Opportunity To Thrive
The Opportunity to Thrive theme encompasses the following topics: Financial Empowerment, Neighborhoods, and Health and Safety. In this theme, we look at the economic, environmental and health determinants that impact access to opportunity for residents.
The higher the score on a scale from 1 to 100, the closer we are toward achieving equity. The lower the score, the greater the disparity.
Financial Empowerment
Financial Empowerment compares opportunities to build wealth and the cost of living in St. Louis.
Scores are an average of this topic’s indicator scores within each county.
St. Louis City
St. Louis County
St. Charles County
St. Clair County
| Indicator | St. Louis City Equity Score | St. Louis County Equity Score | St. Charles County Equity Score | St. Clair County Equity Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unemployment | 21 | 36 | 76 | 30 |
| Severe Rent Burden | 40 | 79 | 100 | 67 |
| Median Income | 42 | 56 | 80 | 43 |
| Homeownership | 47 | 52 | 52 | 49 |
| Home Loan Denials | 28 | 26 | 35 | 31 |
| High-Wage Occupations | 35 | 40 | 88 | 1 |
| Business Ownership | 68 | 1 | 100 | 52 |
| Adult Poverty | 37 | 40 | 46 | 33 |
Where is financial empowerment needed?
There are significant racial disparities in employment and income.
Black residents have higher rates of unemployment, are less frequently employed in high-wage occupations, and have lower median incomes, which correlate with higher rates of adult poverty for black residents.
Black residents are more likely to struggle to afford basic living expenses.
It is common for black households to pay more than 50% of their income on rent, which is a function of both low incomes and a lack of affordable housing. When basic living expenses consume so much of what people earn, it makes it difficult to save, invest, or time purchases to take advantage of lower prices.
Lastly, black residents do not have equal access to wealth-building opportunities.
Black households have lower rates of homeownership and business ownership. Black applicants have higher denial rates when applying for home mortgages and home improvement loans. These lower rates of ownership impact not only current residents, but also impact subsequent generations because of the lack of accumulated wealth that is passed on.
Neighborhoods
Neighborhoods focuses on place-based inequality, particularly on how the housing and transportation systems determine access to opportunity and resources.
Scores are an average of this topic’s indicator scores within each county.
St. Louis City
St. Louis County
St. Charles County
St. Clair County
| Indicator | St. Louis City Equity Score | St. Louis County Equity Score | St. Charles County Equity Score | St. Clair County Equity Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Access to Healthy Food | 45 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Access to Parks | 99 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Commuting Time | 75 | 71 | 77 | 86 |
| Transit Frequency | 97 | 100 | NS | 100 |
| Residential Segregation | 72 | 67 | 57 | 72 |
| Evictions | 39 | 29 | NS | 36 |
| Home Loan Originations | 9 | 33 | 62 | 34 |
| Vacancy | 4 | 38 | NS | 40 |
For indicators with a score of NS, there is no data readily available.
How does this affect residents?
Racial segregation is a persistent problem in the St. Louis region.
Nearly 40% of all residents are likely to live in a neighborhood that is either 90% black or 90% white.
Residents of majority-black neighborhoods are more likely to live in neighborhoods suffering from disinvestment.
Vacant properties and evictions are more prevalent in black neighborhoods. Banks originate fewer home loans to residents looking to buy and rehabilitate properties in black neighborhoods.
Residents of majority-black neighborhoods are less likely to have access to amenities than residents of majority-white neighborhoods.
Black residents on average have longer commute times than white residents, and they have less access to healthy food options in the urban core.
Health & Safety
Health and Safety
Scores are an average of this topic’s indicator scores within each county.
St. Louis City
St. Louis County
St. Charles County
St. Clair County
| Indicator | St. Louis City Equity Score | St. Louis County Equity Score | St. Charles County Equity Score | St. Clair County Equity Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Women's Health | 40 | 40 | 69 | NS |
| Preventable Hospitalizations | 34 | 35 | 58 | 38 |
| Injury Hospitalizations | 37 | 39 | 71 | 54 |
| Chronic Disease Hospitalizations | 31 | 67 | 100 | 77 |
| Mortality Rates | 68 | 63 | 100 | 100 |
| Infant Mortality Rates | 33 | 32 | 34 | 38 |
| Health Insurance | 40 | 91 | 100 | 89 |
| Homelessness | 29 | 12 | 24 | 1 |
For indicators with a score of NS, there is no data readily available.
What does this mean for health care?
The indicators with the largest disparity between blacks and whites and the greatest consistency across the four jurisdictions are homelessness and infant mortality.
Black residents in the region are nearly 11 times as likely to experience homelessness as white residents. Black babies in the region are more than three times as likely to die before their first birthday as white babies.
Although the data show there is less disparity in health insurance coverage,
there are notable disparities in the rate of hospitalizations for blacks compared to whites for chronic diseases, injuries, and preventable conditions.
Black residents in the City of St. Louis and in St. Louis County are nearly three times
as likely as white residents to be admitted to a hospital for an acute illness or an injury that could have been prevented with access to equitable health care. Black residents in St. Charles County are more than twice as likely as white residents to be admitted to a hospital for a preventable condition.