Methodology
To determine the communities that are most vulnerable to disaster, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on exposure to risk from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 Community Resilience Estimates program. Counties are ranked by the estimated percentage of the population exposed to at least three risk factors of the 10 the CRE identified.
The 10 risk factors are: no access to a vehicle, income-to-poverty ratio less than 130%; lack of health insurance; household crowding of 0.75 or greater persons per room; single or zero caregiver households (one or no persons in household 18-64 years old); communications barriers (defined as no one with at least high school diploma or no one who speaks English very well); no one in household employed full time, year-round (not applied for household with 65+ occupants); disability with at least one constraint to significant life activity; 65 years or older; and households without broadband Internet access.
Additional demographic, income, and health insurance data came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 American Community Survey and are five-year estimates.
