
Picking the best of anything can be difficult. It's quite
challenging when the subject is as vast and fast-changing
as regional data sites on the Web. Our list of the ten
best sites is based on a combination of the highest
vote-getters in our data user survey and our own
experience.
- Bureau of the
Census
The Census
Bureau site will lead you to the full range of
popular and obscure Census data series. The site
has a comprehensive A-to-Z listing of data
subjects, as well as American FactFinder and CenStats, query-based
means for accessing data for your area from a
variety of Census series.
- Bureau of Labor
Statistics
Bureau of
Labor Statistics (BLS) has a wealth of
information available through its Web site. BLS jobs, wages,
unemployment, occupation, and prices data series are available
through a much improved query-based system. Also see Economy
at a Glance for an integrated set of BLS data for states and
metro areas.
- Bureau of
Economic Analysis
The Bureau
of Economic Analysis (BEA) makes its Gross State
Product, Regional Economic Information
System (REIS), and foreign
direct investment data available on its Web
site. You can also use this site to access BEA's
national income account data and its publication
of record, the Survey of Current Business.
- FedStats
The FedStats web site, maintained by the Federal
Interagency Council on Statistical Policy, provides clickable
maps to obtain state and local data profiles drawn from multiple
federal statistical agencies, with links to the original data
sources. It also offers links to the web sites of over 70 federal
statistical agencies. If you want to get a quick
overview of what federal agencies provide what
kinds of data, come here.
- Geospatial and Statistical
Data Center, University of Virginia
The
University of Virginia's Geospatial and
Statistical Data Center provides a query-based
system for obtaining a wide variety of federal data by state and
area, including REIS, County
Business Patterns, and historical Census Data.
- Geography
Network, ESRI
Through the Geography Network, you can access
a wide range of geographic content, including live maps, downloadable data, and more advanced
services, from hundreds of providers around the U.S. and the
globe.
- Regional
Economic Conditions, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
The Regional
Economic Conditions site produced by the FDIC is high value added.
Not only does it provide access to employment, income, housing,
and real estate data for states, counties and metropolitan area,
it offers tools to build maps, tables, and charts.
- State
of the Cities Data Systems, Department of Housing and Urban
Development
HUD's Office of Policy Development &
Research has worked with federal statistical agencies to produce
special data runs on a number of economic performance indicators
for metro areas, including demographics, employment, and crime.
The unique aspect of this site is that data are disaggregated by
central cities and suburbs.
- Economagic.com
Economagic.com
gives you easy access to more than 100,000 data
series including state, metro and county
employment data compiled by federal statistical agencies. The site will create spreadsheet
files of data on-line as well as graphing data in
your internet browser. Registered users can
generate forecasts from historical data.
- State
Economic Data Sources, Association
of University Business and Economic Researchers
The Association of
University Business and Economic Researchers is one of those
organizations we suggest everybody get to know. Your local AUBER
member is often an insightful observer and invaluable resource on
your regional economy. Every state has its own experts and
specialized data collections. The fastest way to find them is
AUBER’s state-by-state directory of resources.
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