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U.S. Data and Statistical Sources: Population and Demographics

Provides access to federal statistics on various subjects and topic areas.

Free Public Access to Government Information

Free public access to United States government documents in a federal depository library is guaranteed by law (44 USC §1911).  While UC Berkeley houses one of the most comprehensive collections of U.S. government documents in the country, the Library is one of over a thousand Federal Depository Libraries across the United States, and one of several Federal Depository Libraries in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Demographics and Population

The below links and databases can provide information on a variety of population and demographic information.  If you are new to the U.S. Census, see the Library's Getting Started with the U.S. Census guide.

  • AgingStats.Gov -- Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics
  • Census Bureau
    • State & County QuickFacts -- Quick, easy to create snapshot of state and county level data
    • American Community Survey -- Provides estimates of demographic, housing, social, and economic characteristics every year for all states, as well as for all cities, counties, metropolitan areas, and population groups of 65,000 people or more.
    • American Factfinder -- Interactive, searchable database to find population, housing, industry and business statistics from the U.S. Census. Data available from 2000-present.  American Factfinder allows the user to compile census data into tables, maps and downloadable files, which can be viewed or printed.
    • Decennial Censuses (1790 to present)
    • Income
    • Population Projections
    • Poverty
    • U.S. and World Population Clocks - POPClocks
    • DataFerrett -- Allows the creation of custom statistics from several datasets. 
    • Census FTP Server -- The Census Bureau makes much of its raw datafiles available via an FTP server.  This is for experienced data users familar with statistical software packages such as SAS, SPSS, Stata.  Codebooks are provided for each dataset.
    • iPums.org -- Provides access to Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) which are Census datasets of geographic areas over 100,000 people.
    • NHGIS -- National Historic GIS.  Provides access to GIS shapefiles and census data.
    • Current Population Surveys -- Joint effort between the Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Provides detailed labor force statistics of the U.S. population. 
  • Green Book: Background Material and Data on Programs within the Jurisdiction of the Committee on Ways and Means (1994 to present) Program descriptions and historical data on a wide variety of social and economic topics, including Social Security,employment, earnings, welfare, child support, health insurance, the elderly, families with children, poverty and taxation.

The below databases provide current and historic demograpic statistics and are UCB Only.