Cities have long been havens for queer individuals. Decades before the “We’re here! We’re queer!” activism of the 1960s and 1970s, cities were a refuge for those society had kicked out. And today, they still serve as the North Star for many LGBTQ youth across the country.

Over time, this queer city migration helped form distinct enclaves, or “gayborhoods.” Today, they are often marked by rainbow crosswalks and strips of businesses flying Pride flags, but beyond the obvious markers, how do we measure these queer spaces? And more importantly, who gets included?

Currently, there’s no comprehensive way to quantitatively measure gayborhoods, or even where LGBTQ Americans live. Most of the existing data sticks to a narrow view (i.e. traditional marriage, the male/female gender binary) of the queer spectrum and “rainbow-washes” any intersectionality of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality. This project aims to paint a slightly more complete picture, combining several metrics to create a gayborhood index, but even then it admittedly underweights and undercounts areas with non-binary and minority populations. Still, this is some of the most complete data that we have. (More about the limitations in the methodology section.)

Here’s how the gayborhood index works in New York City: