Last revised: August, 2008

Finding Federal Statistics

Scope: This is a guide to statistics produced by the U.S. federal government. It is not exhaustive, but it will expose you to the variety of sources of government statistical information. If you have any questions or would like further assistance, please contact the U.S. Government Information, Maps & GIS Services Staff at govdocs@umd.edu or 301.405.9165.

Quick Statistics

• Statistical Abstract of the United States
  This is your first stop when looking for recent federal statistics. The Statistical Abstract is a digest of major statistics from many U.S. agencies. It includes guides to sources of statistics from the government, non-government, state and some foreign statistics, both in print and electronic versions.
  TIP: To use the online Statistical Abstract it is best to find the table you need by first looking in the index. Not all tables or appendices are available online.

  LOCATION: UMCP McKeldin Library, U.S. Government Information Reference
  CALL NUMBER: C 3.134: date
  
  http://www.census.gov/prod/www/statistical-abstract.html

• American FactFinder
  Search for data from five different data sets: the Census2000 (with limited 1990 data as well), the American Community Survey (1996-2006), the 1997 and 2002 Economic Censuses, the Population Estimates of 2006 and 2007, and the Annual Economic Surveys (2003-2006). Users can display what they want in tables or maps (including reference or thematic maps). This website is updated frequently by the Census Bureau.

  http://factfinder.census.gov/

• County and City Databook
  This reference tool zooms in on counties and cities and provides detailed tables of Census data broken down by region.

  LOCATION: UMCP McKeldin Library, U.S. Government Information Su Docs
  CALL NUMBER: Su Docs C 3.134/2: C 83/2/
  
  http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/ccdb07.html

• Historical Census Browser
  Browse quick summary Census data from 1790 to 1960. Users can make their own tables (down to the county level of detail) with Census data. Note that the questions asked for each Census differs from year to year. This website was made with a grant from the National Science Foundation to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).

  http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/histcensus/

• Historical Decennial Census of Population Volumes
  View PDF files of volumes from the Census of Population for the years 1790-2000. This is an ongoing project by the Census Bureau to scan in historic documents. Some of the documents have not be optimized for web use and will be improved over time.

  http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/decennial/index.htm

• Historical Statistics of the United States
  This is your first stop when looking for historical federal statistics. It is the historical equivalent of the Statistical Abstract of the United States. This database is only available to University of Maryland faculty, staff, and students through ResearchPort.

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Guides to Federal Statistics

• American Statistics Index (ASI)
  Comprehensive annual index to U.S. federal statistical information and publications. A set of microfiche complements the ASI.

  LOCATION: UMCP McKeldin Library, U.S. Government Information Reference
  CALL NUMBER: Z7551.A4
  UM Libraries' research guide to the American Statistics Index
  http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/asi.html

• Census Information and Data
  A University of Maryland research guide to finding and using information from the U.S. Census.

  http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/census.html

• FedStats
  This website is an index to federal statistical information available on the Web. Users can search for information by Topic, Map Statistics, Agencies (that produce statistics), Subject, Statistical Collections, and many others.

  http://www.fedstats.gov/

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Frequently Requested Publications

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