Research Guides: POLS 316: Race, Poverty, and the U.S. Welfare State (HC): Finding Statistics

Finding Statistics for the United States

Statistics and demographic information often play a key role in policy analysis. A vast and complex array of statistical information is available online and in the print collections of libraries. Before attempting to use the more specific and complicated statistical sources, it is good to check one of the statistical compilations published regularly by both the government and commercial publishers. Compilations are especially good for finding a single statistic, e.g., the number of elementary school children in the U.S., the ten most populated cities in the United States, the percentage of the U.S. population which is of Hispanic origin, etc.

Explore Census Data This link opens in a new window
Hosted by the U.S. Census Bureau, this website provides access to population, housing, economic and geographic data from the latest Decennial Census, the Economic Censuses and Surveys, and the American Community Survey. Users can view reference maps and create comparison tables and thematic maps which can be downloaded or printed.

Data and Statistics about the United States
Includes links to statistical resources from major federal agencies.
Economic Report of the President
Key statistics are pulled together in this annual report. Issues from 1995-2015 are available on this site.
Historical statistics of the United States
Contains more than 37,000 annual time series of quantitative historical information covering population, work and welfare, economic structure and performance, governance, and international relations. Covers the colonial period to the present.

Social Explorer
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Offers access to reports and interactive maps for the U.S. Census (1790-present), World Development Indicators (1960-2013), and Eurostat (European Union data), among others. A project of Queens College, sponsored by the New York Times and the National Science Foundation.

StateHealthFacts.org
The Kaiser Family Foundation sponsors this web site on health issues and statistics. It is kept up-to-date and allows comparison across the aggregate of states as well as providing profiles of individual states.

Putting U. S. Statistics within a Global Context

Global Health Obervatory
The World Health Organisation compiles data from countries worldwide.
OECD Statistics
The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development currently has 34 member countries, mostly from the developed world but Mexico and Turkey are also part of the group. They partner with other countries and international organizations to advance research and programs in global issues.
Sources of Data about the Millennium Development Goals
Includes many measures of countries' progress relating to poverty, education, and health.

World Development Indicators (WDI) Online This link opens in a new window
World Development Indicators (WDI) is the primary World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized international sources. It includes more than 1100 indicators on population, income, social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environment, covering 210 countries and 18 regional and income groups. Also includes the International Debt Statistics (IDS) database. Data ranges from 1960-present.

Worldwide Governance Indicators
Governance indicators for 213 countries cover six areas: Voice and accountability, Political Stability and Absence of Violence, Government effectiveness, Regulatory quality, Rule of law, and Control of corruption.