Public Health Research Guide

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is the nation’s principal health statistics agency. Data are collected from birth and death records, medical records, interviews, direct physical exams and laboratory testing. The site contains a link to “FASTATS A-Z” which allows the user to search for health statistics by topic. The site provides both summary-level and micro-level data.

This site provides links to a wide variety of reports and numeric public health data. Topics include chronic diseases, communicable diseases, environmental health, health practice and prevention, injury prevention, and occupational health.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) publishes evidence-based information on health care outcomes; quality; and cost, use, and access. Data available on this site include the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), and HIV and AIDS Costs and Use (HIVnet).

Comprehensive list of links to local, state, national and international health statistics and data sets. Provided by Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce, a collaboration of U.S. government agencies, public health organizations and health sciences librarians. This resource was retired on September 14, 2021 and is no longer updated, but the dataset can still be accessed.

State Health Facts provides free, up-to-date, and easy-to-use health data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the United States. State Health Facts is comprised of more than 800 health indicators and provides users with the ability to map, rank, trend, and download data. Data come from a variety of public and private sources, including Kaiser Family Foundation reports, public websites, government surveys and reports, and private organizations.

A US government data portal that is dedicated to making high value health data more accessible to entrepreneurs, researchers, and policy makers.

The data.HRSA.gov website (previously known as the HRSA Data Warehouse) provides maps, data, reports, and dashboards to the public about HRSA’s health care programs. The data integrates with external sources, such as the U.S. Census Bureau, providing information about HRSA’s grants, loan and scholarship programs, health centers, and other public health programs and services.

CDC's database that provides fatal and nonfatal injury, violent death, and cost of injury data from a variety of trusted sources

A resource by the Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health to help calculate synthetic estimates for local data.

QuickFacts provides statistics for all states and counties, and for cities and towns with a population of 5,000 or more.

Presents a spatial overview of food access indicators for low-income and other census tracts using different measures of supermarket accessibility; create maps.

The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics (Forum) is a collection of 23 Federal government agencies involved in research and activities related to children and families. The mission of the Forum is to foster coordination and collaboration and to enhance and improve consistency in the collection and reporting of Federal data on children and families. The Forum also aims to improve the reporting and dissemination of information on the status of children and families.

The Administration for Community Living was created around the fundamental principle that older adults and people with disabilities of all ages should be able to live where they choose, with the people they choose, and with the ability to participate fully in their communities.

Today, the mission of The Commonwealth Fund is to promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society’s most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, and people of color.

Since 2011, the CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities Reports (CHDIR) and the Strategies for Reducing Health Disparities reports have highlighted effective public health programs that have reduced disparities.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's County Health Reports are composite reports by county that link to the primary data sources for further exploration.

CensusScope is an easy-to-use tool for investigating U.S. demographic trends, brought to you by the Social Science Data Analysis Network (SSDAN) at the University of Michigan. With eye-catching graphics and exportable trend data, CensusScope is designed for both generalists and specialists. Access population pyramids here

For international demographic data