Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

Bush Hills

Bush Hills is a neighborhood in Birmingham's Five Points West community and includes the subdivision of Owenton, home of Birmingham-Southern College. Bush Hills is named for Thomas Greene Bush, president of the Highland Land Company, which purchased and subdivided most of the property on which the suburb was developed.

Indicator Details

Indicators	Primary Domain	Indicator Value	Rank	Tier	Indicator Weight
School Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	25.0%	98	Bottom	1.00
Age of Housing	Housing	92.7%	88	Bottom	1.00
Access to Parks and Open Space	Natural Areas	54.2%	87	Bottom	1.00
Residential Mobility	Social Cohesion	73.0%	85	Bottom	1.00
Adult Educational Attainment	Educational Opportunities	70.0%	84	Bottom	3.00
Vacancy Rates	Housing	25.7%	78	Bottom	1.00
Residential Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	3.1%	74	Bottom	1.00
Transit Accessibility	Transportation	3	71	Bottom	4.00
Public Health Nuisances	Health Systems and Public Safety	90.9	69	Bottom	4.00
Business Retention	Economic Health	-12.8%	68	Bottom	1.00
Excessive Housing Cost Burden	Housing	44.5%	67	Bottom	1.00
Payday Loans	Economic Health	1.2	66	Middle	1.00
Abandoned Structures	Blight	13.1%	64	Middle	5.00
Voter Participation	Social Cohesion	4.9%	63	Middle	1.00
Long-Term Unemployment	Employment Opportunities	4.2%	62	Middle	1.00
Offsite Alcohol Outlets	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.9	61	Middle	1.00
Public Assisted Households	Employment Opportunities	47.3%	56	Middle	1.00
Employment Rate	Employment Opportunities	84.0%	56	Middle	1.00
Food Desert	Neighborhood Characteristics	100.0%	56	Middle	2.00
Tree Cover	Natural Areas	4.6%	51	Middle	1.00
Motor Vehicle Collisions	Health Systems and Public Safety	5.5	51	Middle	4.00
High School Graduation Rate	Educational Opportunities	78.0%	50	Middle	3.00
Infant Mortality Rate	Health Systems and Public Safety	12.4	45	Middle	1.00
Chronic School Absence	Health Systems and Public Safety	20.3%	40	Middle	1.00
Visual Property Nuisances	Blight	10.8%	39	Middle	5.00
Household Transportation Costs	Transportation	24.0%	38	Middle	4.00
Toxic Releases from Facilities	Environmental Hazards	67.4%	36	Middle	1.00
Tax Delinquent Properties	Blight	13.7%	35	Middle	5.00
Violent Crime	Health Systems and Public Safety	73.5	32	Top	4.00
Commute Mode Share	Transportation	21.0%	32	Top	4.00
Preschool Enrollment	Educational Opportunities	30.9%	28	Top	3.00
Pedestrian Connectivity	Transportation	150	22	Top	4.00
Access to Mainstream Financial Services	Economic Health	45.0%	21	Top	1.00
Travel Time to Work	Employment Opportunities	20.7	21	Top	1.00
Walkability	Neighborhood Characteristics	76.8	19	Top	4.00
Local Business Vitality	Economic Health	79.4%	12	Top	1.00
Reading Proficiency	Educational Opportunities	18.8%	12	Top	3.00
Land Use Mix	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.7	9	Top	1.00
Proximity to Brownfield Sites	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
Proximity to Superfund Sites	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
Pedestrian & Bicycle Injuries by Motor Vehicles	Health Systems and Public Safety	0	1	Top	4.00
Blood Lead Levels in Children	Housing	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Low Birth Weight	Health Systems and Public Safety	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
School Readiness Scores	Educational Opportunities	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Preventable Hospitalizations	Health Systems and Public Safety	-	-	Data N/A	1.00

Demographic and Contextual Indicators

	Neighborhood	City Wide
Income Inequality	0.4	0.49
Concentrated Poverty	19.6%	30.9%
Life Expectancy	70.4	78.8
Population	3,345	210,616
Racial and Ethnic Diversity	0.5	0.44
Park Quality	40.6

These measures, while clearly significant to community health, may not fit the criteria of “actionable” at the neighborhood level or data may only be available at a city-wide level. Because individual neighborhoods may not have a direct impact on these measures, they have been excluded from the Neighborhood’s overall ranking. However, they are documented to provide “context” for the neighborhood which could potentially identify alternative avenues to improve community health.