Conduent HCI obtains Community Spending data through Claritas, which uses a proprietary database called Consumer Spending Dynamix (CSDx). The CSDx dataset includes household spending estimates of 678 products and services in 14 categories, which was developed using the Consumer Expenditure Survey conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Currently, data are presented starting with 2022 and updates will be provided annually in Q3.
The indicators are calculated for 5 different household groups (Total, White, Black, Asian, and Hispanic) by state, county, zip code, and census tract of residence and are intended to show specific geographic community level spend on basic amenities such as education, food, healthcare, housing, transportation, etc.
In addition to data for main categories of spending, within each indicator, there are breakdowns of subcategories of spending. For example, within the transportation category, there is an overall value for transportation spending as well as breakouts for public transportation, vehicle expenses, etc.
Spending data includes breakouts by racial groups to show insights on spending, behaviors, and burdens within these populations to help assess and address disparities and inequities.
There are also data on the percentages or shares of a main category that go towards subcategories of spending. For example, within Spending on Food, you might see 46% of spending going towards food at home and 54% towards food away from home.
To determine a percent estimation of burden, we divide the average spending for households who made a purchase in the category by the median household income.