LibGuides: United States History: Historical Statistics

Historical Statistics

The United States Census, from 1790 to 2010, is one of the most important and richest collection of data and statistics about American history, culture, society and economy. But there are statistics collected by other organizations and government bodies that will also be useful.

Atlas of United States Presidential Elections
National, state and county-level data and maps of presidential primaries and elections 1789-2004. Note: maps are colored red for Democrats and blue for Republicans.
Guides to Census Research: U.S. Census
Describes the scope and contents of every U.S. Census of population, 1790-2000. Links to help you find both the print and online census publications and data available at UCSD
HeritageQuest (US Census, local history texts)
Search or browse U.S. Census forms as filled in by door-to-door census takers, 1790-1930. (Not all years indexed yet.) Also includes 25,000 books of local and family history, genealogy, other documents and index to genealogy and local history periodicals
Historical Statistics of the United States
Comprehensive survey and tabulation of historical statistics from government agencies and other sources, covering all aspects of US population and economy. First revision of the classic 1975 edition. View tables or download as Excel files
iPOLL Databank from the Roper Center
The preeminent database of individual poll questions covering nearly half million questions (and answers) asked in United States public opinion surveys.

Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
1935-present. Located at the University of Connecticut, the Roper Center is the principal archive for summary-level (aggregate) and micro-level (raw) public opinion survey data from the major polling organizations in the United States and other nations

Social Explorer
1790-2006. This site combines data from the U.S. Census of Population and Housing & the American Community Survey (ACS) with a user friendly interface allowing the creation of maps & statistical tables. Census Tract boundaries are available back to 1940.[
Statistical Abstract of the United States (1878-2012)
The authoritative annual summary of statistics on social, political and economic organization of the United States, gathered by the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and many other agencies and private sources. Last year available on this website: 2012.
Value of a Dollar: prices and incomes in the United States, 1860-2004
Actual prices of thousands of items that consumers purchased from the Civil War to the present
Voyages: the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database
Access to 4 databases (Voyages, Estimates, Images, and African Names) with information on almost 35,000 slaving voyages transporting over 10 million Africans between the 16th and 19th centuries." Data includes summary statistics, timelines, graphs, maps