minority Status and Language: Population part of a racial or ethnic minority that speaks English "less

than well"

• Housing and Transportation: Multiunit structures, mobile homes, overcrowded housing, no access to

a vehicle, and institutional group quarters

Census tract rankings are based on percentiles. Percentile ranking values range from 0 to 1, with higher

values indicating greater vulnerability. Census tracts with a score of .75 or higher are considered vulnerable.

The higher the score, the more vulnerable the community. Using the SVI as the sole measure for this priority

is appropriate, as it gives priority to communities vulnerable to inequity anywhere within RD’s areas of

eligibility.

Geography level: Census Tract

Note: U.S. Territories can obtain points by using local data to demonstrate the social vulnerability of the

proposed project area. 

Addressing Climate Change and Environmental Justice

Both quantitative and qualitative factors influence points assignment.

Quantitative: The proposed project is located in – or serves – coal, oil and gas, and power plant 

communities whose economic well-being ranks in the most distressed tier of the Distressed Communities 

Index (available at this link: https://eig.org/dci).

• Energy Community List: This is in alignment with Executive Order 14008 “Tackling the Climate

Crisis at Home and Abroad” and the Initial Report to the President on Empowering Workers Through

Revitalizing Energy Communities (available at this link: https://netl.doe.gov/IWGInitialReport)

• The Distressed Communities Index provides a score ranging from 1 – 100 for every community at

the zip code level. The most distressed tier of DCI are communities with a score greater than 80.

• The above criteria are used to create the list of qualified communities. (For example: Distressed

Communities with a score above 80, with a high concentration of fossil fuel-employment counties) will

be posted to the RD website.

Geography level: Zip code
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Note: U.S. Territories can obtain points for the quantitative factor by using local data to demonstrate that the 

proposed project area has a high concentration of fossil fuel-employment. The Distressed Communities 

Index designates all U.S. Territories as Distressed Communities. 

Qualitative: Use narrative responses to questions to demonstrate how proposed climate-impact projects 

improve the livelihoods of community residents and meet pollution mitigation or clean energy goals.

• How will this climate-impact project improve the livelihoods of rural residents?

• Does the project contribute to climate-impact goals?

Examples of projects that may be supportive of climate-impact goals:

• Energy efficiency in commercial and residential buildings: Building materials, HVAC, building

automation systems, demand response, smart meters, lighting, software

• Pollution Mitigation: Abandoned infrastructure; brownfield redevelopment

• Circular economy: Waste reduction, waste-to-energy, bioplastics, recycling

• Climate-smart agricultural and forestry practices

• Electric power: Long-duration energy storage, demand response, renewable generation (solar, wind,

hydro, biofuels), Distributed Energy Resource (DER) integration, transmission and distribution

infrastructure

• Water treatment and conservation

• Industrial decarbonization of heavy industries

• Transportation: Technologies that promote electrification (EV charging, new EV models, battery

improvements, Hydrogen fuel cells, and so on.) or improve efficiency of passenger or freight transport

• Training and workforce development in industries supportive of pollution mitigation objectives

For additional information, please refer to Rural Development Priorities resources available online at this link:

https://www.rd.usda.gov/priority-points or contact the Rural Development Innovation Center Data Analytics

team at RD.Innovation.Data@usda.gov.

Last Updated August 2022