This repository contains the code for the paper "What's In Your Soil? A Citywide Investigation of the Importance of Soil Lead for Elevated Blood Lead Levels in Chicago".
Download R and RStudio from CRAN (R Project) and Posit (RStudio Downloads), respectively, if not already on your device.
Next, download the data sources listed below. Alternatively, see Zenodo for all data and code used in this study.
Third, go into the R file:
- Update the root path to the location of this repository.
- Run the commented-out
install.packagesline if you don't have any of the required packages. - Click 'Run all chunks'.
- Soil lead data with building ages. The sampling and analysis was conducted by us. Building ages were ported over from the Cook County Assessor's Office; the data necessary to replicate this step is not included because it requires precise latitude and longitude data which has been de-identified.
- Chicago Community area boundaries geojson. Source: Chicago Community Area Boundaries GeoJSON.
- Chicago Census tract boundaries geojson. Source: Chicago Census Tract Boundaries GeoJSON.
- Industrial Corridors data. Source: Industrial Corridors Data (download as a CSV, change the name to remove the timestamp at the end (
IndustrialCorridor_Jan2013.csv) and place the file in the data/landuse folder). - Parks data. Source: Parks Data (download as a CSV, change the name to remove the timestamp at the end (CPD_Parks.csv) and place the file in the data/landuse folder).
To access the Chicago Department of Public Health annual elevated blood Lead level rates by census tract from 1995-2015, submit a request here: CDPH Data Request Form.
A less complete dataset for 1999 to 2013 (which will require some small configurations to the code) can be found publicly on the Chicago Data Portal here: Public Health Statistics (1999-2013).
Link: Census Data (DP3 2000)
Download the "DP3 | Profile of Selected Economic Characteristics: 2000" > "DEC Summary File 4 Demographic Profile", unzip the file, and move the data file (DECENNIALDPSF42000.DP3-Data.csv) to data/socioecon.
- Search Term if link breaks: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 4 household income DP3_C112
- Region: Census Tracts > Illinois > All Census Tracts within Cook County
Link: Census Data (S1903 2015)
Download the "S1903 | MEDIAN INCOME IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS (IN 2015 INFLATION-ADJUSTED DOLLARS)" > "ACS 5-Year Estimates Subject Tables", unzip the file, and move the data file (ACSST5Y2015.S1903-Data.csv) to data/socioecon.
- Search Term if link breaks: ACSST5Y2015.S1903
- Region: Census Tracts > Illinois > All Census Tracts within Cook County
Link: Census Data (DP1 2000)
Download the "DP1 DP1Profile of General Demographic Characteristics: 2000" > "DEC Summary File 4 Demographic Profile", unzip the file, and move the data file (DECENNIALDPSF42000.DP1-Data.csv) to data/socioecon.
- Search Term if link breaks: DECENNIALDPSF42000.DP1
- Region: Census Tracts > Illinois > All Census Tracts within Cook County
Link: Census Data (S2502 2015)
Download the "S2502DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS FOR OCCUPIED HOUSING UNITS" > "ACS 5-Year Estimates Subject Tables", unzip the file, and move the data file (ACSST5Y2015.S2502-Data.csv) to data/socioecon.
- Search Term if link breaks: ACSST5Y2015.S2502
- Region: Census Tracts > Illinois > All Census Tracts within Cook County
The Enviroaltas data has been updated since the analysis was performed. The data used in this study (CIL_metrics_Apr2020_FGDB) is available for download (approx. 1 GB): EnviroAtlas Data (CIL_metrics_Apr2020_FGDB.zip) with details EnviroAtlas Details (Archived). The more recent dataset (not used) is available: EnviroAtlas (Newer Dataset)
Download the file, extract the zip, and place the resulting folder in the data folder (e.g. data/CIL_metrics_Apr2020_FGDB/Community_CIL.gdb/...).
- CDP. (2024a). Boundaries - industrial corridors (current). Retrieved from City of Chicago Data Portal (Accessed: 2025-01-21).
- CDP. (2024b). Parks - chicago park district park boundaries (current). Retrieved from City of Chicago Data Portal (Accessed: 2025-01-21).
- CDP. (2025). Boundaries - neighborhoods. Retrieved from City of Chicago Data Portal (Accessed: 2025-01-21).
- Chicago Department of Public Health. (2025). Data request and data feedback form. Retrieved from CDPH (Accessed: 2025-04-21).
- CDP. (2010). Census tracts - 2010. Retrieved from City of Chicago Data Portal (Accessed: 2025-01-21).
- EPA (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency). (2019). EnviroAtlas - Chicago, IL - tree cover, configuration, and connectivity. Retrieved from Data.gov.
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2000a). Census 2000 summary file 4 (SF4) - DP1 (demographic profile 1). Retrieved from census.gov (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 4, Matrices PCT1, PCT3, PCT4, PCT8, PCT9, PCT10, PCT11, PCT12, PCT14, PCT15, PCT23, PCT26, HCT2, and HCT7.).
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2000b). Census 2000 summary file 4 (SF4) - DP3 (economic profile). Retrieved from census.gov (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000 Summary File 4, DP3 Data.).
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2015a). American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates (2015) - table S1903: Median household income. Retrieved from census.gov (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates (2015), Table S1903.).
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2015b). American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates (2015) - table S2502: Demographic characteristics for occupied housing units. Retrieved from census.gov (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year Estimates (2015), Table S2502.).
- U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). Geocoding services API. Retrieved from census.gov.