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Contextual Data Resource for Aging Surveys

Link to data

USC/UCLA Center on Biodemography and Population Health (CBPH)
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Prepared by: Alex Mikulas, PhD, CACHE postdoctoral associate 

Date: July 2026

Principal Investigator: Dr. Jennifer Ailshire, University of Southern California 

About the data:

(Paraphrased from CDR website) The Contextual Data Resource (CDR) is a collection of user-friendly datasets that integrates contextual data with several extensive datasets and surveys on health and aging. The CDR enables researchers to study the impact of place on health and well-being among older adults within the structure of existing and well-used data sets. Available contextual data within the CDR include measures on socioeconomic and demographic structures, economic conditions, social stressors, health care, physical hazards, amenities, and the built environment. Depending on the underlying data source, measures are available at multiple spatial scales over several decades. 

The potential to link this contextual data to aging surveys will increase opportunities to analyze prospective effects of environmental conditions on health and aging, the effects of residential mobility on aging-related outcomes, and the ways environments change around older adults as they age in place. 

Data are available on: 

The CDR datasets can be accessed for use with several restricted-level datasets via the MiCDA Enclave Geographic Linkages Repository, including the Health and Retirement Study, Panel Study of Income Dynamics, and National Health and Aging Trends Study. The data is also available for use with the Understanding America Study via a Tier 3 Data User agreement and with the Hispanic EPESE (Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly) via the Hispanic EPESE study team. Contact CDR administration for data access for use with other datasets, cdradmin@usc.edu. 

The Contextual Data Resource gathers and processes data from multiple sources into user-friendly data that can be easily integrated into aging surveys. These datasets include the following: 

  • USDA Food Environment Atlas and Food Access Atlas 
  • Uniform Crime Report from the FBI and NACJD 
  • US Census Bureau decennial counts and American Community Survey 
  • Dartmouth Atlas of Healthcare 
  • Air Pollution (0.3 and PMD2.5) from the Fused Air Quality Surface Using Downscaling Files (FAQSD) 
  • Air Pollution (ATMOS) from the Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group (ACAG) 
  • Street Connectivity from the US Census Bureau TIGEWR/Line shapefiles 
  • Noise data from the National Parks Service Geospatial Sound Monitoring Files  
  • Area Health Resource Files from the US Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) 
  • Weather and environmental data from gridMET