U.S. Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) Grids 2019

The U.S. Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) Grids, 2019 data set contains gridded layers for the Hazard Vulnerability and Resilience Institute's (HVRI) overall Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) for all counties in the United States for 2019. SoVI is a comparative metric that shows where there is an uneven ability to prepare for, respond to, and recover from environmental hazards. To calculate SoVI, 29 variables are z-score standardized and then analyzed using Principal Component Analysis to determine factors of social vulnerability. Seven factors of social vulnerability were determined and are added or subtracted based on whether they increase (e.g., dependence and age, lack of health insurance, special needs) or decrease (e.g., wealth) social vulnerability. County SoVI was gridded to a 1-kilometer resolution raster surface to allow users to calculate social vulnerability metrics for any user-defined area within the U.S. A mask was applied for water and for no-population using CIESIN's Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4) Revision 11.