US Census Data Website

The U.S. Census Bureau is the primary resource for U.S. demographic data (United States, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas). The website is fairly easy to use, and convenient since it includes data from several censuses and surveys including:

• The American Community Survey
• The American Housing Survey
• three Annual Economic Surveys
  • Annual Survey of Manufactures  
  • Business Patterns  
  • Nonemployer Statistics  
• The Decennial Census (every 10 years) (age, sex, race, housing units and more)
• The Economic Census (every 5 years)
• The Population Estimates Program

Find a table, file or document in the data portal, or create your own by choosing from topics, geographies, race and ethnic groups, industry codes, or occupational codes. It allows you to download data in Excel or cvs format so you can manipulate it for yourself, or you may choose to display it as a table, chart, or map using their software. 

You may prefer to do your demographics research on the Census website itself. It allows you to approach data in a variety of ways (check out the QUICKFACTS box to pull fast information about a specific location) and for expert users to download datasets by survey or topic. It is an easy address to remember: www.census.gov

Other data and resources

• Oregon Rural Explorer   Information about towns in Oregon (including Portland)
• Current Population Survey  Income data
• Consumer Expenditures Surveys  Consumer Spending data
• StateMaster compares statistics between different states in the US -- for example you can compare the percentage of toothless Americans over 65 years of age in every state.