This is a preview of the Later Life Social Isolation Index (LSI), a statistical tool to illustrate the social needs of older adults based on age, disability, living alone, and living in areas with relatively few aging and disability services.
This maps and dashboards preview explores the LSI using data from the 2015-2019 American Community Survey (ACS) and 2017 counts of aging and disability service providers from the National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA).
We want your feedback! Please click here to answer a few questions about your experience.
Darker-colored areas on the map are places where older adults are most socially isolated and lack aging and disability services.
Glossary
ACS: American Community Survey, a program that helps understand changes in demographic, economic, educational, and other aspects of people in the US territory.
NaNDA: National Neighborhood Data Archive, a publicly available repository for economic, demographic, and social data for the United States..
Later Life Social Isolation Index (LSI): A statistical tool that represents the needs of older adults and the lack in social fabric and aging and disability services in a geographic area of the United States. LSI is based on public data from ACS and NaNDA, and it is defined as the average of the following percentages:
- 85+ score %: Population 85 years and older expressed as a percentage of population 65 years and older (ACS table
B01001). - Disability score %: Population with a disability, expressed as a percentage of civilian, noninstitutionalized population 65 years and older (ACS table
B18101). - Living alone score %: Population living alone, expressed as a percentage of population 65 years and older (Census table
B09020). - Aging services score %: This score is based on the ratio of aging and disability service providers in the county or census tract to the population 65 years and older. The county or census tract gets a 0% score if its average services are equal or more than the state average. The score is 100% if the average services are less than the state’s average. For the particular case of the state map, this score is set to 0% for all states.
Navigation
Representations and Warranties
Claude Pepper Center provides Maps and Dashboards “as is.” Claude Pepper Center does not represent or warrant that insights from our Maps and Dashboards are statistically significant, free of inaccuracies or errors, and/or representative of any population or territory whatsoever. Claude Pepper Center hereby disclaims any and all implied warranties, including without limitation, warranties of fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, and non-infringement.
Suggested Citation
Claude Pepper Center (2024). 2018-2022 Later Life Social Isolation Index (LSI). Tallahassee: Florida State University. fsu.edu | archive.org
References
Finlay, J., Li, M., Esposito, M., Gomez-Lopez, II, Khan, A., Clarke, P., and Chenoweth, M. (2020, October 1). National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA): Grocery Stores by Census Tract, United States, 2003-2017. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. openicpsr.org | archive.org
Finlay, J., Li, M., Esposito, M., Gomez-Lopez, II, Khan, A., Clarke, P., and Chenoweth, M. (2020, November 10). National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA): Social Services by Census Tract, United States, 2003-2017. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. openicpsr.org | archive.org
Manson, S., Schroeder, J., Van Riper, D., Knowles, K., Kugler, T., Roberts, F., & Ruggles, S. (2023). IPUMS National Historical Geographic Information System: Version 18.0 [dataset]. Minneapolis, MN: IPUMS. nhgis.org | archive.org
U.S. Census Bureau (2020, December 10). American Community Survey (ACS) 2015-2019 5-Year Data Release. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce. census.gov | archive.org
U.S. Census Bureau (2019). American Community Survey (ACS) 2019 ACS Table List. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce. census.gov | archive.org | census.gov | archive.org
U.S. Census Bureau (2019). Census Data API: Variables in /data/2019/acs/acs5/variables. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce. census.gov
U.S. Census Bureau (2019). TIGER/Line Shapefiles. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce. census.gov | archive.org