The Gini Coefficient of Formal Care measures how formal care jobs are geographically distributed across the U.S. among those individuals at risk of needing care. A Gini Coefficient of 0 would indicate perfect equality, meaning formal care jobs are evenly located in areas where at-risk individuals reside. A higher Gini Coefficient signals a greater mismatch in the availability of care by location. A Gini Coefficient usually measures income inequality, but here we use it to measure spatial inequality of care services to the population most at-risk of needing those services.

The Care Resource Equity Score (CaRES) creates a single metric combining the Gini with Location Quotient scores to adjust for regional specialization. A highly unequal state might have a lot of resources, while a highly equal state might be resource-poor. This metric captures both considerations. This metric has a linear scale applied to be on the range of 0-1. A lower score represents a more favorable distribution of resources in both total number of resources and equality of their distribution. For more info, see: Ahn, Yoonjung, and Joseph Bommarito. "Beyond “care deserts”: a new metric for mapping formal care employment equity in the United States." Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2026).

The Sandwich Generation Population tracks the number of adults balancing the responsibilities of caring for both a child under 10 and an elderly adult.

Daily Caregiving Hours estimates the number of hours per day that Sandwich Caregivers spend providing care.

Among married parents living with at least one child under 18, this measure shows the average share of the two parents' combined wage and salary income earned by the mother.

The Care Privileged Population represents the number and share of adults (18+) who have the majority of their care needs handled by someone else, either through paid care or an unpaid family member. The status of care privilege allows individuals to pursue increased economic and leisure activities but comes at the cost of whoever is doing the caregiving for them.