The FEMA Environmental Hazard Community Resilience Score is part of the National Risk Index project and is used to assess community resilience to environmental hazards. This score, developed using a methodology from the University of South Carolina’s Hazards Vulnerability and Resilience Institute (HVRI), is a sub-index of the broader National Risk Index.
What is the FEMA Community Resilience Score?
Community resilience, as defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), refers to a community's ability to prepare for natural hazards, adapt to changing conditions, and recover from disruptions. In the National Risk Index, the Community Resilience Score represents the level of resilience in comparison to other communities, helping officials identify where communities need support to reduce risk.
Data Summary: What Does the Community Resilience Score Measure?
The Community Resilience Score uses the Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC) and is based on four major categories of resilience:
1. Social Resilience
Percentage of population with a college education or higher
Percentage of population aged 15-65 years
Households with at least one vehicle
Households with telephone service
Proficiency in English
Population without sensory, physical, or mental disabilities
Population with health insurance
2. Economic Resilience
Percentage of owner-occupied housing
Percentage of labor force employed
Gini coefficient (inverted)
Labor force employed outside farming, fishing, forestry, extractive industries, or tourism
Ratio of large to small businesses
3. Community Capital
Percentage of population not born in the current state
Voting participation in recent elections
Number of religious organizations per capita
Number of civic organizations per capita
Number of AmeriCorps volunteers per capita
4. Institutional Resilience
Average spending for mitigation projects over 10 years
Percentage of housing units covered by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP)
Number of governments and special districts per 10,000 persons
Number of Presidential Disaster Declarations divided by the number of hazard events
For a complete list of indicators, visit the BRIC Documentation.
How is the Community Resilience Score Built?
Data Transformation: Input variables are first transformed into rates, percentages, differences, or averages.
Linear Min-Max Scaling: Variables within each sub-index are scaled from 0 to 1, where higher values indicate greater resilience.
Sub-Index Aggregation: The values in each sub-index are averaged to create a score for that capital. The scores from all sub-indices are then summed to generate the final Community Resilience Score, which ranges from 0 to 6 for each county.
Geographies Available
The FEMA Community Resilience Score is available for the following geographies:
Census Tract
County
Additionally, mySidewalk provides apportionment of Tract-level data to other geographic areas, including:
Zip Code
Place
County Subdivision
Unified School District
State House District
State Senate District
Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)
Metropolitan and Micropolitan Areas
U.S. Congressional District
State
Scores for these additional areas are based on averages of the Tract-level data.
Citations
Cutter, Susan L., Kevin D. Ash, and Christopher T. Emrich. "The Geographies of Community Disaster Resilience." Global Environmental Change, vol. 29, 2014, pp. 65–77. Elsevier, doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.08.005.