Pittsburgh Equity Indicators 2017 Annual Report: A Baseline Measurement for Enhancing Equity in Pittsburgh
The 2017 Annual Report on Pittsburgh Equity Indicators was prepared collaboratively by authors from the RAND Corporation and City of Pittsburgh employees from the Sustainability and Resilience Division of the Department of City Planning with the support of the Institute for State and Local Governance at the City University of New York, along with many local partners.
The report analyzes the systemic inequalities that exist in Pittsburgh and found “that inequalities by race, gender, and income are prevalent in Pittsburgh, with some populations likely to have less access to resources and worse health, economic, and social outcomes.”, Mayor Peduto stated that the report “will serve as an important baseline and evaluation tool that will enable civic leaders to measure and monitor equality and reinforce our commitment to P4 (People, Planet, Place and Performance).” The report states that Pittsburgh is “64 percent white, 24 percent black, and 6 percent Asian, with other racial and ethnic groups each comprising a small percentage of the remaining population. There are disparities between these groups in terms of quality of life outcomes, economic opportunity, and access to resources.”
How did we do overall? 55 out of 100.
This Equity Indicators report provides a “set of scores that will allow the city to measure change, either toward or away from equality” in the following areas:
- Health, Food, and Safety
- Education, Workforce Development, and Entrepreneurship
- Housing, Transportation, Infrastructure, and Environment
- Civic Engagement and Communications
Through the Equity Indicators project’s scoring system, Pittsburgh’s overall 2017 equality score is 55 out of 100, with zero being the least equitable and 100 being completely equitable. A score of 55 shows how much work we have to do in our city to make Pittsburgh the best place for everyone to live, work, and play.
The graphic to the right shows the highest scoring and lowest scoring areas within each of the four main sections in order to show where Pittsburgh is doing the best and where most improvement is needed.
These findings show that “the gap between black and white residents (and between other groups) is particularly evident in health and public safety, housing affordability and stability, income and poverty, and infrastructure quality and neighborhood composition.” Inequities were less pronounced in areas of “environment- or civic engagement-related indicators.”
We hope that the data and analysis provided by the Equity Indicators report will help us to better recognize and address the systemic barriers to equity that exist in our region.
Read the full report here to learn more about the data collected and the key findings.