TRF PolicyMap Tool Now Shows Zip Code Level Health Data

“Your zip code is a better predictor of your health than your genetic code,” said Melody Goodman, an assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis, in a speech last July at the Harvard School of Public Health.

This idea reflects the growing acknowledgement that health is not just a personal issue, but something rooted in environmental, social and economic factors. But how do you track all these variables?

The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), a Philadelphia-based research firm and community development financial institution, is now tracking zip code-level health data through its GIS mapping tool PolicyMap.

The tool allows users to zoom-in anywhere across the country and see geographically-based data on housing, employment, income and now health, overlaid on an interactive map.

As TRF noted in a press release, comprehensive health data is available at a national and state level, and by county on a very limited basis. PolicyMap dug into Center for Disease Control and U.S. Census data to provide a more fine-tooth look at geographic health data.

More on the tool on the PolicyMap blog.

Image from screenshot of PolicyMap tool