Census Bureau training specialist demonstrates My Community Explorer disaster-mapping tool

Krystal Jimerson, a training specialist at the U.S. Census Bureau, demonstrated the agency’s My Community Explorer disaster-mapping tool in a short Data Gem video, showing how users can zoom from county outlines to census tracts to identify pockets of social vulnerability.

The demonstration walked viewers through accessing the tool at Census.gov, using the site search to open My Community Explorer, skipping the guided tour, and selecting a state and county. Jimerson chose North Carolina and then Wake County as an example to show how county-level summaries can mask local variation.

Using the map legend and zoom controls, Jimerson selected a red-shaded area labeled “Biltmore Hills” and clicked to view the associated Census Tract 521.01. In the tool’s pop-up dashboard she said, "about 46% of the population has 3 or more measures of social vulnerability," and that roughly 39% have one to two such components. She listed common components included in the measure: residents aged 65 or older, people living with disabilities, those without health insurance and households without access to a vehicle.

Jimerson demonstrated how the dashboard allows users to compare tract figures with national averages. She pointed to the tract’s poverty measure and noted, "Population whose income in the past 12 months is below the poverty level" is at 20.8%, which the tool flags as higher than the national average. She said these local comparisons can help emergency management planners identify populations likely to need more support after a disaster.

As a closing note, Jimerson advised viewers to zoom in on census-tract data when reviewing county-level indicators to get the full picture of vulnerability in an area. She directed viewers to Census.gov/academy for more instructional videos and closed the demonstration with a brief thank you.