Databases of Statistical Information

Databases of Statistical Information

Databases of Statistical Information

A wealth of demographic and other data is available on a city, county, state and national level in the United States. But navigating the maze of government and private agencies that collect data to find statistics on a particular topic is often daunting.

This guide lists the websites of major US & International government agencies and some private organizations where you can find online searchable databases and other statistical information on different subjects.

Many of the sites have data you can download, often in a spreadsheet format, and then use to create a data visualization.

The guide is organized topically, so you can find databases with statistical information on specific subjects, such as crime, education, the environment, immigration, public health, and so on.

It includes websites with data on California and California cities, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area.

National sites are listed first in each topical section, followed by sites with data on California and Bay Area cities.

Note: Besides databases with statistical information, there are many other online databases for locating information on a specific company or person, such as property ownership, criminal cases, civil court cases, business filings, professional licenses, etc.

For those types of databases, see the other Public Records Tutorials on the different topics.

Census-And-Demographics-Data

Census and Demographics

Census.gov

The main page for accessing data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau. Find information on population, demographic, economic and other data, including trade and manufacturing statistics. 

American Fact Finder

The Census Bureau’s gateway site to population, housing, economic and other data, down to a city, zip code census tract and block level. Select Data Sets in the menu on the left to see a list of available data. As well as running the decadal national census, the bureau operates other surveys, which provide more detailed information from representative samples of the U.S. population, including the Current Population Survey (run jointly with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, see below) and the American Community Survey.

U.S. Census Bureau Quick Facts

National database of selected Census, American Community Survey, Current Population Survey (run jointly with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other economic, business, government and geographical data for all states and counties, and for cities and towns with +25,000 people.

Censtats

The U.S. Census Bureau provides access to databases related to building permits, imports/exports, employment and earnings (by county), occupational breakdowns by race, and other info.

TIGER/Line Files and Shapefiles

The U.S. Census Bureau provides map shape files that can be used to display census data. They can be merged with data in GIS programs or online mapping sites.

IRE

Census.ire.org

Investigative Reporters and Editors has a tool that gives journalists an easier way to download 2010 Census data.

Minnesota Population Center

IPUMS USA

IPMUS, the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series at the University of Minnesota  compiles current and historic U.S. Census data at an online site that makes it easy to create custom data tables on a national, state and local level.

IRS

U.S. Population Migration Data

Numbers of people moving into or out of counties and states in the United States.

California Department of Finance

Demographic Research

Demographic data on California, including county data. Many of the datasets are downloadable as text or spreadsheet files.

Association of Bay Area Governments

Bay Area Census

Census data from 2010 for Bay Area counties, cities, census tracts and blocks, compiled by the Association of Bay Area Governments in partnership with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Includes historical data as far back as 1860.

Crime And Criminal Justice Data

Crime and Criminal Justice

FBI

Uniform Crime Reports

Annual national crime statistics including National Incident- Based Reporting System, Hate Crime Statistics, Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, andThe National Use-of-Force Data Collection

U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics

Data Collections

The Bureau of Justice Statistics does national surveys to gather data a variety of criminal justice issues, including crime victimization (what crimes people report they have been the victims of), jail populations, adults on parole and probation, etc. Here is its full list of data collections. The National Crime Victimization Survey is an especially useful resource, which together with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Reporting program provides the best national data on crime.

Justice Research and Statistics Association

Statistical Analysis Centers

Justice Research and Statistics Association provides an interactive U.S. map with links to state agencies that collect, analyze, and disseminate justice data.

National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund

Officer Fatality Data

Data charts on law enforcement officer fatalities each year, as well as on assaults on officers and injuries.

California Department of Justice

Crime Data

The Office of the Attorney General’s site has statistical tables, as well as reports, publications, and links to federal, state, local agency and other statistics.

Crime in Selected California Jurisdictions

Semi-annual reports on crimes reported by city and county law enforcement agencies.

Oakland Crimespotting

Oakland Crime Map

An interactive map that plots crimes committed in Oakland, sortable by type of crime, time of day or neighborhood police beat. The Oakland Crimespotting site, which was created by people at Stamen Design in San Francisco, uses data reported by the Oakland Police Department.

Drugs

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

Statistics & Facts

Data on drug arrests and seizures compiled by the main agency enforcing federal drug laws.

United States Department of Health and Human Services

Substance Abuse & Mental Health Data Archive

Survey data on drug use that can be viewed online or downloaded.

Pro Publica

Dollars for Doctors

A searchable database of payments made to doctors by pharmaceutical companies, compiled by the online news publication Pro Publica.

