Sonia Torres Rodríguez is a research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Torres Rodríguez applies quantitative and qualitative approaches to the study of policies and programs related to labor and housing markets. Their research interests include racial equity, neighborhood change, equitable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, equitable development, econometric analysis, and community-engaged methods. Sonia also assists with the management of the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, a network advancing the effective and equitable use of data and technology.

Before joining Urban, Sonia was a research fellow for Stanford’s Center for Poverty and Inequality, supporting a national qualitative and ethnographic study of poverty and inequality in the United States. Sonia graduated from Rice University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematical economic analysis and will be graduating with a Master of Science in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University in May 2023. They were recently selected as a 2022 Research in Color mentee.