Research Guides: Census: Home

Census

Census.gov
The Census Bureau's mission is to serve as the nation’s leading provider of quality data about its people and economy.

The U.S. Census counts every resident in the United States. It is mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution and takes place every 10 years. The data collected by the decennial census determine the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives and is also used to distribute billions in federal funds to local communities.

2030 Census
The 2030 Census will count residents of the United States and five U.S. territories and will mark the 25th population count in the United States.
Census 2020
Census 2020 - The 2020 Census counted every person living in the 50 states, District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories.
2020 Census Research, Operational Plans, and Oversight

Key Sites

American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing survey that provides data every year -- giving communities the current information they need to plan investments and services. Information from the survey generates data that help determine how more than $400 billion in federal and state funds are distributed each year.
Census Reporter
"Census Reporter is a Knight News Challenge-funded project to make it easier for journalists and other data users to write stories and grants using statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. Place profiles and comparison pages provide a friendly interface for navigating data, including visualizations for a more useful first look. Census Reporter offers tools for data comparison and makes it easy to create exports for further analysis in tabular or GIS formats."
Hathitrust - Census Documents
"HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. Federal documents [including historic Census documents] are a significant portion of the overall HathiTrust collection."

Social Explorer This link opens in a new window
Current and historical US census data, ACS, RCMS and demographic information. The easy-to-use web interface lets users create visualizations and reports to better illustrate, analyze and understand demography and social change, location-based data down to the city block.
PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
Offers easy-to-use online mapping with data on demographics, real estate, health, jobs and more in communities across the US.
SimplyAnalytics This link opens in a new window
Mapping and data visualization application that lets users create interactive maps, charts, and reports. Includes demographic, housing, employment, consumer spending, and business data for the United States. Users also have access to MRI-SimmonsLOCAL consumer behavior data, including information on brands, and Claritas PRIZM, which offers market insights using demographics and consumer lifestyle data.
Maximum 3 users at once.
Register for a free account to save and return to your work.

U.S. and World Population Clock
"The U.S. population clock is based on a series of short-term projections for the resident population of the United States. This includes people whose usual residence is in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. These projections do not include members of the Armed Forces overseas, their dependents, or other U.S. citizens residing outside the United States."

Statistical Abstracts

Statistical Abstract of the U.S. This link opens in a new window
Comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States.

Statistical Abstracts Series (Census)
The Statistical Compendia program is comprised of the Statistical Abstract of the United States and its supplemental products—the State and Metropolitan Area Data Book and the County and City Data Book. The U.S. Census Bureau terminated the collection of data for the Statistical Compendia program effective October 1, 2011.