Research Guides: Urban Planning & Public Policy: Federal Information

Federal Information

Combined Health Information Database (CHID)
CHID is a bibliographic database produced by health-related agencies of the Federal Government. This database provides titles, abstracts, and availability information for health information and health education resources.
Congressional Universe (UCI Access Only)
Provides CIS indexing and abstracting of congressional publications, historical indexes (1789-1969) and unpublished hearings, full text of congressional reports, documents, prints, and other information relating to the US federal government.
GOS-Geospatial One Stop
Also known as geodata.gov, GOS serves as a public gateway for geospatial information. The site contains links to federal, state, and local Web sites, where geospatial data can be downloaded.
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Community building and data sharing is a focus of the portal, and opportunities are provided for users to publish data and serach for partners for data collections and acquisitions.
Governing.com
State & Local governing sourcebook that includes scores of organizations, people and resources for state & local authorities.
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Department of Energy's energy efficiency department, offers tips for buying appliances, remodeling, and more.
IRS
Offers information on energy efficiency tax credits, such as the Existing Home Retrofit Tax Credit (available in 2009-10) and Wind, Solar, Geothermal and Fuel Cell Tax Credit (available trough 20016), for home remodels.
TRAC Reports for Environmental Prosecutions by US Federal Government
TRAC Reports for Environmental Convictions by US Federal Government
Environmental Protection Agency: Smart Growth
EPA's Smart Growth website provides a range of information, from basic definitions to the planning tools needed to achieve it. It offers information on grants and funding, additional resources, and how Smart Growth can be applied to any community.
Farmland Information Center
Created through a partnership of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service and the American Farmland Trust, FIC provides an online clearinghouse of laws, literature, sample documents, and technical resources related to the preservation and stewardship of agricultural land. It allows for information searches (including general statistics) on a state-by-state basis.
USDA Rural Information Center
The USDA's Rural Information Center, part of the National Agricultural Library, provides reference services on rural community issues. The RIC website has a resource library covering subjects for rural education, health, and housing.

US Census Information

For a more in-depth review of Census data, please see our Census research guide.

Census Reseach Guide
United States Census Bureau
The Census Bureau's mission is to serve as the nation’s leading provider of quality data about its people and economy. Its surveys provide periodic and comprehensive statistics about the nation. This site provides an interface to explore topics, and view the various surveys and programs, as well as fact sheets, infographics, and more.
American Community Survey
One of the primary Census Bureau surveys, the American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing survey that provides vital information on a yearly basis about our nation and its people. Through the ACS, we know more about jobs and occupations, educational attainment, veterans, whether people own or rent their homes, and other topics.
Census Data
This site provides direct access to data and microdata through its search feature, without the interface and explanations of the program pages.
Census Reporter
Census Reporter is an independent project to make data from the American Community Survey (ACS) easier to use. It is unaffiliated with the U.S. Census Bureau and does not currently offer any access to past data.
IPUMS
IPUMS provides census and survey data from around the world integrated across time and space. IPUMS integration and documentation makes it easy to study change, conduct comparative research, merge information across data types, and analyze individuals within family and community contexts.
National Archives Census
Scanned copies of historical census forms. The most recent census included is 1940.
National Historical Geographic Information System
Provides easy access to summary tables and time series of population, housing, agriculture, and economic data, along with GIS-compatible boundary files, for years from 1790 through the present and for all levels of U.S. census geography, including states, counties, tracts, and blocks.

Census Resources - Books & Manuals

2020 Census Data Products by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education; Committee on National Statistics; Katrina Baum Stone (Editor)
ISBN: 9780309694117
Publication Date: 2023-05-02
This proceedings summarizes the presentations and discussions at the Workshop on the 2020 Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics File, held June 21-22, 2022. The workshop was convened by the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to assist the U.S. Census Bureau with its new disclosure avoidance system for 2020 Census data products, which implements algorithms providing differential privacy. The workshop focused specifically on the Demographic and Housing Characteristics File, a major source of data for local governments, particularly those with small populations, and many other data users in the federal, state, academic, and business sectors. The intent was to garner feedback from users on the usability of the privacy-protected data by evaluating DHC demonstration files produced with the proposed TopDown Algorithm on 2010 Census data.