Research Guides: JOUR 1000: Journalism and Democracy: Data & Statistics

Government Data: General

U.S. Census Bureau: Topics
Census Bureau statistics portal divided by topic. Topics include business and the economy, employment, education, and health.

data.census.gov

This resource replaces the now defunct American FactFinder. This is the U.S. Census Bureau's main vehicle for distributing U.S. census data, including economic censuses and surveys and annual population estimates. Population, housing, economic and geographic data can be found here.

Data.gov
The United States Government’s open data site is designed to unleash the power of government open data to inform decisions by the public and policymakers, drive innovation and economic activity, achieve agency missions, and strengthen the foundation of an open and transparent government.
Data USA
Data USA combines U.S. government data from various sources into one open access platform. Includes job, industry, and product data.

DataOhio
A portal to datasets produced by Ohio government agencies on public health, education, children and youth, the environment, and more, updated regularly by the respective agencies.

Bureau of Justice Statistics
Access data and reports on crime, law enforcement, and the legal system.
Office of Homeland Security Statistics
Includes statistics on immigration, law enforcement, international trade, and cybersecurity.
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Employment Statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor
Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
Current and historic macroeconomic data and interest rates.
Index of Economic Activity
The U.S. Census Bureau Index of Economic Activity (IDEA) is a weighted combination of 15 of the Census Bureau’s primary economic data series, constructing a single time series that reflects their overall movement.
DataWeb: U.S. Trade & Tariff Data
The USITC DataWeb provides public access to the official U.S. import and export statistics of the U.S. Department of Commerce in a user-friendly web interface. Using the DataWeb querying tool, users can build custom queries and access these data in a spreadsheet or a web-based format.

Pew Research Center Publications

Full text reports, analysis, news and data from the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan research organization that conducts public opinion polls and social science research.

Coverage: 2005 to present

American National Election Studies
Poll data about attitudes in the United States. Includes longitudinal data for some questions.
Gallup Polls
A global analytics firm with a focus on public opinion research. Proprietary data with some publicly released.

A-Z Databases: Statistical Sources
A list of databases with statistical sources that the library subscribes to.

Social Explorer

Social Explorer provides quick and easy access to modern and historical socioeconomic and demographic data, bringing together quantitative data with a visual interface to make demographic research, the analysis of social trends, and comparison of neighborhoods, communities, counties, and other areas accessible and interactive.
Statista

Statista is an online statistics portal providing access to data from market and opinion research institutions, as well as from business organizations and government institutions.
Historical Statistics of the United States

U.S. statistical data dating back to 1790.

Coverage: 1790 to present
ICPSR (Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research)

A vast archive of social science data for research and instruction, containing thousands of digital files of social science research data in political science, sociology, economics, criminal justice, and more.

Harvard Dataverse
Find data across research fields, preview metadata, and download files

Data Sets: Media and Communication
by Meli Taylor Last Updated Aug 13, 2025 76 views this year
Business Data, Statistics, and Reports
by Meli Taylor Last Updated Sep 4, 2025 94 views this year
Government Information
by Rebecca Stanwick Last Updated Sep 22, 2025 198 views this year