Strategies
Is there a government agency, department, or private company collecting this data?
Was the data collected for the year(s) and geographic area you are researching?
- Search a compendia of US statistical data, such as Proquest's Statistical Abstract of the United States. If you find a relevant table, check the source notes.
- Search an index to statistical data, such as Proquest Statistical Insight.
- Trace the source notes from the footnotes and bibliographies of relevant books and articles.
- Start with an educated guess about the department or agency that may have collected the data, e.g. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, HUD, etc.
Selected data & report sources for urban areas or homelessness
- Annual Homeless Assessment Report(AHAR) is a HUD report to the U.S. Congress. Provides nationwide estimates of homelessness, information about the demographic characteristics of homeless persons, service use patterns, and the capacity to house homeless persons.
The report is based primarily on Homeless Management Information Systems (HMIS) data about persons who experience homelessness during a 12-month period.
Search for community data in HUD Population/Subpopulation reports and Housing Inventory Count reports.
View Point-in-Time and Housing Inventory Count data since 2007. - County and City Data BooksProvides access to the 1944 through 2000 County and City Data Books.
- Data.gov : Cities DataA portal to datasets from participating cities as well as the federal government, by subject. Available data will vary widely among municipalities.
- Emergency and Transitional Shelter Population: 2000Census 2000 Special Reports. Data for metropolitan areas, or places of 100,000 or more population, or 100 or more people in in emergency and transitional shelters.
- Emergency and Transitional Shelter Population: 2010Census 2010 Special Reports. Data for 10 cities with the largest population and the largest percentage population in emergency and transitional shelters.
- National Coalition for the HomelessSome reports provide data for cities
- Point in Time Homess Counts 2007 - 2016Provided by HUD. Raw data sets (PIT) contain estimates of homelessness by CoC (county/MSA). Homeless veterans included since 2011. (See your class Blackboard site for selected 2017 city counts)
- Report on Hunger & Homelessness 2016Produced by the United States Conference of Mayors. Data from 32 cities in 24 states.
- State of the Cities Data Sets (HUD)Browse by topic.
- Urban Institute: MetroTrendsEasy access to tabulated data - various topics, various years of coverage.
RECOMMENDED DATABASES!
- Understanding HomelessnessBrings transparency to the geolocated data that exists about the homelessness issue in the United States. Applies innovative visualization and communication techniques to the study of this population.
- Social ExplorerProvides access to modern and historical census data and demographic information. Create reports and maps to help visually analyze and understand demography and social change throughout history.
Census Information
Encyclopedia of the U.S. census: from the Constitution to the American Community Survey 2012 2nd ed. (available online via Sage Knowledge).
- Census Geography TermsDefinitions of census tracts, metropolitan statistical areas, places, etc.
- Census Reference Tract MapsIdentify census tract numbers to gather data for geographic areas smaller than a city. (County subdivisions that generally have a population size between 1,200 and 8,000 people, with an optimum size of 4,000 people.)
A few notes about census data
Please note:
Many statistics are collected only through a sample count. This may mean that there are fewer statistics available for the smaller geographies -- block-group and especially block. See: Census Geography
2010 -- A brief questionnaire is sent to every household. More detailed data is available from the American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is a continuous, "rolling" survey of 1-in-8 households. Data is released in 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year estimates.
SF 1-- Data is from a short list of questions asked of every household
ACS (American Community Data) Sample Data: ACS 1-year estimates, ACS 3-year estimates, ACS 5-year estimates
2000 -- A brief questionnaire is sent to every household. A longer, more detailed questionnaire is sent to 1-in-6 households.
SF 1 -- Data is from the short list of questions asked of every household
SF 3 -- Data is from a much longer, more detailed, list of questions asked of 1-in-6 households, e.g., sample data