Economics And Business Data

Economics and Business

U.S. Commerce Department

Bureau of Economic Analysis

This site has detailed data on business and economic trends in the United States on an international, national and regional level.

U.S. Census Bureau

Business & Industry

The Census Bureau does regular surveys on various national business and economic indicators, as well as an economic census every five years with statistical data down to the county and city level.

California Department of Finance

Economic and Financial Research

Economic analyses and forecasts, county level data and an annual California Statistical Almanac.

Latest California Economic Data

Economic data on California including employment, income, consumer prices, construction and foreign trade.

Education

U.S. Department of Education

Research & Statistics

Educational data on U.S. schools such as state rankings, SAT scores, evaluations of school programs, school crime and safety. etc. The Data Tools are particularly helpful.

California Department of Education

Data & Statistics

Data and educational studies on schools in California

Education Data Partnership

Ed-Data

Compare fiscal, demographic and performance data on all of California’s K-12 public schools at the Educational Data Partnership site.

LA Times

California Schools Guide

Test scores, demographics and comments about California’s public, private and charter schools, compiled by the Los Angeles Times.

Employment and Labor

U.S. Department of Labor

Bureau of Labor Statistics

The main federal government agency that tracks employment and labor data. Find information on employment and unemployment, workplace injuries, time use, pay and consumer spending, including the Consumer Price Index, a key measure of inflation. Browse its datasets here.

Occupational Safety & Health Administration

Statistics & Data

Data on workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities.

California Employment Development Department

Labor Market Info Data Library

An online data library of up-to-date labor-related statistics.

To find data on counties and cities click on the link for Unemployment Rate and Labor Force.

Data on the Environment

Environment

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Envirofacts

The EPA has an online database you can search by location, including a city, zip code or street address, to find facilities that are releasing pollutants or toxics into the air, water or ground.

Toxic Release Inventory

Database of toxic chemical releases, searchable by zip code.

U.S Fish and Wildlife Service

National GIS Data

National and regional data used to map changes in the environment, including coastal resources and critical habitat.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The National Climatic Data Center

The world’s largest active archive of weather, climate data, including forecasts, and historical records of hurricanes and other newsworthy severe weather events.

World Data Center for Meteorology

World Data Center(WDC) for Meteorology in Asheville is one component of a global network of international exchange of scientific data.

National Geophysical Data Center

The NGDC provides geophysical data from the Sun to the Earth and Earth’s sea floor and solid earth environment, including Earth observations from space. A good example is National Snow and Ice Data Center maps of polar ice.

National Oceanographic Data Center

The NODC archives and distributes oceanographic data and information. These data include physical, biological, and chemical measurements from in situ oceanographic observations, satellite remote sensing, and industrial oceanographic activities in coastal and deep ocean areas.

Federal Emergency Management Agency

FEMA GIS Enterprise Services

GIS mapping of natural disasters. To use with ArcGIS login.

U.S. Energy Information Administration

Electricity Data Files

Electric power data are collected to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding. The most widely used data are the Electric Power Monthly and the Electric Power Annual.

fire data and statistics

Fire

U.S. Fire Administration

Fire Statistics

Collects all sorts of data on fires.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control

Injury Prevention and Control – Fires

The CDC compiles statistics on accidents, including fires.

National Fire Protection Association

Research

Compiles data on fires and fire safety.

Food and Agriculture

U.S. Department of Agriculture

National Agricultural Statistics Service

Data on crops and livestock on a national, state and county level.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

California Agricultural Production Statistics

Data on crops and livestock in California.

General

U.S. Government

Data.gov

A portal site for accessing U.S. government information databases. You can search for data from the home page, or follow the Data and Topics links from the top menu. Be warned, however, that Data.gov does not contain all of the U.S. government’s data. Some of the most useful datasets are still only available on the websites of individual federal agencies. The Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology has links to agencies with some the most important data collections.

Google

Google Public Data Explorer

Google has demographic and other datasets from a variety of U.S. and international sources on its Public Data Explorer site. The data can be explored online or converted into data visualizations. People also can upload their own data to the site to create visualizations.

Public Policy Institute of California

Data Depot

Survey and other data on a variety of topics that is downloadable at the Public Policy Institute website. Subject areas include education, environment, government, health, housing and public finance.

UC Berkeley News21 Project

CityLab

Hard-to-find statistical and demographic information on San Francisco Bay Area cities. Include data ranging from number of funeral parlors and liquor stores to veterinarians and midwives in each city. Created by a team of students working for the UC Berkeley News21 Project.

