Hidden Disparities Map

This interactive mapping tool illuminates hidden disparities in California's rural North State. Please be patient as it takes several seconds to load. Scroll to the bottom of the page for details about the data and the project.

The boundaries of the North State region of focus were predetermined following the state’s California Jobs First program. The North State Region counties include Butte, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity.

Suggested Citation

Hellwig, E.H., Tobias, M. M., Nelson, A. A., Middleton Manning, B. R. (2024). Hidden Disparities: An interactive mapping tool to illuminate hidden disparities in California's rural North State. UC Davis Institute of the Environment and UC Davis DataLab. https://environment.ucdavis.edu/hidden-disparities-map

Contact Us / Feedback

Because the map display is interactive and customizable to a viewer's needs and interests, we hope that this map will provide deeper insights into areas of need and spark ideas for solutions. As members of the public use this tool, we invite feedback, ideas, and requests for future iterations. Please reach out to us via email at brmiddleton@ucdavis.edu. We look forward to hearing how you use this tool!

Purpose and Mapmaking Process

California’s North State Region faces unique challenges due to its rural character, isolated and rugged terrain, and distinctive economic profile. The purpose of this map is to provide a publically-available tool to highlight some issues critical to understanding environmental justice and injustice in the North State Region that may be overlooked in other environmentally focused maps.

The region and its communities also have many strengths. Although these strengths are not included in the map, it is important to frame any decision-making on both strengths and needs as well as to take into consideration any limitations of the datasets included in this tool.

Please see the About the Data section, below, for further details.

Funding for this project came from the California Jobs First Regional Investment Initiative (formerly the Community Economic Resilience Fund, or CERF) via one of the North State Region’s two co-convenors, the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment. The Sierra Institute subcontracted the UC Davis Institute of the Environment’s Environmental and Climate Justice Hub to support their North State efforts, which in turn requested participation from the UC Davis DataLab.

California Jobs First

California Jobs First began as a $600 million fund to build a sustainable and equitable economy across California, with a focus on supporting new strategies to diversify local economies and develop industries that create high-quality, broadly accessible jobs for all Californians in the transition to a carbon-neutral economy.

“Over the last few decades, economic wealth generated in California has not been shared equally, with many communities and families feeling the squeeze of low-paying jobs and rising costs. At the same time, California is on an accelerated path to transition to a clean energy economy, with the goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2045. The goal of the Regional Investment Initiative is to ensure that as California’s economy grows and adapts to climate change and other challenges, that good-paying jobs and prosperous communities are created for the benefit of all Californians. Key to the program is empowering the state’s diverse regions and residents to meaningfully participate as leaders in this process.” – California Jobs First Regional Investment Initiative

Findings

The Hidden Disparities Map Team is currently working on an in depth analysis of the data displayed in the Hidden Disparities Web Map. The analysis will live here when it is complete.

Other Resources

There are many publically available tools to help researchers with geospatial investigations of environmental justice issues. A few of them are listed below.

About the Team

UC Davis Institute for the Environment

Roles: Mapping Project Initiators and Co-Design, University Partner of the Sierra Institute

  • Beth Rose Middleton, Professor and Principal Investigator, Department of Native American Studies, Director of the UC Davis Institute of the Environment’s Environmental and Climate Justice Hub
  • Alyssa A. Nelson, Researcher, ECJ Hub - Rural Environmental Justice Program Director (2024-25)
  • Dave Waetjen, Research Analyst, Road Ecology Center, Institute of Transportation Studies

Sierra Institute for Community and Environment

Roles: Funder, Nonprofit Community Partner

  • Jonathan Kusel, Executive Director
  • Zoe Watson, Rural Community Development Program Manager
  • Alyssa A. Nelson, North State CA Jobs First Team (2025- )

UC Davis DataLab

Roles: Mapping Project Co-Design, Dataset Collection, Web Map Creation

  • Elise Hellwig, Data Scientist
  • Michele Tobias, Geospatial Data Scientist
  • Meya Zagar, Student Employee

About the Data (click to open/close)

General Information

All of the datasets used to create this map are either statewide or national, so while this map was created to focus on these issues for the North State Region, it also includes optional boundary lines view showing all 13 of the regions designated by California Jobs First, see the California Jobs First tab for more details.

