Neighborhood Change Database

Neighborhood boundaries can change from one census year to the next, making it hard for researchers to compare the same area over time. The Neighborhood Change Database (NCDB) reconciles those changing boundaries in census data from 1970 to 2010.

We used the NCDB to look at neighborhoods’ average household income, median house value, share of college degrees, and homeownership rate to determine their socioeconomic advantage. We then analyzed the most disadvantaged neighborhoods (those in the bottom 10 percent) and the most advantaged neighborhoods (those in the top 10 percent) to map geographic inequality.