Research Guides: Africana Studies: Data & Statistics

Major US Government Data Sources

US Census
US population statistics, along with economic data (local, county, state and national). A treasure trove.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Key source for labor and industry statistics and data, and about American consumers.
Bureau of Justice Statistics
"To collect, analyze, publish, and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government."
Department of Housing & Urban Development - Datasets
The site provides interested researchers with access to the original data sets generated by PD&R-sponsored data collection efforts.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
The primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.

Center for Disease Control & Prevention: Data & Statistics
Lots of information on various health related issues.
HealthData.gov
It makes high value health data more accessible to entrepreneurs, researchers, and policy makers.
National Center for Health Statistics (CDC)
A rich source of information about America's health that compile statistical information to guide actions and policies to improve the health.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Provides a range of data resources on topics such as the use of health care, the costs of care, trends in hospital care, health insurance coverage, out-of-pocket spending, and patient satisfaction.
Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care
This Dartmouth project documents glaring variations in how medical resources are distributed and used in the US.

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
The primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.
Civil Rights Data (US Dept of Education)
Provides education access and equity data collected from US public schools.
US Dept of Ed: Data & Research
Overview of available data and tools on various education-related topics

ICPSR (datasets) This link opens in a new window
The Inter-University Consortium for Political & Social Research (ICPSR) maintains a dataset archive of research in the social and behavioral sciences. It hosts 21 specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields.
Each study's dataset provides documentation (e.g. codebook), and a bibliography of published articles that used the data. Data offered in many formats.
Must create an ICPSR account to download data. Coverage: 1700s-present.

PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
Visualize and map thousands of socioeconomic variables covering the United States (local to national). Create reports on specific Census geographies. Download reports, data, and maps. Coverage: 2000-present.
Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
Map various demographic and socioeconomic variables from United States Census, Statistics Canada, UK Data Centre, and Eurostat. Download maps/data. Coverage: 1790-present.
Users must create and log into your personal account on Social Explorer.

GapMinder
It uses its videos and data visualization tools to help people better understand statistics and other information about social, economic and environmental development at local, national and global levels.