Data and Statistics
Unlike most countries, the United States does not have a single national statistical agency, such as Statistics Canada. Rather, there are multiple statistical agencies that comprise the Federal Statistical System, although there have been changes to its functioning and potential scope under the second Trump administration.
This guide highlights key statistics and data resources for a wide range of class assignments, teaching, and scholarship. If you need help finding a previously available dataset or statistic, please reach out to Your Librarian, or Ask Olin for further assistance.
For All Subjects
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Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research This link opens in a new window
An international consortium of more than 810 academic institutions and research organizations, ICPSR provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis for the social science research community.
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PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
PolicyMap is a U.S. national data and mapping tool that combines a curated, geographic data library with simple, robust mapping and analytics tools.
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Statista This link opens in a new window
A statistics portal that integrates data on media, business, finance, politics, and a wide variety of other areas of interest or markets on thousands of topics from a wide variety of sources.
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Census Bureau Data This link opens in a new window
Population, Housing, Economic, and Geographic data from the Census Bureau. Also includes maps, statistics, fact sheets and other publications. Covering data 2010 - Present.
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Statistics (Springer Nature Link) This link opens in a new window
Providing researchers with access to scientific documents from journals, books, series, protocols, reference works and proceedings.
Business and Economics
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Beige Book: Current Economic ConditionsProvides information on current economic conditions in a report published eight times a year. Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its district through reports from bank and branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts and other sources.
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Bureau of Labor StatisticsPremier site for economic and labor statistics.
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County Business Patterns"CBP is an annual series that provides subnational economic data by industry. This series includes the number of establishments, employment during the week of March 12, first quarter payroll, and annual payroll."
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Economic CensusThe Economic Census provides information on industry revenues and other measures of American business performance that are consistent, comparable, and comprehensive across industries and geographic areas. Administered by the Census Bureau.
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FRED: Federal Reserve Economic DataThis is a great collection of links to economic data. Mostly U.S., but some international data. This is a user-friendly site.
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Overview of BLS Statistics on EmploymentThe BLS programs listed here provide national totals of the number of employed people, and also provide statistics on subjects such as occupational employment and wages, labor demand and turnover, and the dynamic state of the labor market.
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Overview of BLS Statistics on Unemployment"A number of BLS programs provide information about joblessness."
Health and Behavioral Sciences
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Data.CMS.gov"This site gives you direct access to public data released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Our goal is to make our data readily available in open, accessible, and machine-readable formats."
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Data at the CDCThis resource allows users to dive directly into healthcare and public health datasets. You can see the CDC's priorities in its choice of categories, such as vaccination rates and environmental health.
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Disability and Health Data System"Disability and Health Data System (DHDS) contains data on disability status and types, demographics, and health topics for the United States, the District of Columbia, and select U.S. territories."
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National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey"The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) collects data about medical services provided to patients in office-based health care settings. Healthcare professionals call these services ambulatory medical care."
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National Center for Health StatisticsAs the Nation's principal health statistics agency, website provides a rich source of information about America's health. Part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey"The National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) collected data about medical services for patients who were treated in hospital emergency and outpatient departments. Healthcare professionals call these services ambulatory medical care."
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics
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Bureau of Transportation Statistics"The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), part of the Department of Transportation (DOT) is the preeminent source of statistics on commercial aviation, multimodal freight activity, and transportation economics, and provides context to decision makers and the public for understanding statistics on transportation."
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Census of Agriculture"The Census of Agriculture is a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. Even small plots of land – whether rural or urban – count if $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year."
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Climate Data Online / NOAANational Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is responsible for hosting and providing access to one of the most significant archives on Earth, with comprehensive oceanic, atmospheric, and geophysical data. From the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun and from million-year-old sediment records to near real-time satellite images, NCEI is the Nation’s leading authority for environmental information.
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Earthdata"The Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Program provides open access to NASA’s archive of Earth science data, empowering researchers and decision makers to better understand and protect our home planet."
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Energy Information Administration"The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) collects, analyzes, and disseminates independent and impartial energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment." Part of the U.S. Department of Energy.
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National Agricultural Statistical Service"The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) conducts hundreds of surveys every year and prepares reports covering virtually every aspect of U.S. agriculture. Production and supplies of food and fiber, prices paid and received by farmers, farm labor and wages, farm finances, chemical use, and changes in the demographics of U.S. producers are only a few examples."
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National Transportation Statistics"The National Transportation Statistics (NTS) is a collection of transportation data first published in November 1971. BTS celebrates the first half-century of NTS with a commemorative publication in 2021. This 50th anniversary edition includes links to digitized versions of the entire NTS collection."
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NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration)Part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Headquartered in Washington, DC. Focused on research with economic impacts ranging from daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings and climate monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce.