Comparisons of individual- and area-level socioeconomic status as proxies for individual-level measures: evidence from the Mortality Disparities in American Communities study

Table 1 Proportions of individuals in each socioeconomic status (SES) category and percent of tracts and counties in the category relative to the US median, Mortality Disparities in American Communities study

	Individual-level (n ≈ 3,471,000)		Census tract-level (n = 2,830,000)		County-level (n = 2,854,000)
	Proportion	SD	Proportion compared to the US median	SD	Proportion compared to the US median	SD
Household income
Above US median	0.47	0.50	0.51	0.50	0.49	0.50
Poverty level
≤ 100% FPL	0.10	0.30	0.49	0.50	0.46	0.50
Education
Has high school degree^a	0.86	0.35	0.50	0.50	0.52	0.50
Has college degree^b	0.26	0.44	0.47	0.50	0.48	0.50
Employment/occupation
Is unemployed^c	0.04	0.18	0.49	0.50	0.48	0.50
Employed in blue-collar industry^d	0.37	0.48	0.52	0.50	0.53	0.50
Other characteristics
Owns home	0.74	0.44	0.55	0.50	0.53	0.50
Foreign born	0.13	0.33	0.46	0.50	0.46	0.50

Individual-level SES categories are binary variables based on individual-level values, while census tract- and county-level SES categories reflect whether the areas were at or below versus above the US median for that characteristic. For household income, education, and owns home, having a value of 1 was considered low risk for health outcomes, while having a value of 0 was considered high risk; in contrast, for poverty, employment/occupation, and foreign born, having a value of 1 was considered high risk, while having a value of 0 was considered low risk
SD standard deviation, US United States, FPL federal poverty level
^aHaving a high school degree was measured among participants who were 18+ years old
^bHaving a college degree was measured among participants who were 25+ years old
^cUnemployment was measured among participants who reported being in the workforce (e.g., excluding retirees)
^dEmployment in a blue-collar industry was measured among participants who reported being employed (i.e., excluding unemployed participants)

ISSN: 1478-7954