San Francisco

DataSF

A clearinghouse for finding datasets produced by the city and county of San Francisco.

government spending data and statistics

Government Spending

U.S. General Services Administration

USASpending.gov

The federal government set up the USASpending.gov website that has a database of federal grants and contracts that have been awarded, searchable by contractor, government agency or location.

Center for Effective Government

FedSpending.org

The Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) has a searchable database of U.S. government contracts, grants, and loans.

U.S. Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board

Recovery.gov

Track federal stimulus spending by state, county, city, ZIP, project type, or even block-by-block.

Health

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Data & Statistics

The CDC compiles national data on death and diseases, accidents and injuries. The WONDER online databases provide a wealth of information, including on causes of death. Other health datasets are available through the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.

Medicare

Data.Medicare.Gov

Medicate archives hospital and nursing home performance, patient mortality rates, average payments for procedures and more.

Occupational Safety & Health Administration

Statistics & Data

Data on workplace injuries, illnesses and fatalities.

California Department of Public Health

California Department of  Public Health Data

Public health data, statistics and surveys for California.

World Health Organization

Who.Int

Data and statistics on public health.

Housing data

Housing

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

HUD User

Statistics and studies on the U.S. housing market.

National Association of Realtors

Housing Statistics

The National Association of Realtors provides the standard measurement of the residential real estate market. On or about the 25th of each month, NAR releases statistics on sales and prices of existing single-family homes for the nation, four regions, states and MSAs.

Immigration

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Immigration Statistics

The main U.S. government source of statistical data on immigration

U.S. Census Bureau

International Migration

The U.S. Census Bureau site with data on immigration to and emigration from the United States.

Migration Policy Institute

Immigration Data Hub

The Migration Policy Institute provides access to their statistics, facts and maps on migration and immigration in the U.S. and abroad, with databases that are searchable by state.

data on international affairs

International

United Nations

UNdata

This United Nations web page has databases with different kinds of demographic information for countries around the world. You can also visit the UN Statistical Division for more.

World Bank

Data & Research

Online databases of national and international statistics. Its World Development Indicators catalog contains data for more than 7,000 different measures, compiled by the bank and other UN agencies. You can navigate the site using the search box or using the topics links to the right. When you click on a particular indicator, you are sent to a page that gives options to download the dataset from a link near the top right of the page. The data in some cases goes back as far as 1960, and is listed both by individual country and summarized by regions and income groups.

CIA

CIA World Factbook – Guide to Country Comparisons

Generate charts comparing demographic data in different countries, downloadable as text files.

World Economic Forum

Reports

The World Economic Forum does reports on a wide range of global issues.

Politics and Elections

UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies

Statewide Database

Data on voting, voter registration and the census, on a county, census tract and block level. Compiled by the Statewide Database for use in redistricting.

Public Policy Institute of California

Data Depot

Public opinion survey data on political participation and the mood of voters, as well as job approval ratings of elected officials in California, downloadable at the Public Policy Institute website. Check the areas under Government and Political Participation.

Religion

U.S. Census Bureau

Statistical Abstract – Population – Religion

The annual U.S. Statistical Abstract published by the U.S. Census Bureau has some data on religious affiliations and church membership.

Religion Statistics and Publications

The Census Bureau is prohibited by law from asking mandatory questions about religion in its surveys, but it does keep a page with links to other sources of information on religious affiliations and churches.

National Council of Churches USA

Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches (pdf)

The yearbook published by the National Council of Churches has statistical data on the membership of major church groups in the U.S. and Canada.

However, it is a paid publication that must be ordered. It is not available online.

sports data

Sports

American Statistical Association

Statistics in Sports

Links to the major sports associations and other sites that compile player and team statistics in different sports.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Traumatic Brain Injury

A CDC site with information and data on traumatic brain injuries, including a special section on “Concussion in Sports.”

Transportation

U.S. Bureau of Transportation

Bureau of Transportation Statistics

National data on airlines, trucking, shipping, highways and transportation shipping.

California Department of Transportation

Traffic Data

Traffic counts on state highways in California.

Bay Area Rapid Transit District

Station Profile Study

A survey done by BART that has data on ridership at the transit district’s 40+ train stations.

UC Berkeley News21 Project

BARThood

A data visualization of BART’s 2008 station profile study along with other information on the transit district’s 43 stations, their passengers and people who live near the stations. Created by a team of students working for the UC Berkeley News21 Project.

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