Skip to Main Content
Syracuse University Libraries

Business Information Guide

Starting point for business and entrepreneurship research resources. Includes industry research, company research, market research, business case studies, and more.

Data Starting Points

Census Basics

 

The United States Census Bureau collects a vast amount of information on the residents and businesses of the United States. Finding the exact information you need can often be a daunting endeavor simply due to how much information is available. Here we try to make this task a little easier.

 

This guide is divided in three main sections:

 

Although, the Census Bureau web site, and in particular, American FactFinder, is the definitive source for census data, there are other web sites and products that provide census and related data in a sometimes easier to use format.  These include:

  • Census Academy - Videos, webinars and other tutorials on using Census data
  • DataUSA - Visualizations, Maps and narratives of US public data.
  • Social Explorer - Census and other data back to 1790.
  • Sage Data - Census, social, economic and international data with basic charting and mapping capability.
  • TRF PolicyMap - Census and other social and economic data with mapping capability
  • SimplyAnalytics - Census and marketing data with mapping capability
  • Proquest Statistical Insight - Searchable database of governmental statistical reports
  • Hard to Count 2020 - The goal of this map is to highlight the areas of the country that are hardest to count, and to  make sure these hard-to-count areas & populations are fully counted to help ensure a fair and accurate census.

 

Please note that data for school districts are available from the National Center for Education Statistics' School District Demographics System.

Then Census Bureau also produces many publications in their Publications and Newsroom sections.

Secondary Data Resources

Numeric Data Resources lists and describes many sources and resources for data and statistics on many topics. Some of the information you may find through this site is ready for use in a paper or report.  Other information may come in the form of electronic files that can or must be analyzed using a statistical software package such as SAS, Stata or SPSS.  The web sites listed here are only a small fraction of what is available and are presented as a starting point for your search. We highly recommend using the Google CSE to the left to find the most up-to-date information. If you cannot find what you need, please contact the Data Librarian for help.

Looking for GIS data?  Check out the Maps and GIS Resources page. 

Databases

Syracuse University Libraries subscribe to several databases that may be useful to your research. These databases cover many topics including demographic, economic, marketing, business, international trade and many others.  The full list is available on the Statistical and Numeric Databases page.  Some you may find particularly useful are:

  • Statista - Data from both public and private sources related to a wide range of subjects, including consumers, digital markets, and companies; also includes forecasts, analysis, reports, and more.
  • Sage Data - online service that enables researchers to build statistical tables and charts from multiple sources in a single interface. This online interactive statistical solution aggregates over 610 licensed and public domain datasets provided by over 55 sources.
  • Data Citation Index - The Data Citation Index from the Web of Science provides a single point of access to quality research data from repositories across disciplines and around the world. Discover research data, including data studies and data sets and connect them with the scientific literature to track data citations.
  • Social Explorer - Social Explorer provides easy access to census information about the United States from 1790 to the present. See our SocialExplorer tutorials.
  • TRF PolicyMap - Census and other social and economic data with mapping capability
  • SimplyAnalytics- allows users to map demographic, marketing, retail and consumer data. Data sets include EASI (Easy Analytic Software) life stage and Mediamark Research (MRI) consumer data.
  • ICPSR - The data archive includes a broad range of disciplines, including political science, sociology, demography, economics, history, education, gerontology, criminal justice, public health, foreign policy, and law.
  • World Development Indicators Online (WDI online)  - Contains statistical data for over 590 development indicators and time series data from 1960 for over 200 countries and 18 country groups. Data includes social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environmental indicators. Data selection screens are intuitive and easy to use. Results can be scaled, indexed against a particular year, viewed by percentage change, and charted. Data can also be exported in standard formats like Excel.

Data and Statistics on Syracuse and Onondaga County, NY

In addition to the online data listed below, we also have a page of links to various websites providing information about the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York.  Many of the links on this page can be used to find similar information for other places in the U.S. as well.

 

Data Libraries/Repositories

Many universities and other institutions maintain their own collections of data, some of which may be available to the general public, some by subscription, and some for their own use.  The Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research(ICPSR) is the largest and most well-known of data repositories. All of the data at ICPSR is freely available to SU users. Please see our list of Data Libraries for more information.