OMH DRIVE Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the OMH Data Resources and Integrated Visualization Ecosystem (DRIVE) Dashboard?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH) Data Resources and Integrated Visualization Ecosystem (DRIVE) is an interactive data visualization dashboard that integrates several measures from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) across multiple population groups at national and state levels. OMH DRIVE is a user-friendly tool that provides dynamic data visualizations for socioeconomic indicators and non-medical drivers of health. Unique from other data tools, OMH DRIVE allows data to be explored and visualized for specific race and ethnicity groups.

OMH DRIVE includes data dashboards for five key factors related to health:

Each dashboard supports filtering by population group and geographic location, allowing users to view tailored data charts for selected metrics related to the dashboard topic. OMH DRIVE also allows users to compare data across populations and regions.

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What measures are included in OMH DRIVE?

Dashboard	Measures
Education	• Percentage of Population with Education Level • Earned High School Diploma or Higher • Earned Bachelor’s Degree or Higher
Housing	• Type of Unit • Housing Tenure • Owner Occupied Home Value • Gross Rent • Pays More than 30% of Income as Rent • More than 1 Occupant per Room
Finance	• Poverty Rates by Age • Income by Sex • Unemployment Rate • Household Income
Language	• Languages Spoken • Ability to Speak English
Other Resources	• Health Insurance Coverage • Access to Computer and Internet • Owns Vehicle

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How do I use the OMH DRIVE Dashboard?

OMH DRIVE is an interactive online dashboard that presents data visualizations (i.e., bar charts) to observe the distribution of five factors – Education, Housing, Finance, Language, and Other Resources – within racial and ethnic populations and various regions.

On the OMH DRIVE home page, select any of the five factors and a combination of a population (All Populations or a specific population) and a region (United States, a specific state, or the District of Columbia). OMH DRIVE will produce a report page based on your selected factor, population, and region. The report will include data visualizations for selected metrics. Within a report page, you can also compare a metric across two populations or regions.

Please refer to the OMH DRIVE User Guide for more guidance.

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What can I do with the OMH DRIVE Dashboard and data?

OMH DRIVE can be used to understand demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of racial and ethnic population groups in the United States. Health status and health outcomes have been shown to be influenced by demographic and socioeconomic factors. Exploring these factors may help with understanding possible risk factors for, or contributors to, health issues experienced by particular population groups or in particular states. OMH DRIVE can be used to inform research, strategic planning, program design, and evaluation related to public health issues.

• Review the Data Exploration Exercises in the OMH DRIVE User Guide for examples on how to use the OMH DRIVE dashboard and data.

• Review the OMH DRIVE Data Dictionary.

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What are the data sources and technical notes for OMH DRIVE?

OMH DRIVE integrates several measures from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) across detailed race and ethnicity groups. All metrics in OMH DRIVE use publicly available data from the ACS Selected Population Profile. Refer to the OMH DRIVE Data Dictionary for a complete list of OMH DRIVE metrics.

For each measure, the ACS reports an estimate along with a 95% margin of error (MOE). In this application, the MOE is represented as a confidence interval and displayed using error bars. For more information on ACS margins of error and statistical significance, please see the U.S. Census Bureau’s ACS Technical Documentation.

Data on some population groups are not available for every state. If the population you are looking for is not available for a certain region, this may be due to ACS data suppression. The ACS is required to protect the privacy of individuals and ensure that their personal information is not disclosed. To protect individuals’ privacy, the ACS applies a process called data suppression. This means that if there are too few people in a specific category, such as a certain racial identity or ethnic background, the ACS will not release detailed information about that group. Because of this, data on some racial and ethnic groups are not available in every state. Data suppression methods depend on a variety of factors; for more information, see the U.S. Census Bureau’s documentation on data suppression.

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Who developed DRIVE?

OMH DRIVE was developed by HHS OMH and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Geospatial Research, Analysis, and Services Program (CDC/ATSDR GRASP). Through a suite of data visualizations, OMH DRIVE provides information on socioeconomic indicators and non-medical drivers of health across many race and ethnicity groups.

The mission of HHS OMH is to provide national leadership, resources, and coordination to improve the health of racial and ethnic minority populations and American Indians and Alaska Natives and eliminate health disparities.

CDC/ATSDR GRASP is a team of public health and geospatial science, technology, visualization, and analysis experts. The GRASP mission is to provide leadership, expertise, and education in the application of geography, geospatial science, and geographic information systems (GIS) to public health research and practice. The information presented on this page is disseminated by HHS OMH (not CDC), and it should not be construed as CDC’s determination or policy.

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What is the suggested citation for OMH DRIVE?

Suggested citations:

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health. Data Resources and Integrated Visualization Ecosystem, 2025.

• U.S. Census Bureau. Selected Population Profile in the United States. American Community Survey, ACS 1-Year Estimates Selected Population Profiles, Table S0201, 2024, https://data.census.gov/table/ACSSPP1Y2024.S0201?q=S0201.

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