Research Guides: Political science, governance, and international affairs: Aggregate data

US data presented in tables

Statista
Statista combines market research and analysis, content and information design, ecommerce, global consumer surveys, and digital and consumer market outlooks, consolidating statistical data on over 80,000 topics from more than 22,500 sources and makes it available on four platforms: German, English, French and Spanish.
Sage Data
Very large compendium of standardized and structured statistical data permits comparisons across providers and variables. DataPlanet (aka Sage Data) says it contains more than 18.9 billion data points from more than 70 source organizations in over 3.9 billion time series. Data are available in tables and visualizations, which can be shared and reused using unique identifiers (DOIs). Extensive source notes link to original publishers, so you can check for related and/or later data.

Data.census.gov
New portal to data and digital media published by the US. Census Bureau. Searchable, downloadable, with extensive user help. Replaces American FactFinder portal.

Statistical Abstract of the U.S. from ProQuest
Statistical Abstract of the United States (including historical Statistical Abstracts published annually since 1878) is a comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States as compiled by US federal agencies. Searchable across all records and browsable by year. Tables can be downloaded as spreadsheets or PDF. Published by the US Census Bureau through 2011 edition, subsequently continued by ProQuest.

Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial Edition Online
The Historical Statistics of the United States (HSUS) Millennial Edition Online provides data on social, behavioral, humanistic, and natural sciences including history, economics, government, finance, sociology, demography, education, law, natural resources, climate, religion, international migration, and trade - quantitative facts of American history.
Data.gov
Portal to data compiled by many US federal agencies. Browse by topic from the landing page or access the searchable data catalog from the Data menu at the top of the page. Files may be in TXT, HTML, XLS, CSV. or other formats.
- See the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology (FCSM) site for technical standards and guidelines behind the federal data.
Missouri Census Data Center Public Data Archive
MCDC's Uexplore web application provides access to the Missouri Census Data Center's public data archive, which features US Census and other public data. Files in the archive can be either database files (data tables comprised of rows/observations and columns/variables in a special format) or non-database (mostly metadata, special navigational index pages, or sometimes original raw input files) in a variety of common formats.
National Center for Charitable Statistics: Data & Tools
NCCS is a national clearinghouse of data on the nonprofit sector in the United States. This open-access version of NCCS Webster contains a variety of tools and reports to help you learn more about the nonprofit sector: find a nonprofit organization in your area, view IRS Form 990 images, analyze financial data on the sector, look at trends in charitable giving, or download data.

PolicyMap
Policy Map offers both extensive data and mapping options about communities across the US, especially for topics of interest for public policy. Data are aggregated from multiple sources and normalized to map across different geographical levels, from census tracts and ZIP codes to states. Data reports may be downloaded as tables without maps (which is also a feature of the data made available in Social Explorer and SimplyAnalytics). PolicyMap uniquely permits users to upload and map their own data. Focus is on information compiled since the early 2000s.

Videos and tutorials about using PolicyMap are available on the Support Page. For information on PolicyMap datasets, visit Data Indicators.
Social Explorer
Social Explorer focuses on representing patterns in historical demographics of the United States since the first census in 1790. International coverage has less historical depth but includes recent census data from Canada and the UK, EuroStat's European Statistics, and the World Bank's World Development Indicators. The easy-to-use web interface lets users create maps and tables to illustrate, analyze, and understand demography and social change. In addition to its comprehensive data resources, Social Explorer offers features and tools to meet the needs of demography experts and novices alike.
- Complements the broader but recent US coverage in PolicyMap for social policy and the US and Canadian coverage in SimplyAnalytics for business.
Social Explorer guide

CSG State Data
Tabular data from the US Council of State Governments' annual The Book of the States, state performance comparisons, and infographics
Virginia Statistical Abstract: VaStat (Print only)
CEASED PUBLICATION. Annual compilation formerly published by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at UVa provided Detailed profiles of counties and cities are provided. Employment and income statistics by area, taxation figures by local governments, population and demographics, industry profiles, and other economic drivers are all detailed in report and data sets.
New River Valley Data Dashboard
Provides regional demographic, economic and community health data with annotated graphs and tables, which are hotlinked to original sources at the state or national level. Data are for Floyd, Giles, Montgomery, and Pulaski Counties and the city of Radford, typically covering the most recent five years. The NRV Dashboard is maintained by the New River Valley Regional Commission.
America Votes... Election Returns by State (from CQ Press)
Maps of current congressional districts; tables of returns for post-WWII general and primary elections for president, governor, senator, and representative. Online coverage begins with vol 31 (2013-14). Use print volumes for vols 1-30 (1956-2012), call number JK1967 .A8.
Vital Statistics on American Politics, 2005-
Narrative and tables on parties and elections, public opinion, branches of government, federalism, and public policy. Published in odd-numbered years. VT Library has print versions from 1994 and 2003 (call number JK274 .S74).
USAFacts
"USAFacts is a new data-driven portrait of the American population, our government’s finances, and government’s impact on society. We are a non-partisan, not-for-profit civic initiative and have no political agenda or commercial motive. We provide this information as a free public service and are committed to maintaining and expanding it in the future." Relies on on publicly available data sources from all levels of government, but does not break out data for individual states or localities. Partners include the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) and, the Penn Wharton Budget Model. USAFacts is a project of Steve Ballmer, former Microsoft CEO.