Yesterday we asked the question: How prepared are Cobb County residents in the face of disaster? The U.S. Census Bureau has created a means of evaluating how prepared communities within Cobb County are to recover from catastrophic events.

In yesterday’s exploration of this tool, we focused on the census tracts in the county where the residents were most at risk for having a rough time recovering in case of a disaster.

Today we’ll examine those parts of the county that are most resilient in case of a disaster, and are best able to recover.

To figure out the ability of a community to recover the census bureau has created the Community Resilience Estimates.

Disasters can be anything from storms and floods to pandemics.

The Census Bureau introduction describes community resilience as follows:

Community resilience is the capacity of individuals and households to absorb, endure, and recover from the health, social, and economic impacts of a disaster such as a hurricane or pandemic.  When disasters occur, recovery depends on the community’s ability to withstand the effects of the event. In order to facilitate disaster preparedness, the Census Bureau has developed new small area estimates, identifying communities where resources and information may effectively mitigate the impact of disasters.

The bureau also provides an interactive tool that you can use to determine how many risk factors the community you live in has on average, and you can look at the data down to the census tract level.

How does the Census Bureau determine ability to recover?

The way the ranking in the capacity to recover from a disaster is determined is by counting the number of risk factors from a list for individuals and households, and sorting them into those with no risk factors, those with 1 or 2 risk factors, and those with three or more risk factors.

Then the census bureau determines how many people or households are in each of those three categories for each census tract.

If that seems too confusing, just think of it as how many people in each census tract are prepared to deal with a disaster.

The risk factors, determined by data from the 2019 American Community Survey, include:

• Income to Poverty Ratio
• Single or Zero Caregiver Household
• Crowding
• Communication Barrier
• Households without Full-time, Year-round Employment
• Disability
• No Health Insurance
• Age 65+
• No Vehicle Access
• No Broadband Internet Access

In other words, if you are a person below the poverty level, with a disability, and no car, your ability to recover from something like a flooded house or COVID-19 would be less than someone who has none of the risk factors on that list.

How does Cobb County fare overall in capacity to recover?

How does Cobb County fare overall? 43.4 percent of Cobb’s population have no risk factors that hinder disaster recovery, 40.8 percent have 1 or 2 risk factors, and 15.9 percent have 3 or more risk factors that would make weathering and recovering a disaster more difficult.

Yesterday we focused on those census tracts that had three or more risk factors, making them the least able to recover.

Today we’ll examine the parts of the county with the most capacity to recover.

This screenshot of the map of Cobb County from the interactive tool displays so the darkest areas are the areas at the highest risk.

Not surprisingly, the areas with the best capacity for recovery are the northwest and northeast portions of Cobb County, plus Vinings. In other words, the more affluent parts of the county.

Census tracts with less than 10 percent of residents with 3 or more risk factors

TRACT	percentage with 3 or more risk factors	Community
30340	5.75	East Cobb
30222	6.08	North Cobb between Bells Ferry/Wade Green
30339	6.8	North of Vinings by river
30320	7.59	East Cobb
30327	7.85	East Cobb
30219	8.07	Northwest Cobb
30326	8.12	East Cobb
31205	8.3	Between Vinings and Oakdale
30214	8.36	Northwest Cobb
30336	8.55	East Cobb
30322	8.68	East Cobb
30233	8.89	West Cobb
30337	8.97	East Cobb
30344	9.01	Powers Ferry area
30238	9.17	West Cobb
30314	9.19	East Cobb
30341	9.2	East Cobb
30324	9.21	East Cobb
30234	9.31	West Cobb
30101	9.37	Northwest Cobb
30318	9.54	East Cobb

Complete list of tracts sorted from lowest risk to highest

TRACT	percentage with 3 or more risk factors
30340	5.75
30222	6.08
30339	6.8
30320	7.59
30327	7.85
30219	8.07
30326	8.12
31205	8.3
30214	8.36
30336	8.55
30322	8.68
30233	8.89
30337	8.97
30344	9.01
30238	9.17
30314	9.19
30341	9.2
30324	9.21
30234	9.31
30101	9.37
30318	9.54
31313	10.12
31208	10.18
30226	10.26
30333	10.33
30342	10.33
31117	10.62
30209	10.65
31211	10.74
31112	10.81
30107	10.97
30319	11.11
30343	11.11
30232	11.36
30335	11.39
30215	11.46
30224	11.46
30345	11.74
30228	12
30235	12
30236	12.04
30310	12.14
31209	12.17
30332	12.2
30220	12.31
30218	12.33
31505	12.47
30330	12.53
30331	12.62
31207	12.74
31405	12.86
31408	12.9
31508	13.26
31409	13.35
30901	13.41
30411	13.45
31005	13.54
30407	13.76
30311	13.78
30408	13.92
30328	13.97
30506	14.06
31113	14.39
30239	14.6
30334	14.68
31312	14.84
31307	15.08
31114	15.17
31110	15.32
30329	15.35
30230	15.39
31404	15.4
30601	15.5
30231	15.61
30106	15.71
30507	15.85
31212	15.95
30227	16.16
31309	16.2
30409	16.63
31506	16.65
30104	16.74
31108	17.12
31310	17.37
30229	17.56
31306	17.56
30223	17.59
31115	17.66
31118	17.79
30504	17.83
31004	18.22
31311	18.36
31509	18.88
30410	19.29
31106	19.64
31116	19.88
30103	19.97
31507	20.26
30502	20.91
30602	21.04
30413	21.96
30905	22.02
31406	22.08
31503	22.19
31111	22.74
30505	22.85
30405	24.54
30313	24.78
30412	25.14
31206	25.5
31101	26.04
30414	27.54
30700	29.01
30312	31.02
31002	32.78
30904	33.24
30902	35.7
30800	36.29
31001	36.47
31308	37.58