City Health Dashboard City Types Framework

The nation’s small and midsize cities (50,000 to 500,000 population) face many of the same health issues that larger municipalities do. Their challenges don’t get the same attention or resources, yet these cities are home to far more people. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, City Health Dashboard has developed the new City Types framework to help small and midsize cities’ leaders and their partners understand how health disparities in their communities are driven by social factors such as income inequality and rent burden. The tool defines small and midsize communities into 10 city types: Emerging Cities, Small Stable-Size Cities, Big Metro Exurbs, Smaller Commuter Suburbs, Diverse Ring Cities, Latino-Predominant Enclaves, Working Towns, Regional Hubs, Small Industrial-Legacy Cities and College Cities.

Ten New Jersey communities – East Orange, Jersey City, New Brunswick, Passaic, Paterson, Perth Amboy, Plainfield, Trenton, Union City and Vineland – are featured in the framework.

Access the framework