Finding facts & figures about government & the economy
U.S. Dept of Labor/Bureau of Labor Statistics. http://www.bls.gov/
U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/
for more information about government statistics resources, see the Government Information Guide
Finding facts & figures about social issues
Pew Social & Demographic Trends http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/ The Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project studies behaviors and attitudes of Americans in key realms of their lives, including family, community, health, finance, work and leisure. The project explores these topics by combining original public opinion survey research with social, economic and demographic data analysis.
Child Trends Databank. http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/
National trends and research on over 80 key indicators of child and youth well-being.
NCES: National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/
Data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. Includes Digest of Educational Statistics.
NCHS: National Center for Health Statistics. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs
Monitoring the nation's health; includes Health United States, showing national trends in health and health care.
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics. http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/
Brings together data from more than 100 sources about many aspects of criminal justice in the United States.
A Statistical Portrait Of The United States. Social Conditions And Trends.
HA214 .S73 2002
GSS: General Social Survey. http://www.norc.org/GSS+Website/
A standard "core" of demographic, behavioral, and attitudinal questions. Many questions have remained unchanged since 1972 to facilitate time-trend studies. A unique and valuable resource, GSS has tracked the opinions of Americans over the last four decades. (Some facility with data files is recommended, although pre-generated tables are available.)
American FactFinder2. http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
Population, housing, economic, and geographical information from the U.S. Census Bureau, 2000-. Not always easy to use, but very powerful and up-to-date.
Facts and Statistics
With statistical information, it is very important to consider where your numbers are coming from. To make a convincing argument, you want to be able to point to statistics from sources your audience will recognize and trust. Here are some good places to start for statistics about the United States.
- American Fact Finder US Census--population, housing, economic, and geographic data
- NCHS National Center for Health Statistics
- NCES National Center for Education Statistics
- Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics (Bureau of Justice)
Here are some additional resources for international statistics:
- World Health Organization statistical information system
- UNESCO Institute for Statistics
- United Nations Statistics Division
The STAT-USA database, which provided the business community with one place to go to access an extensive collection of U.S. economic and finance data, international trade statistics, and market research reports for more than 25 years, has ceased operation. We have created a guide that captures the URLs of all the data pages from which STAT-USA pulled information. You can find it on the Library Guides page, or click here: http://tinyurl.com/3yhjchp.
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Social Trends and Indicators USA
This 4-volume set extends the successful "USA" statistical series by providing in-depth statistics on social issues paired with expert analyses. Statistical data is gathered from respected sources including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bureau of the Census, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the Social Security Administration; data is also gathered from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the stock exchanges.
Coverage Dates: 2003 - present