Many of the map layers presented here were derived from census data. Except where noted, these data came from the 2022 American Community Survey 5-Year data and geographies.

Some map layers display additional information when clicked on. These include: Federal Tribal Land and Federal Tribal Boundaries, Primary Care Provider Shortage, Heating Fuel Sources, Superfund Sites, Abandoned Mines, and Transit Lines.

North State Region

This layer outlines the 10-county inland North State region, which includes the following counties: Butte, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). tl_2022_us_county. TIGER/Line Shapefiles. Retrieved on August 6, 2024, from https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/TIGER2022/COUNTY/ via the tigris R package.

California Jobs First Economic Regions

This layer contains the outlines for the 13 economic regions of California as defined by the California Jobs First Regional Investment Initiative, listed below. For more information, see the California Jobs First tab.

  • North State – Butte, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity
  • Redwood Coast – Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino
  • Capital – Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba
  • Bay Area – Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, Sonoma
  • Eastern Sierra – Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, Tuolumne
  • Northern San Joaquin Valley – Merced San Joaquin, Stanislaus
  • Central San Joaquin Valley – Fresno, Kings, Madera, Tulare
  • Central Coast – Monterey, San Benito, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Ventura
  • Kern County
  • Los Angeles County
  • Orange County
  • Inland Empire – Riverside, San Bernardino
  • Southern Border – Imperial, San Diego

U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). tl_2022_us_county. TIGER/Line Shapefiles. Retrieved on August 6, 2024, from https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/TIGER2022/COUNTY/ via the tigris R package.

Federally Recognized Tribal Land and Boundaries

These layers show the areas the federal government recognizes as Tribal Lands in California according to the US Census Bureau. It includes both American Indian Reservations and Trust Lands. The Federal Tribal Lands layer shows these areas shaded in. The Federal Tribal Boundaries layer only includes the area outlines so that users can access information about other layers via pop-ups. For more information see American Indian and Alaska Native Areas.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). tl_2022_us_aiannh. TIGER/Line Shapefiles. Retrieved on September 26, 2024, from https://www2.census.gov/geo/tiger/TIGER2022/AIANNH/ via the tigris R package.

High Native Population and Boundaries

The High Native Population and High Native Population Boundaries layers display the top 10% of census tracts by Native identifying population by percentage. This includes people who identify as American Indian or Native Alaskan alone, or in addition to some other race. The High Native Population layer shows areas with a high percentage of Native identifying people shaded in. The High Native Population Boundaries layer only includes the outlines so that users can access information about other layers via pop-ups.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). B02010 - American Indian and Alaska Native Alone or in Combination With One or More Other Races. American Community Survey: 5-Year Estimates: Detailed Tables 5-Year. Retrieved on August 9, 2024 from http://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5/groups/B02010 via the tidycensus R package.

Fire Risk

The Fire Risk data layer represents the maximum probability of a fire over 10 years for a given census tract or block group. Only areas with at least a 20% chance of a fire in the next 10 years are displayed. For more information see Contemporary Wildfire Hazard Across California.

Pyrologix, LLC. (2022). Annual Burn Probability. Contemporary Wildfire Across California. Retrieved on September 25, 2024, from https://caregionalresourcekits.org/statewide.html#fire_dyn.

High Poverty Areas

The layer shows the census tracts where the U.S. Census estimates more than 20% of the population were living below the poverty line in 2022. It also shows census tracts where the upper 90% confidence interval of people living below the poverty line is at least 20%.

U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). S1701 - Poverty Status in the Past 12 Months. American Community Survey: 5-Year Estimates: Subject Tables 5-Year. Retrieved on August 14, 2024, from http://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5/subject/groups/S1701 via the tidycensus R package.

Primary Care Provider Shortage

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), places where there are sufficient healthcare workers to meet the demand for medical care. This layer displays areas where there are not enough primary care providers to serve the population. Areas with a solid fill have primary care provider shortages for the entire population. Areas with a striped fill are experiencing a primary care provider shortage for a subset of their population (ex. people on medicaid). A pop-up window for each area states which specific populations are indicated.

