Bringing Tree Equity to Life

Trees in our neighborhoods provide vital benefits to us. They cool our streets and houses, lower our utility bills, clean our air and beautify our neighborhoods, leading to higher property values that help build wealth.

Some housing areas, like this one in Baltimore, Md., have few or no trees or green space. Without shade, residents must pay more for utilities and more acutely suffer the impacts of extreme heat.

When we have few trees in our area, streets get hot, we pay more to cool our houses, we don’t breathe air as fresh and our property values stay low.

Public spaces that don’t have any tree cover, like many places in Phoenix, can be hot and unpleasant, reducing residents’ quality of life. 

The concept of Tree Equity is about ensuring everyone  — regardless of race or income  — have access to the life-saving benefits of trees. Some places need more help in this regard than others.

American Forests developed the Tree Equity Score, a tool combining demographic, climate, health and other data points with tree canopy cover to generate a neighborhood score. Scores are available for nearly 200,000 urbanized areas in the U.S., covering over 260 million people.

A Tree Equity Score can tell us where we should be planting more trees to improve life for present and future residents. The 0-to-100-point system makes it easy to understand.

This neighborhood in Providence, R.I., is an example of a place with low tree cover — only 17%. The neighborhood has a Tree Equity Score of 59.

In contrast, this Providence neighborhood has high tree cover  —   57% and a Tree Equity Score of 96.

Here’s what a neighborhood with a Tree Equity Score of 100 looks like. The residents of this Providence neighborhood enjoy more shade and beauty than those in other parts of the city. 

American Forests helps cities to develop and implement science-based plans based on Tree Equity Scores to ensure all their residents can benefit from trees. 

We also plant and care for urban forests so they are resilient for generations to come.