Table 1.
Three Dimensions of Sustainability with indicators and metrics used for assessment in US CBSAs in 2017.
| Sustainability Dimension | Indicator | Metrics |
|---|---|---|
| Economic | Income | Per capita income (US Census 2017a) |
| Unemployment | Unemployment rate (US Census 2017a) | |
| Energy | Energy consumption per capita (USDOE, 2019) | |
| Financial Health | Percent of households under housing stress (US Census 2017a) | |
| Median Home Value (US Census 2017a) | ||
| Transportation | Per capita daily vehicle miles traveled per day (USDOT, 2018) | |
| Social | Education | Literacy rate (Reardon et al., 2019) |
| Public Health | Years of potential life lost (UWPHI, 2019) | |
| Child Mortality Rate (UWPHI, 2019) | ||
| Percent with health insurance (US Census 2017a) | ||
| Violent Crime Rate (UWPHI, 2019) | ||
| Equity | Income Inequality – GINI coefficient (UWPHI, 2019) | |
| Housing and Buildings | Home ownership – Percent renters (US Census 2017a) | |
| Percent with severe housing problems (UWPHI, 2019) | ||
| Citizen Participation | Percent voter turnout in last federal election (MIT Election Data and Science Lab Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016) | |
| Population belonging to social association (County Business Patterns CBP, 2016) | ||
| Environmental | Air Quality | Air Quality Health Index (USEPA, 2017) |
| Greenhouse Gas Emissions | Per capita greenhouse gas emissions from all sources (Dewitz, 2019; Yang et al., 2018) | |
| Water | Percent of waterways with impaired status (USEPA, 2017) | |
| Land | Acres of green space per capita (Dewitz, 2019; Yang et al., 2018) | |
| Square meters of tree canopy per capita (Dewitz, 2019; Yang et al., 2018) | ||
| Natural Hazards Vulnerability | Multi-hazard risk index – PRISM (Buck, Summers, Hafner, Smith, & Harwell, 2019) |