Skip to Main Content

U.S. Census: Aggregated Data

Online Data Sources

See the Product Comparison table in another tab for more information.

  • Proquest Statistical Abstract of the U.S.
    A compendium of statistics from many sources (including the US Census). Most data is aggregated at the national level, but there are also some data by state. Tables can be downloaded as PDF files, and their data downloaded as Excel files. Each issue focuses on recent years.
    Also in paper. Historic paper back to 1879: Docs C 3.134: and online. Related compilations include the following (the latest edition of each of the paper titles is located at the main Perkins Research Services desk on the 1st floor).
    • County [and City] Data Book, US Docs C 3.134/2: C83 (1947-present, irregular)
    • State and Metropolitan Area Data Book, US Docs C3.134/5: (1979-present, irregular)
  • Historical Statistics of the United States
    A compendium of statistics from over 1,000 sources (including the US Census). Most data is aggregated at the national level, but there are also some data by state. Tables can be downloaded as PDF files, and their data downloaded as Excel files. Also in paper.  See US Docs C 3.134/2: H62 (began with 1789-1945 and cumulated occasionaly since then).
  • Social Explorer
    Provides interactive maps and data reports. Data are available from 1790 through the present at a variety of geographic levels, including neighborhoods, counties, and states. Includes data at the Census Tract level (approximately a neighborhood) back to 1940 (for metro areas that were tracted), Block Groups for recent years, and Blocks for 2010. A relatively easy interface, compared to other tools, for extracting large datasets. Includes an online mapping utility that allows visualization of the "Social Explorer Tables" (derived indicators that don't include all Census variables for a given year). Some 1990 and 2000 data harmonized into 2010 geographies
  • SimplyAnalytics
    A web-based mapping and report generation application (formerly called SimplyMap) that lets users create thematic maps and reports using demographic, business, and marketing data. Covers 1980 to the present. Data from earlier years has all been aggregated to normalized 2010 Census geographies (e.g, 1980, 1990, and 2000 data in 2010 Tracts); also a single report can include data from multiple Census or marketing surveys.
  • iPUMS/NHGIS
    The National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) provides aggregate census data and GIS-compatible boundary files for the United States from 1790 to the present.  Includes data aggregated all the way to the Census Block level for the 1970 through 2010 decennial censuses, plus recent American Community Survey (ACS) data.
  • Neighborhood Change Database
    • Tract-level data only, within various geographies of your choice (county, state, metro area, etc.), from 1970-2000.
    • Includes both the short form (100%, or SF1) demographic data and the long form (~15% sample, or SF3) socioeconomic data.
    • Census tracts have been normalized to 2000 boundaries, for ease of comparisons across time.
    • Internet Explorer only!
    • Can download just the tabular data or the tract boundary layers (shapefiles) with census attributes included.
    • Variables sometimes are identical to the source variables from the Census Bureau, and sometimes are derived to obtain sums or proportions.  Carefully study the documentation (Appendices of User Guides) to determine variable provenance, especially:
    • Special Issues Document
  • data.census.gov
    The Census Bureau's own interface.  PDF help documents listed on the How-to Materials for Using data.census.gov page.

Published US Census Volumes

Published Census Reports Online
These are PDF documents from scanned published reports. Most or all are also available in paper (see below).

  • Census of Population and Housing: Decennial reports back to 1790. Includes Dubester number for easy cross-reference to paper reports in our collection.
    Another index leading to scans of the same volumes (in some cases, may be clearer to use).
  • Archive of published Census reports: Includes Decennial regular and special reports, as well as off-year special reports
    • Decennial Publications 
  • Special Collections and Reports: Mostly special reports using decennial census data.
  • Some of the non-population published reports may still be available only in paper.

The Perkins Census Reference Collection is divided into two major portions, which can be browsed, or use indexes below:
Location: Public Documents Collection on Perkins 2nd floor (location map)

  1. "Dubester" section
    • covers through 1945
    • organized by entry numbers in Dubester bibliography, noted below (Online bibliography via Hathi Trust)
    • we have most, but not all, titles listed in the bibliography
    • Dubester #1 - 1301 derive from the decennial censuses
    • Dubester #1310-3664 are non-decennial publications
  2. "SuDoc" section
    • covers 1946-present
    • organized by Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) call numbers
    • some recent reports are in the library catalog, but very hard to search for
  3. There are also a few Census Bureau publications in the regular US Docs collection, mostly at call numbers beginning C3 (or C56, for material published 1972-1975).

Indexes (all paper except last two):