DASH Guide:Vacant Addresses

This guide is just part of a larger DASH Data Guide.

Mail carriers routinely collect data on address no longer receiving mail due to vacancy. This vacancy data is reported quarterly at census tract geographies in the United States for residential, commercial, and industrial properties along with counts of total mailing addresses. Data released through DASH has been aggregated to Allegheny County Municipalities and City Wards.

What's Included in the Data

Publicly Available

• Census Tract
• number of residential buildings
• number of residential vacant buildings
• % of vacant properties

Where to Find the Data

• Open Data on the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center's Website
• Interactive Map
• Original Data Source (HUD USER)
• Information on this dataset from NEO CANDO system, Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development, MSASS, Case Western Reserve University

Things to Know

• Residential vacancies can occur for a number of reasons, including physical abandonment, temporary seasonal vacancies (common among vacation properties), normal turnover between occupants, and construction which makes properties temporarily uninhabitable.
• Mail carriers distinguish between properties that do not appear ready for occupancy from those that are. Abandonment and construction are two conditions that are often the cause of properties being coded as uninhabitable.
• Areas with a high level of housing unit growth and a high level of vacancy may be experiencing new construction.
• Areas with flat or declining numbers of addresses and a high level of vacancy may be experiencing abandonment.
• Data collection practices have changed over time, with a major change having been implemented in 2010. Please use caution when analyzing this data over time.