Where does the data come from?▶
SparkMap synthesizes data from
three primary sources:
Opportunity Atlas
From Harvard/Census Bureau, provides
income mobility and
incarceration rate estimates at the census-tract level.
opportunityinsights.org
Child Opportunity Index 3.0
From diversitydatakids.org, a composite index measuring neighborhood opportunity across
education,
health/environment, and
social/economic domains.
diversitydatakids.org
Census & ACS
Tract boundaries from U.S. Census Bureau 2020 TIGER/Line shapefiles.
How are the six data lenses calculated?▶
💰 Income Mobility — Mean household income rank (percentile 0–1) for children who grew up in each tract. Source: Opportunity Atlas (kfr_pooled_pooled_mean).
🎯 Opportunity Index — Overall Child Opportunity Index z-score (z_COI_nat), combining 30+ indicators into a national-normed score.
📚 Education — COI education domain z-score (z_ED_nat). Includes early childhood education, reading/math proficiency, HS graduation rates.
🏥 Health/Environment — COI health & environment domain z-score (z_HE_nat). Includes health insurance, toxic exposure, air quality, food access.
👥 Social/Economic — COI social & economic domain z-score (z_SE_nat). Includes poverty rate, employment, median household income.
⚖️ Incarceration — Mean incarceration rate for children who grew up in each tract. Source: Opportunity Atlas (jail_pooled_pooled_mean).
What is a "Mobility Desert"?▶
A Mobility Desert is a census tract where children's average income mobility is below 40th percentile. These are neighborhoods where children growing up there earned significantly less as adults compared to the national average.
Why are some tracts colored purple?▶
Purple tracts are designated Special Locations — areas like airports, correctional facilities, or institutional campuses that lack meaningful residential census data.
How should I use this for advocacy?▶
1. Use the Advocacy Filter to identify the most under-resourced tracts.
2. Export filtered tracts as CSV for grant applications and policy briefs.
3. Switch between lenses to understand why a tract is struggling.
4. Toggle POIs to see if areas lack schools, libraries, or healthcare access.
5. Click any tract for a detailed score card.
