Pharmacy Availability Linked to Neighborhood Racial and Ethnic Composition

Urban census block groups (CBGs) with predominantly racially and/or ethnically minoritized populations had lower odds of having a pharmacy than predominantly White CBGs both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a cross-sectional study published in JAMA Network Open.

Investigators examined the association between CBG racial and ethnic demographics and pharmacy availability and visits. They used mobile phone mobility data from January 2019 to January 2020 (prepandemic) and January 2023 to January 2024 (postpandemic), along with race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic data from the 2019 American Community Survey 5-year estimates. CBGs were grouped as diverse, predominantly minoritized, or predominantly White.

The analysis included 112,655 urban CBGs in 45 US states and Washington, DC, comprising 158,082,463 individuals. In adjusted mixed-effects logistic regression models, predominantly minoritized CBGs had lower odds of having at least 1 pharmacy than predominantly White CBGs in both periods (odds ratio [OR], 0.44; 95% CI, 0.41-0.47), as did diverse CBGs (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.81-0.88). Among CBGs with at least 1 pharmacy, predominantly minoritized CBGs had on average 15% fewer pharmacies per 10,000 people than predominantly White CBGs in both periods.

Visit patterns also differed. Devices from predominantly White CBGs made 73.7% of their pharmacy visits to predominantly White CBGs prepandemic and 75.8% postpandemic. By contrast, devices from predominantly Black, other predominantly minoritized, and diverse CBGs most often visited pharmacies in diverse CBGs. The authors said individuals in underserved CBGs need access to affordable and reliable transportation to reach pharmacies outside their areas of residence.

The investigators noted several limitations: they could not determine whether a zero indicated no pharmacies or missing data, they measured pharmacy counts rather than travel time or distance, they could not confirm that all pharmacies remained open, and 2023 mobility data were mapped to 2019 census estimates. They called for further research into factors associated with pharmacy visit patterns.

Source: Nsoesie EO, Yang Z, Cesare N, Philips A. Census block group demographics, mobility patterns, and pharmacy visits. JAMA Netw Open. 2026;9(10):e2637087. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.37087