Nine Census indicators per ZIP code, each measured against the national baseline. Not a poverty index — a structural comparison.
Source — U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (tables B19013, B25077, B17001, B23025, B25070, B05002, B19083, B19058, B25002). Boundaries: TIGERweb ZCTA, 2020 vintage.
Score — national tension plus a local adjustment. Correlated indicators are grouped and averaged rather than summed: poverty, unemployment and public assistance all measure the same material distress; price-to-income and rent burden both measure housing cost. Without grouping, one phenomenon would be counted several times and the scale would saturate.
Same engine as the homepage — the ZIP search on beaverwatch.org/usa.html and this map use identical coefficients and bounds. A ZIP code returns the same score on both.
Two readings — the top block shows how the score is built: national tension plus grouped adjustments. The block below shows each of the nine indicators against the national value. It is descriptive only and does not feed the score.
What it is not — this is not a poverty index. A wealthy ZIP code with an extreme price-to-income ratio can score higher than a poor but stable one. The score measures distance from the national norm, not hardship.
Violent crime is measured at state level: the FBI publishes no ZIP-level crime data.
Charter: no invented figures. A ZIP code without data stays grey.