Census, Brown University’s Longitudinal Tract Database, and PolicyMap
| Details | Persistent poverty |
|---|---|
| Topics | Persistent poverty |
| Source | U.S. Census American Community Survey (ACS), Brown University’s Longitudinal Tract Database, PolicyMap |
| Years Available | 2019 |
| Geographies | tract |
| Public Edition or Subscriber-only | Public Edition |
| Download Available | No |
| For more information | http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/Researcher/Bridging.htm |
Description:
The tract-level persistent poverty data layer on PolicyMap was created by PolicyMap using poverty data from the 2000 and 2010 censuses and the 2008-2012 and 2015-2019 American Community Surveys, as provided by Brown University’s Longitudinal Tract Database (LTDB). In determining persistent poverty tracts, PolicyMap applied the same definition that the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund uses in determining persistent poverty county status, which is to assume a persistent poverty tract to be any tract that has had 20 percent of more of its population living in poverty over the past 30 years.
PolicyMap downloaded the 2000, 2010, 2008-2012, 2015-2019 data at the 2010 tract boundaries from the LTDB. The LTDB, developed by a research team including John Logan (Brown University), Zengwang Xu (University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee), and Brian Stults (Florida State University), provides public-use tools to create estimates within 2010 tract boundaries for tract-level Census data that are available as far back as 1970. For a detailed explanation of the LTDB team’s methodology for harmonizing data over this period, please see their website. Further explanation of the methodology can also be found in the Professional Geographer’s article entitled “Interpolating US Decennial Census Tract Data from as Early as 1970 to 2010: A Longitudinal Tract Database,” which was authored by Loan, Xu, and Stults.