Increasing urban tree canopy associated with reduced mortality: a longitudinal analysis of Chicago neighborhoods

This dataset contains longitudinal environmental and health-related data for 801 Chicago, Illinois, USA census tracts from 2011 to 2021. It integrates annual estimates of urban tree canopy cover, year-to-year changes in canopy, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), summer maximum temperature, air pollution, and aggregated mortality counts.

Tree canopy cover was derived from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service National Land Cover Database (NLCD, version 2021.4) and represents the percent of land area covered by tree canopy for each tract and year. NDVI values were calculated from satellite imagery and provide an additional continuous measure of vegetative greenness at the census tract level. Environmental covariates include average summer (June to August) maximum temperature from Daymet V4 and annual census tract-level nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) concentrations.

Mortality data consist of annual death counts aggregated by census tract of residence, with no individual-level records included. Individual mortality data are restricted and cannot be publicly shared. Also included is a zip file containing R code for our models, tables, and figures. The dataset is suitable for reuse in studies of urban environmental exposures, climate-related health risks, and neighborhood-level health disparities.