Supported by the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy

Open Data

Data downloads

Start with core files for planning. Use extended files for replication, audits, and custom analysis.

Core files (most-used)

If you are new to the data, start with these four files.

Tract desert index values

Primary tract-level index used in the main map.

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Tract food insecurity estimates

Food insecurity input used in index construction.

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Unique pantries (full)

One row per merged pantry location with source traceability.

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Source presence table

Location-by-source membership matrix for provenance checks.

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Variable dictionary (CDC PLACES and Census)

These are the core variables currently used in the published index files. For full method notes, see Methods.

Published variable Official source field(s) Substantive definition Universe and geography Documentation
Food Insecurity in Past 12 Months (Percent of Adults) FOODINSECU_CrudePrev Modeled crude prevalence (percent) of adults reporting food insecurity in the past 12 months. Adults 18+; released by CDC PLACES for census tract and ZCTA geographies. CDC PLACES measure definitions
total_population B01003_001E Total population estimate used to convert prevalence rates into estimated counts of affected residents. All people; ACS 5-year estimates (tract and/or ZCTA, depending on output table). ACS table B01003 metadata
pct_within_1mi_of_food_pantry Derived (pantry points + Census geography) Percent of tract or ZCTA land area that falls within a 1-mile buffer of at least one mapped pantry point. Census tract or ZCTA polygons intersected with pantry-service buffers. Methods: coverage construction
estimated_food_insecure_people total_population * (food_insecurity_pct / 100) Estimated number of food-insecure residents in each geography after scaling CDC prevalence by population. Computed for each tract/ZCTA where population and food-insecurity prevalence are available. Methods: need estimate formula
estimated_uncovered_food_insecure_people estimated_food_insecure_people * (1 - coverage_share) Estimated number of food-insecure residents outside modeled 1-mile pantry coverage. Computed tract-by-tract or ZCTA-by-ZCTA from modeled need and coverage. Methods: uncovered-need formula
Food Pantry Desert Index Derived Statewide 0-100 relative index of pantry access pressure based on modeled need and modeled geographic coverage. Published separately for tract and ZCTA views as a relative planning signal. Methods: index construction and scaling

Extended files

Use these if you need ZCTA outputs, source-long records, or file-level inventories.

Source records (long)

Long-form records by source and source record ID.

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ZCTA desert index values

ZCTA-level desert index output.

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ZCTA food insecurity estimates

ZCTA-level food insecurity input values.

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ZCTA full details

Intermediate metrics used in ZCTA index construction.

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Complete data manifest

Machine-readable inventory of files in this site build.

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All files in this site build

Includes copied raw source directories under data/raw/ (scrapes, raw exports, geocoded files, standardized files, and unmatched records).

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For definitions and caveats, read Methods before publishing results from these files.