AARP Livability IndexGreat Neighborhoods for All Ages

Livability Sources

Source information includes category, attribute, indicator, source, hyperlink, and Livability Index version when last updated.

The source URLs listed here are managed by groups and organizations outside of AARP, and the referenced links may not always work over time. We will do our best to keep this source information up to date as changes are made.

Housing

Metrics

• Housing accessibility, Zero-step entrances: U.S. Census Bureau, 2013-2015 American Housing Survey, https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/ahs.html, v2018
• Housing options, Availability of multi-family housing: U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, http://factfinder.census.gov/, v2018
• Housing affordability, Housing costs, U.S. Census Bureau: 2011-2015 American Community Survey, http://factfinder.census.gov/, v2018
• Housing affordability, Housing cost burden: Housing costs come from the U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey; and regional median incomes come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2011 HUD Program Income Limits, http://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/cp.html, v2018
• Housing affordability, Availability of subsidized housing: Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation and the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2015 National Housing Preservation Database; U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Public Housing Buildings Database, http://www.preservationdatabase.org/; https://www.huduser.gov/portal/pdrdatas_landing.html, v2018

Policies

• Housing accessibility, State and local inclusive design laws: Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access, 2014 Local Visitability Initiatives and Policies List,  http://idea.ap.buffalo.edu/, v2015
• Housing affordability, State and local housing trust funds: Center for Community Change Housing Trust Fund Project, 2017 List of Housing Trust Funds in the United States, http://housingtrustfundproject.org/, v2018
• Housing options, State manufactured housing protections: National Consumer Law Center, 2014 List of State Manufactured Housing Laws https://www.nclc.org/issues/manufactured-housing.html v2017
• Housing affordability, State foreclosure prevention and protection: Prosperity Now, 2017 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard, https://scorecard.prosperitynow.org/reports, v2018

Neighborhood

Metrics

• Proximity to destinations, Access to grocery stores and farmers’ markets: Grocery store locations come from Dun & Bradstreet private data; farmers’ market locations come from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service, 2016 Farmers’ Market Directory,  https://www.ams.usda.gov/local-food-directories/farmersmarkets, v2018
• Proximity to destinations, Access to parks: 2014 Esri North America Parks Shapefile private data, http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d618daa4a2ab4b13846da9837b28dc60, v2018
• Proximity to destinations, Access to libraries: Institute of Museum and Library Services, 2014 Public Library Outlet Data File, https://www.imls.gov/research-tools/data-collection, v2018
• Proximity to destinations, Access to jobs by transit: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2013 Smart Location Database, http://www2.epa.gov/smart-growth/smart-location-mapping#SLD, v2015
• Proximity to destinations, Access to jobs by auto: Dun & Bradstreet private data, 2017 [private data], v2018
• Mixed-use neighborhoods, Diversity of destinations: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data, https://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/, v2018
• Compact neighborhoods, Activity density: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data, https://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/, v2018
• Personal safety, Crime rate: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2014 Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data, https://ucr.fbi.gov/, v2018
• Neighborhood quality, Vacancy rate: U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=Table%20B25002&tid=ACSDT1Y2019.B2..., v2018

Policies

• Mixed-use neighborhoods, TOD programs: Communities Are Embracing Development Near Transit: A Snapshot of Transit-Oriented Development Support across the United States, 2017, www.aarp.org/TOD, v2017

Transportation

Metrics

• Convenient transportation options, Frequency of local transit service: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2017 National Transit Map, https://www.bts.gov/content/national-transit-map, v2018
• Convenient transportation options, Walk trips: Walk trips are modeled based on data from the Federal Highway Administration’s 2009 National Household Travel Survey and other sources, including the U.S. Census Bureau, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2013 Smart Location Database, http://nhts.ornl.gov/introduction.shtml, v2015
• Convenient transportation options, Congestion: Texas A&M Transportation Institute, 2014 Urban Mobility Scorecard http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/ v2018
• Transportation costs, Household transportation costs: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2014 Location Affordability Index, https://www.hudexchange.info/programs/location-affordability-index, v2018
• Safe streets, Speed limits: Average speed limits in a neighborhood are calculated based on 2012 private data from HERE Map Creator (formerly NAVTEQ Map Reporter), https://www.here.com, v2015
• Safe streets, Crash rate: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2011-2015 Fatality Analysis Reporting System, http://www.nhtsa.gov/FARS, v2018
• Accessible system design, ADA-accessible stations and vehicles: Federal Transit Administration, 2015 National Transit Database, https://www.transit.dot.gov/ntd, v2018

Policies

• Safe streets, Complete Streets: Smart Growth America, July 2017 National Complete Streets Coalition Policy Atlas, https://smartgrowthamerica.org/program/national-complete-streets-coaliti..., v2018
• Convenient transportation options, State human services transportation coordination: National Conference of State Legislatures, 2016 Transportation Access and Mobility Legislation Database, http://www.ncsl.org/research/transportation/human-services-transportatio..., v2017
• Convenient transportation options, State volunteer driver policies: ITNAmerica, 2015 50 State Policy Project, https://www.itnamerica.org/, v2017

Environment

Metrics

• Water quality, Drinking water quality: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, 2015 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, https://www.countyhealthrankings.org/explore-health-rankings/measures-da..., v2018
• Air quality, Regional air quality: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2014-2016 Air Quality Index Report, https://www.epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data, v2018
• Air quality, Near-roadway pollution: U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2015 National Transportation Atlas Database, https://data-usdot.opendata.arcgis.com/, v2018
• Air quality, Local industrial pollution: The location of sources and type of pollution come from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2014 Toxic Release Inventory, and the toxicity of pollutants comes from EPA’s 2014 Risk-Screening Environmental Indicators model, http://www2.epa.gov/toxics-release-inventory-tri-program; http://www2.epa.gov/rsei, v2018

