Tool Maps Florida's 'Aid Deserts' by Joining FEMA, Census, and Doctor Data

A developer built 'Aid Desert Finder,' a tool that identifies Florida counties where disaster exposure, poverty, and healthcare scarcity converge but receive little donor attention. The project combines three federal datasets — FEMA disaster declarations, U.S. Census poverty estimates, and the national healthcare provider registry — into a single county-level ranking across all 67 Florida counties. The analysis found nine counties, home to roughly 258,000 people, that score highest on a composite need index averaging 22 disaster declarations over ten years, a one-in-five poverty rate, and below-median doctor density. A stark example highlighted is Glades County, which has far fewer doctors per capita than Alachua County despite comparable poverty levels, a disparity invisible when any single dataset is examined alone. The interactive choropleth map, built on Snowflake's free public data marketplace, shows rural interior and panhandle counties lighting up as the most underserved regions.
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