U.S. Government Publications at the University of Wisconsin-Madison : Statistics
How to find U.S. government publications at University of Wisconsin-Madison libraries.
Subject Guide
Beth Harper
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UW-Madison Research Guides to Finding Statistics
- Agricultural StatisticsGuide created by Steenbock Library provides links to agricultural statistics for Wisconsin, the United States, and beyond.
- Finding Health StatisticsGuide created by Ebling Library provides links to statistics on birth and death, particular disorders, diseases, population groups, health trends, hospital utilization, costs, and health related issues.
- National Center for Education StatisticsGuide created by MERIT Library provides suggestions for use of the NCES website.
- Statistics on Women and Gender: Where and How to FindGuide created by UW-Madison's Women's Studies Librarian will help you find resources with statistics and data on women and gender.
Statistical sources
For the most part, the resources listed here contain statistical tables. If you're interested in obtaining raw data sets from which you can then generate your own tabulations, see the "data" tab on this page, or visit the UW-Madison's Data and Information Services Center.
For additional statistical resources, see the list of statistical databases on the UW-Madison's Libraries website.
- AgingStats.govMaintained by the Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics, this site's main product is the book "Older Americans: Key Indicators of Well-Being," available on this page.
- Bureau of Economic AnalysisProvides statistics and data on U.S. economic accounts, on national, international, regional, and industry levels.
- Bureau of Justice StatisticsProvides free public access to information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government.
- Bureau of Labor StatisticsThe principal federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy.
- Census BureauFree public access to U.S. demographic, trade, and business data and statistical reports. Best government web site for U.S. demographic data.
- ChildStats.govThe signature report of the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, "America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being," features statistics on children and families in the U.S. across a range of domains, including family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education and health
- Data and Statistics from USA.govProvides links to federal government data sources and statistics sources by topic.
- Digest of Education StatisticsSummarizes information about American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. Free public access is available from 1990-present. Earlier editions are available in print at the UW-Madison libraries: 1975-2009 and 1963-1974.
- Economic IndicatorsFrom the Commerce Dept, which releases 13 monthly and quarterly Principal Federal Economic Indicators.
- National Agricultural Statistics ServiceDatabase provides free public access to reports prepared by the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) covering various facets of U.S. agriculture -- production and supplies of food and fiber, prices paid and received by farmers, farm labor and wages, farm aspects of the industry.
- Data Planet Statistical DatasetsProvides access to statistical information produced by U.S. federal agencies, states, private organizations, and major intergovernmental organizations. Information available in tabular and graphical form; tables and graphs can be reformatted in a variety of ways. Available for use in campus libraries, or off-campus use by UW-Madison students, faculty, and staff.
- Social ExplorerGenerates reports and maps from population data from the U.S. Census, going back to 1790, and from the Religious Congregations and Membership Study. Click "tables" on the left to generate numerical tables. Available for use in campus libraries, or off-campus use by UW-Madison students, faculty, and staff.
- Statistical Abstract of the United StatesPublication summarizing statistics on the social, cultural, political, and economic organization of the United States. It includes a selection of data from many statistical publications, both government and private. Free public access is available to 1878-2012 editions; later editions available in campus libraries or off-campus to current UW-Madison students, faculty, and staff.
- Tax StatisticsFrom the Internal Revenue Service. Business tax, individual tax, and charitable/tax-exempt organization statistics.
- TRANSTATS: The Intermodal Transportation DatabaseDatabase provided by the Research and Innovative Transportation Administration (RITA) and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) offers free public access to a range of transportation data by subject or mode of transport.
- USAspending.govPresents data about the various types of contracts, grants, loans, and other types of spending by the federal government.
Federal Depository Library Program
As part of the Federal Depository Library Program, the UW-Madison Libraries make U.S. government publications available to the public at no fee.
Statistics and data: what are the differences?
How are statistics and data different? The following comparison comes from a presentation by Mike McCaffrey, lecturer at the Faculty of Information of the University of Toronto.
Data
- “Disaggregated” collection of observations with one or more characteristics
- Generally require manipulation or extraction using utilities
- Can be values or observations of characteristics “numerically coded”
- Raw material for statistics
Statistics
- “Aggregated” and tabulated or cross-tabulated tallies based on data
- Counts, tallies, totals, “averages”
- Can be found in print or electronically
- Normally used as they are presented or retrieved
- “Facts numerically represented”
From: McCaffrey, Mike. “International Statistics: Helping Library Users Understand the Global Community.” Presentation at the American Library Association’s Government Information Round Table Pre-Conference, International Statistics: Helping Library Users Understand the Global Community, Chicago, IL, June 28, 2013.