Looking for a way to identify communities where environmental hazards, social vulnerability and health risks overlap? The CDC and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s Environmental Justice Index (EJI) offers reporters a national, census-tract-level dataset for doing just that. The EJI ranks communities on 36 environmental, social and health factors and combines them into an overall measure of cumulative environmental burden. The 2024 update also added a Climate Burden Module and an EJI + Climate Burden rank, allowing users to examine climate-related hazards alongside environmental, social and health vulnerabilities.
What the data includes
The EJI covers census tracts in the continental United States and incorporates data from multiple federal sources, including the Census Bureau, Environmental Protection Agency, Mine Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Geological Survey, OpenStreetMap, Department of Transportation and CDC. The dataset includes measures related to environmental burden, social vulnerability, health vulnerability and, in the 2024 update, a separate Climate Burden module.
The data can be downloaded as CSV files or geodatabases, making it useful for reporters working in spreadsheets as well as those doing GIS or mapping projects.
What reporters could do with it
- Find local health equity stories. Search your community or state for census tracts with high EJI rankings and investigate what is driving the score.
- Look at climate and health together. Use the Climate Burden Module and the EJI + Climate Burden rank to examine climate-related hazards alongside environmental, social and health vulnerabilities. The Climate Burden Module includes indicators related to extreme heat, wildfire and extreme events such as flooding, drought, hurricanes, strong winds and tornadoes.
- Investigate environmental disparities. Compare neighborhoods with different levels of environmental burden and examine differences in race, poverty, housing, transportation or health indicators.
- Build a local map. Combine EJI data with local hospital, mortality, housing, pollution or demographic data to investigate whether communities experiencing greater cumulative burdens also experience measurable health disparities.
- Find the story behind the ranking. Don’t stop with the overall score. The dataset allows reporters to examine the individual indicators and modules contributing to a community’s ranking.
A caution for reporters
The EJI is a ranking and mapping tool, not a measure of causation. A high ranking identifies communities experiencing greater cumulative burdens relative to other census tracts; it does not establish that a particular environmental exposure caused a particular health outcome. The CDC also cautions users to understand the data’s sources, scale, accuracy and limitations before drawing conclusions.
Go deeper: Read the 2024 technical documentation, which explains the indicators and methodology. The 2024 FAQ also provides guidance on interpreting and using the index.
Reporters with questions about the dataset can contact the EJI Coordinator at eji_coordinator@cdc.gov. Media inquiries can be directed to placeandhealth@cdc.gov .
