Starter Maps
Starter maps help you get started using the Community Commons Make a Map tool. Here’s how to use them:
  • Read the descriptions of the maps below to find one that interests you.
  • Click on the Open Map link to launch the interactive map.
  • Use the button to re-focus the map on any area of the country. Type in a ZIP code, a city, a state, a county, or even an address.
  • Use the button to turn on and off layers and labels and re-order the layers on the map.
  • If you’d like to add additional data to the map, click .
  • Create something amazing? Use the or buttons to print the map or save the image.
  • Ready for more? Click here to view a tutorial video on using the Make a Map tool.
  • We can’t wait to see what you create! Be sure to share your favorite maps with the movement by posting to profile or contacting us to save it as a starter map.

starter map
Rate of Obesity Among Adults
This map shows obesity rates by county among adults in 2009.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Percent of Population Aged 65 or Older
Percent of Population Aged 65 or Older

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Healthy Food Access
County ranking of food access along with locations of farmer's markets that accept SNAP and WIC food vouchers. This data is from the County Health Rankings (2012) and USDA Access to Food (2011)

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Stroke Death Rate, per 100,000 population
Rate of cerebrovascular deaths from the CDC National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) 2006-2010; Age-Adjusted Mortality Rates (Per 100,000 Population); County-Level Data.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Households with Children Receiving SNAP Benefits
This map shows the percentage of households with children that receive SNAP benefits. The data are from the 2007-2011 American Community Survey tract-level estimates. Also available in the Commons are households receiving SNAP benefits, single-mother households with children receiving SNAP benefits, among others.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Access to Affordable Foods
This Starter Map shows USDA designated food deserts, food access points, along with poverty and schools with high percentage of children with free and reduced price lunch eligibility. It could be a starting point for food security work and how it relates to children in need. Use query and buffer tools to do light spatial analysis and download data sets.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Racial Diversity and Access to Food
This map layer displays the racial and ethnic diversity of the United States by symbolizing each block group based on the population's racial/ethnic heterogeneity. The data used in these maps are based on combined race and ethnicity data reported from the 2010 US Census. Block group racial diversity was calculated by the Center for Applied Research and Environmental Systems (CARES), and can be defined as the probability that two people chosen at random are of a different race or ethnicity.

This racial diversity layer is this overlaid with food access points.


Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Access to Healthy Food and Predominant Race/Ethnicity
This map includes block group-level data showing the dominant race/ethnicity from the 2010 Census. The map also includes locations of Farmers' Markets and SNAP-Authorized Retailer Locations from the USDA.


Using the Layer and Label controls you can turn on additional layers that have been added to this map including: USDA Food Desert Census Tracts and the CDC's Modified Retail Food Environment Index.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Access to Healthy Food
This map includes a measure of healthy food availability from the CDC called the Modified Retail Food Environment Indicator (mRFEI) Score. The map displays the score by Census tract along with SNAP-Authorized Retailer locations and farmer's markets. Areas with a lower score indicate that census tracts contain many convenience stores and/or fast food restaurants compared to the number of healthy food retailers.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Estimated consumer expenditures on soda
This map includes estimated consumer expenditures on soda by census tract.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Access to Health Care
This map shows locations of Hospitals, Federally Qualified Health Centers, Percent Poverty and Hospital Service Areas.

Go to Manage Data Layers and turn on data showing Percent Population with Less than High-school Diploma!

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Percent of Workers Biking or Walking to Work
This map uses American Community Survey data (2006-2010) to show the percentage of workers who are burning a few calories on their way to work.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Health Professional Shortage Areas & Medically Underserved Areas/Populations
This map highlights the Health Professional Shortage Areas & Medically Underserved Areas/Populations along with All Providers of Service, Federally Qualified Health Clinics and Poverty. Try adding other demographic data!

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Severe Poverty
This map highlights census tracts with 30% or more of the population living at or under 50% of the poverty threshold. The data from this map is from the American Community Survey's 2006-2010 estimates.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Free and Reduced-Price Lunch Eligibility
This map includes schools shaded by free and reduced-price lunch eligibility (NCES) and census tracts shaded by percent of children aged 0-17 in poverty (ACS 2005-2009 estimates).

