---
"title": "Appendix"
"description": "Categorization of COVID-19 state health impact in this report This report uses a measure of state-level impact of COVID-19. States and the District of Columbia are categorized as having experienced a high, medium or low impact based on a combination of the total number and the per-capita number of people who have tested positive for […]"
"date": "2020-03-26"
"authors":
  -
    "name": "Sara Atske"
"url": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/politics/2020/03/26/coronavirus-impact-appendix/"
"categories":
  - "COVID-19 & Politics"
  - "Donald Trump"
  - "Economic Conditions"
  - "Health Care"
  - "Health Policy"
  - "Medicine & Health"
  - "Recessions & Recoveries"
"datasets":
  -
    "name": "American Trends Panel Wave 64"
    "url": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/dataset/covid-19-late-march-2020/"
  -
    "name": "American Trends Panel Wave 64"
    "url": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/dataset/american-trends-panel-wave-64/"
---

# Appendix

### Categorization of COVID-19 state health impact in this report

[![Categorization of COVID-19 state impact](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/03/PP_2020.03.26_coronavirus-impact_A-01.2.png?w=637){.alignright width=280}](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/politics/2020/03/26/coronavirus-impact-appendix/pp_2020-03-26_coronavirus-impact_a-01-2-png/)

This report uses a measure of state-level impact of COVID-19. States and the District of Columbia are categorized as having experienced a high, medium or low impact based on a combination of the total number and the per-capita number of people who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus (as of March 22).

States were classified as “high” if they had *either* 1,000 or more total cases or they had more than 100 cases per million residents as of March 22. “Low” states had both fewer than 60 cases per million residents *and* less than 300 cases overall. The remaining states were classified as “medium” impact.

Data for positive cases of COVID-19 by state were taken from The COVID Tracking Project (downloaded on March 23).

### Defining income tiers

To create upper-, middle- and lower-income tiers, respondents’ 2018 family incomes were adjusted for differences in purchasing power by geographic region and for household size. “Middle-income” adults live in families with annual incomes that are two-thirds to double the median family income in our sample (after incomes have been adjusted for the local cost of living and for household size). The middle-income range for this analysis is about $40,100 to $120,400 annually for a three-person household. Lower-income families have incomes less than roughly $40,100, and upper-income families have incomes greater than roughly $120,400.

Based on these adjustments, among respondents who provided their income, 33% are lower income, 45% are middle income and 22% fall into the upper-income tier.

For more information about how the income tiers were determined, please see [here](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/social-trends/2020/01/09/methodology-27/).