Basic Economic Security Tables™Index (BEST)

“The Basic Economic Security Tables™ Index (BEST) was developed by Wider Opportunities for Women and the Center for Social Development at Washington University-St. Louis, and is maintained by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. The BEST addresses several pieces of the larger basic economic security picture–basic needs, savings, and employment-based benefits–and allows a broad and complete view […]

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STATS America

STATS America is an easy to use resource for a wide variety of data from many different sources (i.e. U.S. Census, Bureau of Economic Analysis, and Bureau of Labor Statistics). Data profiles on population, housing, income and labor are easily accessible at the state, county, and metro levels. Not only does STATS America compile data from many public and […]

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Census of Agriculture (USDA)

The Census of Agriculture is an source for data on agriculture in the U.S. Conducted every five years, the Census provides a detailed picture of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. he Census of Agriculture includes data for every state and county in the United States. Detailed data including specific crops […]

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BearFacts (BEA at the State, County, and MSA Levels)

BearFacts, provides a snapshot of the components of  personal income at the state, county, and MSA levels. Although the amount of data is limited, Bearfacts does allow users to easily obatin similar historical data. BearFacts is a produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

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US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)  collects and reports a wide range of economic  data at the international, national, state and local levels. The  BEA site includes data on GDP, (including detailed National Income and Product Accounts) and personal income and outlays. BEA data is available at the national, state, county, and MSA levels.

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American FactFinder (U.S. Census)

American Factfinder is the gateway to  the Decennial Census, the American CommunitySurvey, the Census’  Population Estimates Program, the Economic Census, and Annual Economic Surveys. Factfinder is a massive database that is searchable by topic, geography, population group, and industry and year. Users can modify data tables to focus on specific geographies or data elements. It […]

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Principal Federal Economic Indicators

Be the first on your block to receive monthly and quarterly updates  from the U.S. Department of Commerce  Economic & Statistics Administration (ESA). Simply sign up for Principal Federal Economic Indicators and receive email updates of the following: Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services Advance Report on Durable Goods Construction Put in Place Gross Domestic Produce […]

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Historical U.S. Census Data (1790 to 2010)

Looking for historical U.S. Census data?  The U.S. Census provides easy access to historical population, housing, and agricultural data from 1790 to 2010.  Most of the of the data is available at the state and county levels.

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Defining Rural

The question “What is rural?” seems to be the subject to a never-ending debate. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) provides some guidance. The ERS has identified nine different categories for classifying counties by their degree of urbanization. These nine Rural-Urban Continuum Codes are below: The ERS also has more […]

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Consumer Expenditure Survey (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) provides information on the buying habits of American consumers. Many private data providers rely on the CES as the basis for their projections. Reported annually, the CES includes spending on a wide variety of consumer goods and services ( i.e. food, clothing, household goods, automobiles). Broad […]

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