Disproportionately impacted community map: About the methods and data | Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

About the data

CDPHE released the most recent version of the disproportionately impacted community map in November 2024. The previous definition versions are in the disproportionately impacted community section of Colorado EnviroScreen 2.0 or the archived version of Colorado EnviroScreen 1.0.

Disproportionately impacted community criteria	Description	Data source
Low-income population	The percent of a census block group’s population living in households with incomes less than or equal to twice the federal poverty level.	U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2018-2022 ACS 5-Year Estimates.
People of color population	The percent of individuals in a block group who list their racial status as a race other than white alone and their ethnicity as Hispanic or Latino. That is, all people other than non-Hispanic, white alone individuals. In this case, "alone" indicates that the person is of a single race, not multiracial.	U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2018-2022. 5-Year Estimates.
Housing-cost burdened population	The percent of households within an area that spend more than 30% of household income on housing.	U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2018-2022 ACS 5-Year Estimates.
Linguistically isolated population	Percent of people in a block group living in linguistically isolated households. A household in which all members, aged 14 years and over, speak a non-English language and also have difficulty speaking English is considered linguistically isolated by the U.S. Census Bureau.	U.S. Census Bureau. American Community Survey, 2018-2022 ACS 5-Year Estimates.
Above 80th percentile Colorado EnviroScreen score	Census block groups with Colorado EnviroScreen 2.0 percentile scores above 80. Colorado EnviroScreen combines 35 environmental and socioeconomic burden indicators to determine which areas have the highest combined burden across the state.	Colorado EnviroScreen 2.0, released November 2024. See technical documentation for more details.
Climate and economic justice screening tool criteria	Areas identified as “Disadvantaged” by the Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool released in November 2022, which aims to identify communities for the Justice40 Initiative.	Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool 2022. The tool helps implement Justice40, ensuring 40% of federal benefits go to disadvantaged communities.
Mobile Home Parks	Registered mobile home parks in Colorado. The Colorado Department of Local Affairs Mobile Home Park Oversight Program maintains the data.	The most up-to-date registration list is as of November 2024. The Mobile Home Park Oversight Program webpage has more information.
Areas under tribal jurisdiction	Census block groups that overlap with the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute reservations as mapped by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.	Bureau of Indian Affairs U.S. Domestic Sovereign Nations: Land Areas of Federally-Recognized Tribes Map
Historically marginalized communities	Communities may apply with agencies during a rulemaking or other process to fulfill this criteria.	N/A

The data displayed in this tool, sourced from datasets like the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, Colorado EnviroScreen, and others, offers valuable insights into vulnerable communities but has several limitations.

American Community Survey data is based on samples, not full population counts, leading to margins of error, especially in smaller areas (Read more about the survey data on the American Community Survey Design and Methodology Report webpage).
Geographic precision may vary between urban and rural areas due to population density. For example, rural block groups are much larger spatial areas than urban block groups, which may underrepresent differences in rural communities.
Integration of multiple sources, such as Colorado EnviroScreen datasets and the Climate and Economic Justice Screening tool, can cause inconsistencies due to differing methodologies.
The mobile home park information includes only registered parks with the Department of Local Affairs Mobile Home Park registration (more information about mobile home parks in Colorado is available on the What Counts as a Mobile Home web page.
Boundary and temporal issues arise from changing census boundaries and reliance on data that may not reflect current conditions.

It is important to note Colorado EnviroScreen, like any other scientific tool, has limitations. This data remains useful, though users should supplement it with local context where possible.