EJI Technical Documentation

Purpose and Uses of the Environmental Justice Index

The EJI can help public health officials, policy makers, and communities identify and respond to the varied environmental and social factors that affect a community’s health and well-being.

Individuals and community-based organizations, public health officials at local state and federal levels, scientists, and researchers can use the EJI to

    • identify and prioritize areas that may require special attention or additional action to improve health and health equity,
    • educate and inform the public about their community,
    • analyze the unique, local factors driving cumulative impacts on health to inform policy and decision-making, and
    • establish meaningful goals and measure progress towards environmental justice and health equity.

While the full EJI Ranking is useful for the purposes designated above, it is not designed for use in secondary analysis. The EJI SER, which is provided within the EJI database, is the appropriate value to use for secondary data analysis where disease is an outcome of interest.

Suggested citation: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry. 2022 Environmental Justice Index. Accessed [Date]. https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/eji/index.html

For more information, contact the EJI Coordinator at eji_coordinator@cdc.gov.

Media inquiries may be sent to placeandhealth@cdc.gov.