Sustainability: Data & Data Visualization Guide

A note on accessing data from government sources

Updated February 2025: The current presidential administration has mandated that some government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Census Bureau, remove certain types of data and information from public web sources. Much of the removed data involves information about gender or race. (See this 2/3/25 story from the Associated Press for some additional context.) UW Libraries is working to collect alternative sources of access to this deleted data, please visit the Alternative Sources for Government Data page linked on the sidebar.

If you have questions about locating specific data, please contact Laura using the 'email me' link under the photo box on the right side of the page.

Tips for Finding Data

Think about who would collect this kind of data

Could it have been collected by:

Government agency
- Demographics, large-scale socio-economic variables, anything a federal or state agency might be set up to monitor
- Equally true for US and non-US countries (although some countries have varying levels of data openness/availability)
A nonprofit or nongovernmental organization
- Localized topics
- Public opinion polls
Private business or industry group
- Financial/business data
- Public opinion polls
Academic researchers
- Very niche/specific topics where data is not publicly available elsewhere

Starting Points / Top Resources

Get started with the following resources:

Data.Census.Gov
Interface for data from U.S. Census, American Community Survey, Economic Census, and more. Tables and maps for U.S states, counties, cities, towns, by race, ethnic, ancestry, or tribal groups.
County and City Data for Washington
From the Washington State Office of Financial Management. Search by county, or by topic--economy, fiscal analysis, human services, population.
CDC Data & Statistics
Contains data and data sets from the U.S. Center for Disease Control

PolicyMap This link opens in a new window
Online mapping with data on demographics, real estate, health, jobs and more in communities across the United States
Sage Data This link opens in a new window
Social-science data and statistics from a variety of sources.
Statista This link opens in a new window
General data studies and infographics on many subjects including market, industry, and country statistics.

New & Trial Access Databases

Gale Digital Scholar Lab This link opens in a new window
Apply natural language processing tools to raw text data (OCR) from Gale Primary Sources in a single research platform. Trial access ends March 31, 2025.
ImportGenius This link opens in a new window
International import and export shipment records, including factory, product, arrival dates and port-of-entry details. Husky OnNet is required for off-campus access.
Regional Economic Data Toolkit This link opens in a new window
Four unique US datasets created by the Council for Community and Economic Research (C2ER).
Consumer Pyramids dx This link opens in a new window
The world's largest household panel survey, a continuous survey of more than 174,000 households in India, produced by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
FactSet This link opens in a new window
Data and analytics on global financial and economic markets and companies.