LibGuides: U.S. Economic Data: Economic Surveys

Census of Population and Housing

2010 Census of Population and Housing

Internet: Census 2010 Data Page
Paper: [Call numbers/holdings] NOTE: temporaily shelved with regular U.S. Documents, not with Census Reference
DVD: [Call numbers/holdings]

2000 Census of Population and Housing

Internet: Census 2000 Gateway
Paper: [Call numbers/holdings] Use "search within results" and sorting to focus.
CD/DVD: [Call numbers/holdings]

1990 Census of Population and Housing

Internet: 1990 Census
Paper: [Call numbers/holdings] Use "search within results" and sorting to focus.
CD-ROM: [Call numbers/holdings] Use "search within results" and sorting to focus.

Decennial Census, Historical

Internet: Decennial Censuses from the US Census Bureau. Scanned Acrobat Documents, not "OCR," so you can't search for text or cut and paste data, but very extensive.
Internet: Selected Historical Decennial Census Population and Housing Counts from the US Census Bureau.These selected reports have "OCR" Acrobat documents (you can search for text and cut/paste data) and data in spreadsheet format.
Paper: Much data has not yet been digitized. Our Census research guide gives inforamtion on the paper census reports in the Public Documents Census Reference Collection (2nd Floor, Perkins Library).

Business and Goverment Surveys

Economic Census
Conducted every five years by the U.S. Census Bureau, currently covering years ending in 2 and 7 (e.g., 1987, 1992, etc.). Until the mid-20th century, these surveys were part of the Decennial Censuses (see at left).

Economic Censuses Requires use of the American FactFinder interface (we recommend choosing Dataset)
Drill-down interface for 1992, 1997, and 2002 Economic Censuses
1977-present raw data Census FTP site with datasets in ASCII fixed length, CSV, DBF, and other formats
More information on older data in our Census Research Guide

Annual Survey of Manufactures
Conducted since 1949, the Survey provides detailed annual statistics on the location, activities, and products of U.S. manufacturers.

Internet: Annual Survey of Manufactures (Census Bureau).
Paper: Several series of reports shelved in the Docs. Census section as well as links to scanned versions online.

Census Bureau - Economic Surveys
Descriptive and contact information for each survey, plus links to related surveys and online data.

Census of Governments
Quinquennial survey conducted since 1957 covering government organization, taxable property values, public employment, and government finances. Earlier data on government entities may be found with the Decennial Censuses (see above).

Internet: Census of Governments (Census Bureau).
Paper: [Call numbers/holdings]. Use "search within results" and sorting to focus. You can also browse the Census Reference area in the Public Documents Collection in the call number range C 3.140: - C3.145:

Income and Labor

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Starting points for descriptions of BLS surveys, methodology, and access to data:

Current Population Survey (CPS)
A monthly survey of about 50,000 households conducted by the Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The survey has been conducted for more than 50 years and is the primary source of information on the labor force characteristics of the U.S. population. [Edited excerpt from "Overview" on the Current Population Survey web site,]

Online:
- CPS at Census / CPS at BLS
- IPUMS CPS Long time series of Census and CPS data. IPUMS is an interface to microdata, to provide custom extractions; NHGIS is an interface to aggregated data and GIS layers. Extract raw ASCII data and codebook, with loading files for Stata, SAS, and SPSS.
- CPS Data at the NBER The National Bureau of Economic Research archives microdata from several of the CPS surveys in several popular data formats (e.g., Stata, SPSS, SAS) along with some technical documentation (sample weights, etc.).
- ceprDATA.org Public microdata from several key surveys (e.g., ACS, CPS, SIPP) in Stata format.
Paper: Current Population Reports. Docs. Census Reference C 3.186: [see catalog for specific call numbers/holdings]. These are summary reports based on CPS data. Use "search within results" and sorting to focus, or use subject facets on the left. Or use the Subject Index to Current Population Reports and Other Population Report Series (Report P23-192, published August 1996, at Docs Census Ref C 3.186:P-23/192).
Paper: Measuring 50 Years of Economic Change Using the March Current Population Survey. Docs. Census Ref. C 3.186:P-60/203. Overview and history of the Current Population Survey, including numerous charts & graphs and historical time series up to 1997. Also available on the web in PDF format at http://www.census.gov/prod/3/98pubs/p60-203.pdf.

Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI)
From the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) Program: Public Use microdata from Cornell

Other LEHD data (Census Bureau): Including restricted-use microdata

Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP)
The purpose of the program, as stated on their web site, is: "To collect source and amount of income, labor force information, program participation and eligibility data, and general demographic characteristics...".

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) also has SIPP data files for 1984-2014 in several formats.