Healthy Communities Assessment Tool

Bush Hills

Bush Hills is a neighborhood in Birmingham's Five Points West community and includes the subdivision of Owenton, home of Birmingham-Southern College. Bush Hills is named for Thomas Greene Bush, president of the Highland Land Company, which purchased and subdivided most of the property on which the suburb was developed.

Indicator Details

Indicators	Primary Domain	Indicator Value	Rank	Tier	Indicator Weight
Abandoned Structures	Blight	13.1%	64	Middle	5.00
Access to Mainstream Financial Services	Economic Health	45.0%	21	Top	1.00
Access to Parks and Open Space	Natural Areas	54.2%	87	Bottom	1.00
Adult Educational Attainment	Educational Opportunities	70.0%	84	Bottom	3.00
Age of Housing	Housing	92.7%	88	Bottom	1.00
Blood Lead Levels in Children	Housing	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Business Retention	Economic Health	-12.8%	68	Bottom	1.00
Chronic School Absence	Health Systems and Public Safety	20.3%	40	Middle	1.00
Commute Mode Share	Transportation	21.0%	32	Top	4.00
Employment Rate	Employment Opportunities	84.0%	56	Middle	1.00
Excessive Housing Cost Burden	Housing	44.5%	67	Bottom	1.00
Food Desert	Neighborhood Characteristics	100.0%	56	Middle	2.00
High School Graduation Rate	Educational Opportunities	78.0%	50	Middle	3.00
Household Transportation Costs	Transportation	24.0%	38	Middle	4.00
Infant Mortality Rate	Health Systems and Public Safety	12.4	45	Middle	1.00
Land Use Mix	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.7	9	Top	1.00
Local Business Vitality	Economic Health	79.4%	12	Top	1.00
Long-Term Unemployment	Employment Opportunities	4.2%	62	Middle	1.00
Low Birth Weight	Health Systems and Public Safety	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Motor Vehicle Collisions	Health Systems and Public Safety	5.5	51	Middle	4.00
Offsite Alcohol Outlets	Neighborhood Characteristics	0.9	61	Middle	1.00
Payday Loans	Economic Health	1.2	66	Middle	1.00
Pedestrian & Bicycle Injuries by Motor Vehicles	Health Systems and Public Safety	0	1	Top	4.00
Pedestrian Connectivity	Transportation	150	22	Top	4.00
Preschool Enrollment	Educational Opportunities	30.9%	28	Top	3.00
Preventable Hospitalizations	Health Systems and Public Safety	-	-	Data N/A	1.00
Proximity to Brownfield Sites	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
Proximity to Superfund Sites	Environmental Hazards	0.0%	1	Top	1.00
Public Assisted Households	Employment Opportunities	47.3%	56	Middle	1.00
Public Health Nuisances	Health Systems and Public Safety	90.9	69	Bottom	4.00
Reading Proficiency	Educational Opportunities	18.8%	12	Top	3.00
Residential Mobility	Social Cohesion	73.0%	85	Bottom	1.00
Residential Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	3.1%	74	Bottom	1.00
School Proximity to Traffic	Environmental Hazards	25.0%	98	Bottom	1.00
School Readiness Scores	Educational Opportunities	-%	-	Data N/A	1.00
Tax Delinquent Properties	Blight	13.7%	35	Middle	5.00
Toxic Releases from Facilities	Environmental Hazards	67.4%	36	Middle	1.00
Transit Accessibility	Transportation	3	71	Bottom	4.00
Travel Time to Work	Employment Opportunities	20.7	21	Top	1.00
Tree Cover	Natural Areas	4.6%	51	Middle	1.00
Vacancy Rates	Housing	25.7%	78	Bottom	1.00
Violent Crime	Health Systems and Public Safety	73.5	32	Top	4.00
Visual Property Nuisances	Blight	10.8%	39	Middle	5.00
Voter Participation	Social Cohesion	4.9%	63	Middle	1.00
Walkability	Neighborhood Characteristics	76.8	19	Top	4.00

Demographic and Contextual Indicators

	Neighborhood	City Wide
Concentrated Poverty	19.6%	30.9%
Income Inequality	0.4	0.49
Life Expectancy	70.4	78.8
Park Quality	40.6
Population	3,345	210,616
Racial and Ethnic Diversity	0.5	0.44

These measures, while clearly significant to community health, may not fit the criteria of “actionable” at the neighborhood level or data may only be available at a city-wide level. Because individual neighborhoods may not have a direct impact on these measures, they have been excluded from the Neighborhood’s overall ranking. However, they are documented to provide “context” for the neighborhood which could potentially identify alternative avenues to improve community health.