American Communities Project (ACP) is a combined social science/journalism effort based at the Michigan State University School of Journalism, the ACP uses a vast array of data – from election results and economic numbers to consumer survey and polling – to break communities into different types for analysis. The Project correlates economic and demographic data to election results and consumer data to see what is moving those different communities and to see who is struggling and who is thriving in the 21st- century United States.
Atlas of Rural and Small-Town America from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service provides statistics by broad categories of socioeconomic factors: people, jobs, county classification, income, and veterans. Users can:
view county-level maps for socioeconomic indicators
view the entire country or zoom into specific regions, states, or county areas
for any county, view a pop-up window showing data for the indicators in a broad category for that county with an option to download
print a version of the map or save the image in a graphics-file format to add to a document or presentation
download the data in Excel or comma-separated values (.csv) for all data items and all U.S. counties
Book of the Statesis published annually by the Council of State Governments. It includes data for comparison and analysis on governors, legislators, courts, taxation, elections, revenues, expenditure and debt, employment, and personnel. Other topics include state constitutions, state-by-state voting statistics, facts about each state, and estimated costs of attending institutions of higher learning.
Data.gov is the home of the U.S. Government's open data. Data collections include: agriculture, climate, energy, local government, maritime, ocean, and older health adults.
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program provides reliable statistics for use in law enforcement. It also provides information for students of criminal justice, researchers, the media, and the public. The Uniform Crime Reporting Program includes data from more than 18,000 city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies. The latest reports and data collections are available on the FBI's Crime Data Explorer and include:
Hate Crime Statistics Data Collection, which provides information on crimes motivated by offenders' bias against race, gender, gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and ethnicity.
National Use-of-Force Data Collection includes any use of force that results in the death or serious bodily injury of a person, as well as when a law enforcement officer discharges a firearm at or in the direction of a person.
Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection aims to help agencies better understand and prevent suicides among current and former law enforcement officers, corrections employees, 911 operators, judges, and prosecutors.
MIT Living Wage Calculator was developed to estimate the cost of living in a community or region based on typical expenses. It helps individuals, communities, and employers determine a local wage rate that allows residents to meet minimum standards of living. A user's guide and technical documentation are available.
National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA) is a publicly available data archive containing the measures of the physical, economic, demographic, and social environment at multiple levels of spacial scale (census tract, ZIP code tabulation area, county, for example). Each NaNDA dataset covers all or most of the nation (including both rural and urban areas) and represents a set of measures on a single topic of interest, including socioeconomic disadvantage, healthcare, housing, partisanship, and public transit, with coverage dating back to 2000. The datasets are in the process of moving to ICPSR and openICPSR
Panel Study of Income Dynamics is the longest running longitudinal household survey in the world. The study began in 1968 with a nationally representative sample of over 18,000 individuals living in 5,000 families in the United States. Information on these individuals and their descendants has been collected continuously, including data on employment, income, wealth, expenditures, health, marriage, childbearing, child development, philanthropy, and education.
Redistricting Data Hub is a nonpartisan entity which hosts redistricting data needed to draw or analyze community of interest or district maps. You will need to create a free user account to download data. Datasets hosted include: Precinct Boundary and Election Results, Voter Files, Incumbent Addresses, Population Projections, PL 94-171, Legislative Boundaries, American Community Survey (ACS), Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP), TIGER Boundary Files, Community of Interest (COI) maps, Public redistricting testimony, Official adjusted state redistricting datasets, Official adopted legislative boundaries.
Rural Health Information Hub, formerly the Rural Assistance Center, is funded by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy to be a national clearinghouse on rural health issues.
Use the Am I Rural? Tool to find out if a location is considered rural based on various definitions of rural, including definitions that are used as eligibility criteria for federal programs.
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics brings together data from over 100 published and unpublished sources about many aspects of criminal justice in the United States. Sections of the Sourcebook include: criminal justice characteristics; public opinion; crime and victims; arrests and seizures; courts, prosecution, and sentencing; parole, jails, prisons, and the death penalty.
Survey of Consumer Finances is usually a triennial cross-sectional survey of U.S. families. The survey data collected includes information on families' balance sheets, pensions, income, and demographic characteristics.
USDA Economic Research Service State Fact Sheets provide information on population, income, poverty, food security, education, employment/unemployment, farm characteristics, farm financial indicators, top commodities, and agricultural exports. Links to available county level data are included where applicable.
Yearbook of Immigration Statistics (US Department of Homeland Security) is a compendium of tables that provide data on foreign nationals who were granted lawful permanent resident status, were admitted to the United States on a temporary basis, applied for asylum or refugee status, or were naturalized as citizens during a federal fiscal year. The Yearbook also presents data on immigration enforcement actions, including noncitizen apprehensions, removal, and returns.