DOI: 10.3886/icpsr38528
title: National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA): Socioeconomic Status and Demographic Characteristics of Census Tracts and ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, United States, 1990-2022
title: Archival Version

description: These datasets contain measures of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics by U.S. census tract for the years 1990-2022 and ZIP code tabulation area (ZCTA) for the years 2008-2022. Example measures include population density; population distribution by race, ethnicity, age, and income; income inequality by race and ethnicity; and proportion of population living below the poverty level, receiving public assistance, and female-headed or single parent families with kids. The datasets also contain a set of theoretically derived measures capturing neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and affluence, as well as a neighborhood index of Hispanic, foreign born, and limited English.
description: These datasets were created to measure the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics by U.S. census tract for the years 1990-2022 and ZIP code tabulation area (ZCTA) for the years 2008-2022.
description: For each period covered in the data, the research team extracted key census indicators related to race, ethnicity, age, income level, employment, poverty, and home ownership from the American Community Survey (ACS). Next, the team merged the variables with each tract's/ZIP code tabulation area (ZCTA)'s land area from TIGER/Line shapefiles for census tracts. The team then used those variables to construct three indices: neighborhood disadvantage, neighborhood affluence, and ethnic and immigrant concentration. Specific years for the ACS estimates and TIGER/Line shapefiles used are listed below:

2008-2017 data: ACS 2012 five-year estimate (covering 2008-2012), merging these variables with ACS 2017 five-year estimate (covering 2013-2017) and with 2010 TIGER/Line shapefiles for census tracts/ZCTAs
2016-2020 data: ACS 2020 five-year estimate (covering 2016-2020), merging these variables with 2020 TIGER/Line shapefiles for census tracts/ZCTAs
2018-2022 data: ACS 2022 five-year estimate (covering 2018-2022), merging these variables with 2010 and 2020 TIGER/Line shapefiles for census tracts/ZCTAs

Index creation was informed by work to construct a set of variables that would characterize the sociodemographic structure of census tracts over time. In 1990, the research team conducted a principal factor analysis with an orthogonal varimax rotation of 10 census indicators (log transformed to correct positive skew). This factor analysis was repeated in 2000 (Morenoff et al., 2007). The aim was to derive a parsimonious set of factors that capture the shared variance of a broad spectrum of neighborhood structural characteristics. Results from the factor analysis indicated 3 separate factors:

The first factor, which the research team interprets as neighborhood disadvantage, is characterized by high levels of poverty, unemployment, female-headed families, households receiving public assistance income, and a high proportion of African Americans in a census tract.
The second factor represents a mix of characteristics associated with neighborhood affluence (concentrations of adults with a college education; with incomes &gt;$75K; and employed in managerial and professional occupations).
The third factor represents ethnic and immigrant concentration. Higher values indicate more Hispanic and foreign born in the census tract.
For the 2016-2020 analysis, the team conducted a principal components analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis with census tract indicators from the 2016-2020 ACS 5-year estimates to empirically reevaluate the neighborhood socioeconomic and demographic indices from previous versions of the data. Results from the 2016-2020 factor analysis indicated these factors, which were also used for the 2018-2022 data:

Neighborhood disadvantage factor, characterized by high levels of poverty, low family income, and households receiving public assistance income in the neighborhood.
Neighborhood affluence factor, characterized by high levels of people with a college education, families with high income, and people employed in professional/managerial occupations in the neighborhood.
Ethnic and immigrant concentration, representing a higher proportion of Hispanic, foreign born, and people with limited English proficiency in the neighborhood.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Neighborhood Socioeconomic and Demographic Characteristics of Census Tracts (2010 Census), United States, 1990-2010 Data
DS2: Socioeconomic Status and Demographic Characteristics of Census Tracts (2010 Census), United States, 2008-2017 Data
DS3: Socioeconomic Status and Demographic Characteristics of ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (2010 Census), United States, 2008-2017 Data
DS4: Socioeconomic Status and Demographic Characteristics of Census Tracts (2020 Census), United States, 2016-2020 Data
DS5: Socioeconomic Status and Demographic Characteristics of ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (2020 Census), United States, 2016-2020 Data
DS6: Socioeconomic Status and Demographic Characteristics of Census Tracts (2010 Census), United States, 2018-2022 Data
DS7: Socioeconomic Status and Demographic Characteristics of Census Tracts (2020 Census), United States, 2018-2022 Data
DS8: Socioeconomic Status and Demographic Characteristics of ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (2020 Census), United States, 2018-2022 Data
description: Census tracts and ZIP code tabulation areas in the United States, including Puerto Rico. Smallest Geographic Unit: County Federal Information Processing System (FIPS)
description: The data and documentation for the Neighborhood Socioeconomic and Demographic Characteristics of Census Tracts, United States, 2000-2010 Data were originally deposited in openICPSR 111107. The current version of this study includes data from 1990-2000 not included in the original deposit.
The data and documentation for the Socioeconomic Status and Demographic Characteristics of Census Tracts, United States, 2008-2017 Data were originally deposited in openICPSR 119451.
The data and documentation for the Socioeconomic Status and Demographic Characteristics of ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, United States, 2008-2017 Data were originally deposited in openICPSR 120462.A ZIP code to ZCTA crosswalk must be used to combine the ZCTA dataset with ZIP code geocoded data. A crosswalk and sample code for merging the crosswalk with National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA) datasets are available in the ICPSR Linkage Library.
Data users wanting to combine data from each time period should be aware of key differences between how measures are calculated across the datasets. For more information, see the "Usage Note" section of each dataset's corresponding documentation file.For additional information, see the National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA).