About

The Bay Area Equity Atlas is a comprehensive data support system to track the state of equity across the region and equip community leaders with data to inform solutions for inclusive prosperity. The Atlas is produced by the San Francisco Foundation, PolicyLink, and the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI). 

Learn about What We Do, California's Tribal Nations, Our Data, Our Team, and Our Advisors. And find our media coverage at In The News.

What We Do

The Bay Area region is at a crossroads. Our economy is one of the strongest on the planet, yet inequality is skyrocketing amidst persistent racial inequities, climate change is placing our future at risk, and we face a housing and displacement crisis that has hit low-income communities of color the hardest but has had a ripple effect throughout the region. Amidst this confluence of challenges, equity — just and fair inclusion — is both a moral imperative and an economic necessity. Addressing systemic racism and discrimination, and putting in place the policies, business models, and programs that remove barriers and ensure all Bay Area residents can participate and thrive is our region's path to inclusive prosperity.

The Bay Area Equity Atlas is a tool for community leaders seeking to create a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient region. Robust, disaggregated data is critical to informing action strategies for equitable growth. Despite the rich data and technology resources in the Bay Area, community leaders have lacked access to the data they need to drive solutions forward. The Bay Area Equity Atlas aims to fill this gap.

PolicyLink, ERI, and the San Francisco Foundation built the Atlas to accomplish the following goals:

  • Build a shared understanding about the importance of equity to the region’s future
  • Provide a set of powerful equity metrics that are disaggregated by race and other demographics to support more informed decision-making
  • Inform solutions for equitable growth by sharing effective and promising strategies
  • Democratize data and make data more accessible
  • Increase the capacity of change-makers and advocates to use data to advance policy solutions

The Atlas is a living resource, and we will be adding new data and analyses on a regular basis. Sign up for our email updates (see the lower right corner) and check back regularly for new data, analyses, and stories about how data is driving action to build an equitable Bay Area.

California’s Tribal Nations

Advancing equity begins by acknowledging the sovereignty and self-determination of the Bay Area’s Californian Indigenous populations and their rights to their data (Indigenous data sovereignty). Click on the boxes below to learn more about the region's Indigenous people and access the data available on the Bay Area Equity Atlas for Native American populations.

Our Data

The Bay Area Equity Atlas draws some of its data from the National Equity Atlas indicators database developed by PolicyLink and ERI, and also includes more than a dozen new indicators derived from local and state data sources as well as unique surveys. The Atlas includes data for the following geographies:

  • Region: The Five- and Nine-County Bay Area regions
  • County: The nine Bay Area counties (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma)
  • Sub-county: 40 Consistent Public Use Microdata Areas (CPUMAs)
  • Large city: Six large Bay Area cities (Antioch, Fremont, Oakland, San Francisco, San José, and Sunnyvale)
  • Other city or town: 95 other Bay Area cities and towns
  • Census Designated Place (CDP): 119 unincorporated areas of Bay Area counties identified by the Census for statistical purposes
  • State: California

The Atlas also includes data in some maps for the 1,588 census tracts in the region. Our data sources include the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS USA), U.S. Census Bureau, GeoLytics, Inc., California Department of Finance, Association of Bay Area Governments, UC Berkeley Statewide Database, California Department of Education, UC Berkeley Urban Displacement Project, California Fair Housing Task Force, California Department of Justice, GovBuddy, and Zillow Group, Inc.

Our Team

Our Advisors

Local partners play an important role in shaping our research agenda and ensuring that we produce data and analyses that inform action.

Equity Campaign Leaders Advisory Committee (Discussion Board)

  • Kimi Lee, Bay Rising, @_BayRising
  • Hunter King, Causa Justa :: Just Cause, @CausaJusta1 
  • Kate O'Hara, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, @workingeastbay
  • Alex Werth, East Bay Housing Organizations, @EBHO_Housing
  • Candice Elder, East Oakland Collective, @EOakCollective
  • Mariana Moore, Ensuring Opportunity Campaign to End Poverty in Contra Costa, @endpovertycc
  • Tracey Brieger, Jobs with Justice San Francisco, @jwjsf
  • Rajni Banthia, Mission Economic Development Agency, @medasf
  • Shomari Carter, Oakland Citizens Committee for Urban Renewal
  • Samuel P. Tepperman-Gelfant, Public Advocates, @publicadvocates
  • Nikki Beasley, Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services
  • Ellen Wu, Urban Habitat, @Urban_Habitat
  • Louise Auerhahn, Working Partnerships USA, @wpusanews
  • Laila Newton, Young Community Developers, @YCDjobs

Regional Advisory Committee

In the News