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

Table 4 Associations between individual- and census tract- and county-level socioeconomic status measures, Mortality Disparities in American Community study

	Census tract-level characteristic	County-level characteristic
Individual-level characteristic	OR	OR
Household income
Above U.S. median	2.284	1.325
Poverty level
≤ 100% FPL	2.176	1.209
Education
Has high school degree	2.370	1.214
Has college degree	2.513	1.364
Employment/occupation
Is unemployed^a	1.616	1.137
Employed in blue-collar industry^b	1.324	1.030
Other characteristics
Owns home	2.663	1.200
Foreign born	3.159	1.988

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. Each row is a different logistic regression model. Models included a control variable for county population. All p < .0001
OR odds ratio, FPL federal poverty level
^aUnemployment was measured among participants who reported being in the workforce (e.g., excluding retirees)
^bEmployment in a blue-collar industry was measured among participants who reported being employed (i.e., excluding unemployed participants)

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