Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

USDA defines a “food desert” as urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. The HCI Food Desert indicator measures the proportion of urban neighborhoods more than a mile away from affordable, healthy foods (rural neighborhoods are measured at a 10-miles mark). Instead of supermarkets and grocery stores, these communities may have no food access or are served only by fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer few healthy, affordable food options. Food deserts tend to exist in areas that are lower-income, inner-city, or rural, where there are few supermarkets, and access to healthy food is a challenge. Lack of access to healthy foods is a risk factor for health outcomes such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. There is an interconnected relationship between food deserts and limited access to supermarkets in lower-income, minority communities, and one in five food stamps recipients lives in a neighborhood without a grocery store. Access to supermarkets is among the strongest behavioral correlates related to health and the built environment. Found under the Neighborhood Characteristics domain, the Food Desert indicator is also connected to the Economic Health, Educational Opportunities, Health Systems and Public Safety, and Social Cohesion domains. Data is available at the Census tract level from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and is provided in a dichotomous fashion, i.e., 0=no food desert, 1=food desert. This indicator is an “inverse” measure as the higher the number, the higher the proportion of the neighborhood considered a food desert, and the higher the negative impact on community health.