Scott Tanaka
Last month, I had the opportunity to attend the American Society on Aging’s 2024 Conference in San Francisco. It was my first time attending the conference in person, and it was great connecting with colleagues and friends that I haven’t seen since before the pandemic.
Throughout the conference, I staffed the AARP booth and shared with attendees about AARP’s Livability Index. I thought this would be a good time to share this helpful resource that my colleagues in AARP’s Public Policy Institute developed. The AARP Livability Index platform is a groundbreaking, web-based tool that scores every neighborhood and community in the United States for the services and amenities that affect people’s lives the most.
Using more than 50 national data sources, the AARP Livability Index platform provides the clearest picture yet of how well a community meets the current and future needs of people of all ages, regardless of income, physical ability or ethnicity. The AARP Livability Index website measures 61 indicators spread across seven categories of livability: housing, neighborhood, transportation, environment, health, engagement and opportunity.
The AARP Livability Website works to:
- Help prospective residents decide where to live
- Prepare communities for an aging
- population
- Encourage advocacy for livability
- improvements
- Inform key stakeholders, including public leaders, policymakers, nonprofit organizations and community advocates
- Encourage effective changes in policy, planning, investment and development at the state and local levels
- Identify opportunities for private and public developers to meet development needs
How Does It Work?
To get started, visit the AARP Livability Index website by going to https://livabilityindex.aarp.org/. This tool is free and available to everyone. Once you go to the page, you will see where you can look up how livable your community is by entering an address, city, state or zip code.
The more information you include, the more specific the score will be. Each neighborhood, city, county or state is scored on a scale from 0-100. The average location scores a 50. Those communities with more livability-friendly practices earn a score above 50, and those facing obstacles to livability score lower.
As I mentioned earlier, the Livability Index tool measures 61 indicators across seven categories of livability: housing, neighborhood, transportation, environment, health, engagement and opportunity. Within each of these categories, there are several metrics that are calculated into the overall livability score.
For example, under housing, we look at housing accessibility. One way we measure accessibility is the percentage of housing units with zero-step entrances. We know that most Americans want to stay in their homes as they age. Many will host guests or have older family members with restricted mobility. It’s desirable to have a home that’s both accessible and aesthetically pleasing. To learn more about the other indicators and how Livability scores are determined, visit https://livabilityindex.aarp.org/methods-sources.
Scott Tanaka is a member of the JACL Washington, D.C., chapter and is a policy, research and international affairs adviser at AARP.
