Data last updated Aug 6th, 2021

The Urban Institute data science team used data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, IPUMS 2012-2018 ACS microdata, and Urban’s 2018 Census LODES data (in versions released before May 7, we used 2017 LODES data) to estimate the number of low-income jobs (<$40,000 salary) lost because of COVID-19 by industry for every census tract in the US based on the residence of workers. The code, and more information about the methodology used to generate the data, can be found here, and the interactive data visualization powered by these data can be found here. The data are available at the tract, county, or core-based statistical area level. LODES data by Census tract by income level used in this analysis can be found on the data catalog here.

Due to analyst demand, for the September 4th, 2020, update, and for all further updates, the team has calculated total job loss estimates and made those estimates available in geojson and csv form here as well.

For the May 7th, 2021, update, and for all further updates, the team will use 2018 LODES data instead of 2017 LODES data.

The numbers represent the count or share of workers who live in Census tract/County/CBSA x who lost their job.

Variables labeled 'X01', 'X02', etc. map directly to the CNS industry classification for the LODES data, such that 'X01' = 'CNS01', 'X02' = 'CNS02', etc. Definitions of these variables can be found on our LODES data catalog page data documentation.