Daily Temperature and Urban Heat Island Intensity for U.S. ZIP Codes, 2000-2017

2000-2017 data covering 9,917 ZIP codes in 120 metropolitan areas across the contiguous United States. It includes ZIP code-level daily average temperature, population-weighted urban heat island intensity (UHII), and daily counts of Medicare cardiovascular hospitalizations. The dataset supports analysis of climate impacts on public health for older adults.

Use Cases

• Correlate daily average temperature with Medicare cardiovascular hospitalization counts to model heat-related health risks.
• Analyze population-weighted urban heat island intensity (UHII) variations across 120 metropolitan statistical areas.
• Conduct time-series analysis of cardiovascular morbidity using 18 years of daily ZIP code-level data.
• Assess geographic disparities in heat exposure by linking temperature and UHII data to specific ZIP codes.

Strengths

• Covers 9,917 ZIP codes across the contiguous United States.
• Includes 18 years of daily temporal data from 2000 to 2017.
• Focuses on 120 metropolitan statistical areas for urban climate study.
• Links environmental data (temperature, UHII) with health outcome data (Medicare hospitalizations).

Limitations

• The Medicare hospitalization data is not publicly accessible due to privacy agreements, limiting full reproducibility.
• Geographic coverage is limited to urban cores of metropolitan areas, excluding rural and suburban ZIP codes.
• Data freshness is limited as the latest year covered is 2017.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, associated with a published manuscript in Environment International.

Collection Method

Aggregated from public temperature sources and restricted Medicare claims data; UHII calculated with population weighting.

Time Range

2000-2017

Freshness

Static dataset covering 2000-2017; last updated in repository on 2023-09-02.

Geography

Contiguous United States, specifically 9,917 ZIP codes within 120 metropolitan statistical areas.