Pockets of Poverty (PoPs) Model

Mapping the intersection of poverty, energy, and water to drive informed decision making

The Pockets of Poverty Model (PoPs) was developed internally at ibE to address gaps in existing affordability mapping tools, specifically: 

  1. the ability to integrate custom boundaries when assessing affordability (beyond city or county boundaries); and, 

  2. the ability to customize billing inputs to reflect actual and hypothetical utility bill data

Incorporating locally specific boundaries and actual utility bills enables us to provide greater clarity to decision-makers, ensuring that affordability assessments are truly representative of the actual costs for affected populations and that efforts to address affordability are directed effectively. Learn more about why we developed PoPs in our blog post, Pockets of Poverty: A Finer Lens on Utility Affordability and Equity.

The PoPs model can be used in multiple contexts. Mapping socioeconomic indicators and utility burdens across a community can provide depth to affordability discussions, by highlighting spatial context to localized affordability dynamics. Learn more about how PoPs can be applied in our Transitioning to Clean Energy Post. 

PoPs can map over 20 different affordability-related metrics, aggregating metrics from individual census tracts into customized map groups. Metrics can be divided into percent or quantity of households or population. PoPs measures:

1. Demographic & Household Characteristics

 

  • Land Area

  • Population

  • Population > 16 years old

2. Socioeconomic Indicators

  • Income at the 50th Percentile Median Household Income (MHI)

  • Income at 20th Percentile

  • Poverty

  • SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) Usage

  • Cash Public Assistance and SNAP Usage

  • Social Security Usage

  • Supplemental Social Security Usage

  • Unemployment, Age 16 and Over

3. Utility Burden & Dependency Ratios

Energy Burdens

  • Electricity only

  • Gas only

  • Combined Energy Burden: combination of the above types of energy bills

Water Burdens

  • Water only

  • Sewer only

  • Stormwater only

  • Combined Water Burdens: any combination of the above 3 types of water bills

Combined Water & Energy Burden