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Population Density
This map shows population density by Census tract using 2010 data.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Locations of Subsidized Housing
This map includes locations of subsidized housing (2008) from Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The map also includes the percent of population in 200% poverty by census tract. Examining the geographic distribution of subsidized housing in your community may provide important insight into your work. Specifically, understanding the distribution of poverty and subsidized housing in your community may help illustrate the impact of your work on building healthy and equitable communities.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Rates of Food Insecurity
Utilizing data from Feeding America's Map the Meal Gap, users can map rates of food insecurity by county. This map specifically demonstrates the percent of the population that is food insecure, but which does not qualify for income assistance based on income. The counties shaded in darker green indicate a higher percentage of the population is food insecure. This data is also available for children under the age of 18.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Regional consumption of soft drinks, per capita
This map demonstrates the consumption of soft drinks, per capita, on a regional scale. The darker areas indicate higher consumption of soft drinks per capita (the dark purple shade indicates consumption of over 70 gallons a year). Data for this map was collected from the USDA 2011 Food Atlas.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Commuting and Healthy Living
Does a long commute have an impact on a healthy lifestyle? Take a look at this map to identify counties with a large percentage of the population with over an hour-long commute.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
County Level Agriculture Data
This map has a wide range of county level agriculture related data layers. Data includes: acres of vegetable production, acres of fruit/nut production, acres of berry production, acres of orchards, acres of certified organic crops, total federal aid by county, average federal aid by county, farm net income/loss, farms with migrant workers, percent of farms using conservation methods, number of farms engaged in Community Agriculture Programs, number of farms producing value-added commodities, number of farms producing electricity, percent of farms with corporate structure, partnership structure or individual structure, and percentage of farms in full ownership, partial ownership, and rented.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Access to Recreation Opportunities
This map includes county-level data of the rate of recreation facilities per 1,000 people.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Locations of 4-Year Institutions and Participation in Community Agricultural Programs
Locations of 4-Year Institutions and Participation in Community Agricultural Programs

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Workplace Wellness Initiatives
Workplace Wellness Initiatives

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Housing Cost Burden
This map highlights shades counties based on the percentage of population with higher than 30% of their income going toward housing. Data for this map was provided by the 2005-2009 American Community Survey.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Smoking Rates by County with local and state Smoke-Free Policy Adoption
This map shows smoking rates by county from BRFSS. Local and state policy layers show where Smoke-Free policies had been adopted.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Obesity in Low-Income Preschoolers
This state-level map show the percentage of low-income preschoolers (age 2-5) who are obese.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Initiatives working on beverage/soda policy and estimated consumer expenditures on soda
This map includes estimated soda expenditures by census tract overlaid with initiatives on the Commons indicating work on beverage and soda policy.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Percent of Students Eligible for Free or Reduced-Price Lunch and Percent of Households with <$25,000 Income
This map shows the Percent of Students Eligible for Free or Reduced-Price Lunch (NCES, 2010-2011 school year) and Percent of Households with <$25,000 Income (ACS, 5 year estimate, 2010) by Census Tract

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Recreation Facilities and Opportunities for Joint Use Agreements
This map includes the rate of recreation facilities per 1,000 people from the USDA Food Environment Atlas along with Public School locations (2009-2010 school year from National Center for Education Statistics) and initiatives on the Commons Map of the Movement that have indicated joint use agreements as a strategy or focus area. Exploring this map in your area can reveal opportunities for collaboration with existing coalitions as well as opportunities for future recreation opportunities at schools.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Locations of Food Policy Councils, 2012
This map shows the locations of food policy councils at various states of development. The data were collected by the Community Food Security Coalition.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Percent change in obesity rates 2006-2009
This map shows county-level obesity rate change from 2006-2009.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.




starter map
Rate of Diabetes Among Adults
This map shows the rate of diabetes in adults by county in 2009.

Click "Open Map" to pull up this interactive map and explore the data displayed. You can zoom into your geographic area, and add or remove datasets to customize it for your needs.