The Food Insecurity Index (FII) ranking of 1-5 is a comparison of each locale to all others within the selected comparison region on your site (all zip codes, census tracts, or counties). Within a comparison area, the ranking for the zip code with the lowest index value will be 1 (the index values range from 0 to 100).
If your site region is composed of a single county, the ranking will be to all other zip codes and census tracts in your county. If you have multiple counties within your site region, you can change the selection in the comparison drop-down menu to view the ranking within each county separately or across your entire site region.
Zip codes and census tracts are ranked using natural breaks classification, which groups the zip codes into clusters based on similar index values. This method minimizes the variance within a rank, and maximizes the variance between ranks.
The FII is calculated from the following topics: Medicaid insurance enrollment, perceived health status, household expenditures, household income, and single-parent headed households. The indicators are weighted to maximize the correlation of the FII with social and economic hardship and eligible persons for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps.
Claritas Pop-Facts®, Claritas Consumer Profiles®, and Claritas Consumer Buying Power® estimates are used for all indicators included in the index.
