Lafayette College Library

First stops

Statistical Abstract of the United States. Ref Desk HA 202 .A3x
Standard summary of social, political, and economic statistics of the U.S.

Historical Statistics of the United States: Earliest Times to the Present. Ref HA202 .H57 2006
Demographic, economic, and social statistics of the United States from colonial times to the end of the 20th century.

FedStats
Useful for locating statistics gathered by U.S. federal government agencies that are available on the Web.

U.S. demographic and housing statistics

American Factfinder
Data from the U.S. Decennial Census of Population and Housing, the Economic Census, and other surveys conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. This site often provides an easier way to navigate to data than the Census Bureau's home page.

U.S. business and economic statistics

Economic Report of the President Transmitted to the Congress. Ref HC 106.5 .A272
Tables in back of volume include U.S. economic statistics for the past 40-50 years.

Business Statistics of the United States. Ref HC 101 .A15x
Economic and industrial statistics used for calculating the GNP. Good for time series data.

State statistics

Almanac of the 50 States. Ref HA 203 .A5

State Rankings. Ref HA 203 .U17x

International statistics

WDI Online
Country-level, time series data on development from the World Bank. Topics covered include demographics, the economy, and the environment. Data may be saved as Excel or ASCII files.

International Financial Statistics. Ref HG 3881 .I6264x
Detailed statistics on the financial and monetary conditions of countries of the world. From the International Monetary Fund.

OECD Economic Outlook Statistics and Projections
Extensive macroeconomic time series data for OECD countries and non-OECD zones. Includes historical statistics as well as projections extending two years beyond the current date.

Penn World Table
Times series, national accounts data for countries around the world. Provides data in a way that allows for meaningful comparisons between countries and over time.

Examples of specialized sources

Statehealthfacts.org (Kaiser Family Foundation)

Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics (Bureau of Justice Statistics). Ref HV 7245 .N37b

Black Americans: A Statistical Sourcebook. Ref E 185.5 .B512

Digest of Education Statistics (National Center for Education Statistics). Ref L 11 .D48

Ward's Motor Vehicle Facts and Figures. Ref HD 9710 .U5 M63a

For more sources...

Research Tools: Statistics -- U.S. and Research Tools: Statistics -- World
Lists of statistical Web sites most often used by Skillman reference staff. (Many have been added to this list because other econometrics students have found them useful.)

Lafayette Library Catalog
To find more sources in Skillman, search the library catalog by keyword for your topic and the word statistics—e.g., statistics and sports.

Doing Economics, pp. 144-155.