Contains 2 measures designed to be used in tandem to characterize United States census tracts, originally developed for use in stratified analyses of the Diabetes Location, Environmental Attributes, and Disparities (LEAD) Network. The first measure is a 2010 tract-level community type categorization based on a modification of Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) Codes that incorporates census-designated urban areas and tract land area, with 5 categories: higher density urban, lower density urban, suburban/small town, rural, and undesignated (McAlexander, et al., 2022). The second measure is a neighborhood social and economic environment (NSEE) score, a community-type stratified z-score sum of 6 US census-derived variables, with sums scaled between 0 and 100, computed for the year 2000 and 2010. A tract with a higher NSEE z-score sum indicates more socioeconomic disadvantage compared to a tract with a lower z-score sum. Analysts should not compare NSEE scores across LEAD community types, as values have been computed and scaled within community type.
