CA quality of life map from OEHHA (Sacramento, Granite Bay: real estate, crime)

[cmrubin]

The CA Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has issued a report that combines environmental and demographic data ("CalEnviroScreen2, see http://www.oehha.ca.gov/ej/ces2.html) to give a rough idea of how different zip codes compare as desirable places to live.

http://oehha.maps.arcgis.com/apps/OnePane/basicviewer/index.html?appid=a4a95185c71f4817bf03aeae25923695

In the greater Sacramento area, the least desirable place to live (pollution, crime, poverty, etc) is the port area in W. Sac, and the "best" place to live is Granite Bay.

This looks like a good screening tool for people who are considering relocation to CA.

[ryuns]

I may be wrong, but I don't think crime is factored in? I see education, poverty, health scores (low birth weight, asthma), as well as potential exposure to a number of factors related to pollution.

Anyway, it's a very interesting tool. I'm not sure how I'd weight some of those factors personally. E.g., north downtown gets some lousy scores associated with the toxic cleanups going on there, but also that the drinking water is clean, so I don't actually how much the presence of the cleanup site actually affects residents. And there are other risks too of course. I'm probably much more likely to get killed on my commute from Granite Bay than via the pollutants from those same commuters along a shorter commute from Midtown (all the while not contributing the same pollution that is raising the risk for everyone else).

[cmrubin]

Originally Posted by ryuns

I may be wrong, but I don't think crime is factored in? I see education, poverty, health scores (low birth weight, asthma), as well as potential exposure to a number of factors related to pollution.

Anyway, it's a very interesting tool. I'm not sure how I'd weight some of those factors personally. E.g., north downtown gets some lousy scores associated with the toxic cleanups going on there, but also that the drinking water is clean, so I don't actually how much the presence of the cleanup site actually affects residents. And there are other risks too of course. I'm probably much more likely to get killed on my commute from Granite Bay than via the pollutants from those same commuters along a shorter commute from Midtown (all the while not contributing the same pollution that is raising the risk for everyone else).

Hmmm -- it looks like you are right, ryuns -- I can't find anything in the criteria about crime. How the study designers can consider "linguistic isolation" as a stressor and not "crime" is pretty baffling!

The map looks like a fun tool for real estate agents, but as you point out, anything so general shouldn't be taken TOO seriously.