The Provider Shortage Score (or HPSA Score) is a score developed by the National Health Service Corps for determining priorities when assigning clinicians. It ranges from 0-26, where higher scores denote higher priority.

Health Resources and Services Administration. (2024). Area HPSA Designation Boundaries – SHP. Health Professional Shortage Areas - Primary Care. Retrieved on October 4, 2024, from https://data.hrsa.gov/data/download.

Heating Fuel Sources

While the vast majority of fuel sources people use to heat their homes release greenhouse gasses (carbon dioxide), some sources emit additional pollutants, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds. The highest fuel emitters are coal, coke, fuel oil, kerosene, and wood (Mahmoud et al. 2021, California Air Resources Board). This layer shows the percentage of households that use one of these high pollutant fuel sources to heat their home.

California Air Resources Board. (n.d.). Combustion Pollutants & Indoor Air Quality. Retrieved September 27, 2024, from https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/combustion-pollutants-indoor-air-quality

Mahmoud, M., Ramadan, M., Naher, S., Pullen, K., & Olabi, A.-G. (2021). The impacts of different heating systems on the environment: A review. Science of The Total Environment, 766, 142625. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142625

U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). B25040 - House Heating Fuel. American Community Survey: 5-Year Estimates: Detailed Tables 5-Year. Retrieved August 9, 2024, from http://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5/groups/B25040 via the tidycensus R package.

Mercury Impacted Waterways

This data layer displays waterways documented by the California State Water Control Board to be impacted by mercury contamination. Impacted waterways can include rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs and estuaries. For more information, see the California Water Boards' Water Quality Assessment Program.

State Water Resources Control Board Division of Water. (2022). 2020-2022 California Integrated Report. Retrieved from https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/water_quality_assessment/2020_2022_integrated_report.html.

Superfund Sites

The Superfund Site layer contains locations for known or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants throughout California that are considered the highest priority for remediation by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These include manufacturing facilities, processing plants, landfills, or mining locations. The EPA evaluates each reported site based on (1) the relative potential of substances to cause a hazardous situation (2) the likelihood and rate at which the substances may affect human and environmental receptors and (3) the severity and magnitude of potential effects. It then gives the site a Hazard Ranking System (HRS) site score, which can range from 0-100. Locations with an HRS score of more than 28.5 get added to the Superfund National Priority List (NPL) for remediation.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2024). Superfund National Priorities List (NPL) Sites with Status Information. Retrieved on October 2, 2024, from https://services.arcgis.com/cJ9YHowT8TU7DUyn/arcgis/rest/services/Superfund_National_Priorities_List_(NPL)_Sites_with_Status_Information/FeatureServer.

Brownfields Sites

Brownfield Sites are areas where redevelopment or reuse of the site may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides funding to local governments to defray the cost of environmental remediation necessary before land can be redeveloped. For more information, see the EPA’s Brownfields Program website.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (2024). Facility Registry Service Geodatabase: ACRES layer. Retrieved on October 4, 2024, from https://www.epa.gov/frs/geospatial-data-download-service.

Abandoned Mines

This layer contains point locations for out of use mines and other sites of past mineral production in California, based on the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS). Mines are colored based on the highest risk commodity they produced, but all major products are listed in a pop-up window. Because the MRDS contains information from sources of varying qualities, individual observations are graded in quality from A (highest) to E (lowest). This map only includes observations with quality grades from A to C, as observations from grades D and E are generally missing critical information.

U.S. Geological Survey. (2016). Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS). Retrieved on October 4, 2024, from https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/geo-inventory.php.

Transit Lines

This layer contains route lines for all mass transit in the state of California. The California Department of Transit (Caltrans) collects General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data from all mass transit operators in California, both public and private. The purpose of including this dataset is to provide a commonly understood reference at a regional scale, not to act as a trip planning guide.

California Department of Transportation. (2024). CA Transit Routes. Retrieved on October 15, 2024, from https://gis.data.ca.gov/datasets/dd7cb74665a14859a59b8c31d3bc5a3e_0/about.