Research Guides: Environmental Studies: Data Sources

Social and Demographic Data

Data Planet Statistical Datasets
Repository of officially sourced statistical data with visualization, search, and analysis capabilities.
Social Explorer
Statistics about people, social characteristics, and the economy of the U.S., with Census data from 1790 to the present.

Google Public Data Search
Use Google to search for public data. Mostly US and European coverage.
Google Dataset Search
Different from Google Open Data. This is a beta feature from Google that allows search of open data repositories. Coverage is beyond public data.

U.S. Census Data
Tool to retrieve recent data on the people and economy of the U.S.

OpenColorado
Local government data for participating municipalities/counties in Colorado. Primarily Front Range.

Statista
Statista aggregates statistics and studies from market researchers, organizations, specialist publications, and government sources.

National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS)
Provides pre-2000 U.S. Census data (American FactFinder only contains the two most recent censuses plus ACS data). Aggregate census data and GIS-compatible boundary files for the United States between 1790 and 2013.

National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
The world's largest provider of weather and climate data, from NOAA. Formerly known as the National Climatic Data Cener
EPA Environmental Dataset Gateway
The Environmental Dataset Gateway is the EPA's data clearinghouse
Data.gov
The clearinghouse of US government produced data.
USGS Surface-Water Data
Surface water data for the United States
SNOTEL
Snow Telemetry (SNOTEL) and Snow Course Data and Products. Here you will find snow depth and other data from SNOTEL sites around the Western US.
NOAA U.S. Wildfires
Nationwide fire data. See also: GIS Data Tab
NOAA Centers for Environmental Information
Climate, weather, and oceanic data for the US

World DataBank
From the World Bank. Development indicators, education, gender, health, poverty, & more statistics.
UN Data
A wide range of topics including energy, trade, health, economic indicators, & more.
Data-Planet Statistical Datasets
Data-Planet is a great starting point for finding data. Many of the datasets available here can be exported pre-joined to shapefiles for use in GIS. Lots of economic and social data.
OECD Economic Data
Economic data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
Bureau of Economic Analysis
BEA data, from the US Department of Commerce

World DataBank
From the World Bank. Development indicators, education, gender, health, poverty, & more statistics.
UN Data
A wide range of topics including energy, trade, health, economic indicators, & more.
Data-Planet Statistical Datasets
Data-Planet is a great starting point for finding data. Many of the datasets available here can be exported pre-joined to shapefiles for use in GIS. Lots of economic and social data.
EuroStat
he EU's portal for statistical information including population, economics, trade, & more.
Guide to International Government Data & Statistics
This is a very comprehensive guide to international data resources provided by Jim Church at the University of California-Berkeley

Strategy # 1 Go to the source

Who cares enough about this topic that they would gather this data? Is it a government agency? A private company?

Strategy #2 Check out library resources

Strategy #3 Follow the breadcrumbs

Look for citations, footnotes, tables, and other data sources in your readings

Look for articles using the many resources provided in Find Sources on this guide
The results list in Environment Complete and similar databases will include links to images, charts, tables, and statistics. You don't even need to open the article to view them.