Policies

• Resilience, State utility disconnection: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Community Services Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, 2015 Seasonal Termination Protection Regulations, https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ocs/low-income-home-energy-assistance-program-li..., v2018
• Resilience, Local multi-hazard mitigation plans: Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2016 Hazard Mitigation Plan Status database, https://www.fema.gov/hazard-mitigation-plan-status, v2017
• Energy efficiency, State energy efficiency scorecard: ACEEE, 2015 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard, http://aceee.org/state-policy/scorecard, v2017

Health

Metrics

• Healthy behaviors, Tobacco use: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014 data from 500 Cities project; Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2012 data from Cigarette Smoking Prevalence in US Counties: 1996-2012, https://www.cdc.gov/places/, v2018
• Healthy behaviors, Obesity prevalence: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014 data from 500 Cities project and 2013 data from the Interactive Diabetes Atlas, https://www.cdc.gov/500cities/; http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/data/county.html, v2018
• Healthy behaviors, Access to exercise opportunities: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, 2016 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, http://www.countyhealthrankings.org/, v2018
• Access to health care, Health care professional shortage areas: Health Resources and Services Administration, 2015 Health Professional Shortage Area Data, https://datawarehouse.hrsa.gov/, v2018
• Quality of health care, Preventable hospitalization rate: Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, 2014 Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, http://www.dartmouthatlas.org/, v2018
• Quality of health care, Patient satisfaction: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 2015 Hospital Compare database, https://data.medicare.gov/data/hospital-compare, v2018

Policies

• Healthy behaviors, State and local smoke-free laws: American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation, July 2017 U.S. Tobacco Control Laws Database, http://www.no-smoke.org/goingsmokefree.php?id=519, v2018

Engagement

Metrics

• Internet Access, Broadband cost and speed: Federal Communications Commission, 2014 Fixed Broadband Deployment Data from FCC Form 477, https://www.fcc.gov/general/broadband-deployment-data-fcc-form-477, v2018
• Civic engagement,  Opportunity for civic involvement: U.S. Census Bureau, 2014 County Business Patterns, https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=county%20business%20patterns&tid=..., v2018
• Civic engagement, Voting rates: U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 2012 Election Administration and Voting Survey, https://www.eac.gov/research-and-data/election-administration-voting-sur..., v2015
• Social engagement, Social involvement index: Corporation for National and Community Service, 2011 Volunteering and Civic Life in America data, https://data.americorps.gov/Volunteering-and-Civic-Engagement/Volunteeri..., v2015
• Social engagement, Cultural, arts, and entertainment institutions: Dun & Bradstreet private data, 2017 [private data], v2018

Policies

• Internet Access, State barriers to community broadband: Institute for Local Self-Reliance, 2017 Community Network Map, https://muninetworks.org/communitymap, v2018
• Civic engagement, Early, absentee, or mail-in state voting laws: National Conference of State Legislatures, July 2015 Absentee and Early Voting, http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/absentee-and-early-..., v2017
• Equal rights, Local human rights commissions: Human Rights Campaign, 2016 Municipal Equality Index, http://www.hrc.org/mei, v2018
• Equal rights, Municipal LGBT anti-discrimination laws: Human Rights Campaign, 2016 Municipal Equality, Index http://www.hrc.org/mei, v2018

Opportunity

Metrics

• Equal opportunity, Income inequality: U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=B19083%3A%20GINI%20INDEX%20OF%20I..., v2018
• Economic opportunity, Jobs per worker: U.S. Census Bureau, 2015 Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics data, https://ledextract.ces.census.gov/static/data.html, v2018
• Education, High school graduation rate: U.S. Department of Education, The EDFacts Initiative, School Year 2014-2015 Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rates, http://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/edfacts/index.html, v2018
• Multi-generational communities, Age diversity: U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=B01001%3A%20SEX%20BY%20AGE&tid=AC..., v2018

Policies

• Local fiscal health, Local government creditworthiness: Standard and Poor's, 2015 Rating Services private data [private data], v2017
• Economic opportunity, State minimum wage increase: U.S. Department of Labor, 2016 Minimum Wage Laws in the States, https://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm, v2017
• Equal opportunity, State expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act: National Partnership for Women and Families, 2017 Work & Family Policy Database, http://www.nationalpartnership.org/issues/work-family/work-family-policy..., v2018

General

Policies

• Commitment to livability Age-friendly communities: AARP’s Age-Friendly Communities Member List (as of 8/28/2017); Grantmakers in Aging’s 2014 Age-Friendly America database, https://www.aarp.org/livable-communities/network-age-friendly-communitie..., v2018

Map Layer Data Not Included in Scoring

• Population Characteristic: Total population, U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, http://factfinder.census.gov/, v2017
• Population Characteristic: % African American, U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, http://factfinder.census.gov/, v2018
• Population Characteristic: % Asian, U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, http://factfinder.census.gov/, v2018
• Population Characteristic: % Hispanic Maplayer U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, http://factfinder.census.gov/, v2018
• Population Characteristic: % Age 50+, U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, http://factfinder.census.gov/, v2018
• Population Characteristic: % Age 65+, U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, http://factfinder.census.gov/, v2018
• Transportation: Car-free households, U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, http://factfinder.census.gov/, v2018
• Health: Life expectancy, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2010 Life Expectancy Estimates, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, v2015
• Opportunity: Median income, U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey, http://factfinder.census.gov/, v2018
• Opportunity: Absolute upward mobility, The Equality of Opportunity Project, 2014 Descriptive Statistics by County and Commuting Zone, https://opportunityinsights.org/, v2015