Below is a listing of some of the many US agencies included in the Data Planet repository that collect and disseminate statistical data relevant to business, economics, and marketing research. The available data ranges across a wide array of subject areas: demography, industry, commerce, banking, finance, housing, agriculture, and more - the best source for your research will depend on the research question under investigation.
Bureau of Economic Analysis Along with the Census Bureau and STAT-USA, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) is part of the Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration. BEA produces economic accounts statistics that enable government and business decisionmakers, researchers, and the public to follow and understand the performance of the United States economy. BEA economic statistics are key ingredients in critical decisions affecting monetary policy, tax and budget projections, and business investment plans. The cornerstone of BEA's statistics is the national income and product accounts (NIPAs), which feature the estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) and related measures. BEA prepares many other national, regional, industry, and international accounts that present essential information on such key issues as economic growth, regional economic development, interindustry relationships, and the nation's position in the world economy.
Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the United States Department of Labor is the principal fact-finding agency for the federal government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. The BLS is an independent national statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, the US Congress, other federal agencies, state and local governments, business, and labor. The BLS also serves as a statistical resource to the Department of Labor.
Bureau of Transportation Statistics The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) was established as a statistical agency in 1992. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 created BTS to administer data collection, analysis, and reporting and to ensure the most cost-effective use of transportation-monitoring resources. BTS brings a greater degree of coordination, comparability, and quality standards to transportation data, and facilitates in the closing of important data gaps.
Claritas A leading provider of intelligent marketing information and target marketing, Claritas pioneered a technique for geo-demographic segmentation in the 1970s, Claritas provides information about people, households, and businesses within any geographic area in the United States. Today, Claritas offers over 60 marketing databases, consumer segmentation systems, consulting services and software applications for site analysis, advertising sales, and customer targeting services. [Note: This is a premium dataset and may not be available at your institution.]
Easy Analytic Software Inc. (EASI) is a New-York based software engineering and statistical modeling firm that specializes in consumer demographics. Using input data from the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Mediamark, EASI develops model-based indicators of the demographic characteristics, consumer spending, and behavior patterns for a wide range of geographic areas—State, counties, census tracts, and block groups. Mediamark is a market research firm that annually publishes The Survey of the American Consumer, based on detailed interviews of 26,000 households. [Note: This is a premium dataset and may not be available at your institution.]
Energy Information Administration The Energy Information Administration (EIA), created by Congress in 1977, is an independent statistical and analytical agency within the United States Department of Energy. Its mission is to provide policy-independent data, forecasts, and analyses to promote sound policy making, efficient markets, and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment.
Sharadar: An independent research and analytics firm founded in 2013, Sharadar specializes in extraction, standardization, and organization of financial data from company filings. Sharadar Core US Fundamentals, available in Data Planet via license from Quandl, provides company financials for over 14,000 US public companies.
Infogroup Business USA - Infogroup is a big data, analytics and marketing services provider. Infogroup provides both digital and traditional marketing channel expertise drawing on proprietary data collected on millions of business establishments. The Infogroup Business USA dataset provides data on businesses in the United States, at national and subnational geographic units. Data on businesses in US territories is also included. Data are collected from multiple sources, including direct calls to businesses. Statistics are presented on company counts, employee counts, and sales by industry, company, and company location. [Note: This is a premium dataset and may not be available at your institution.]
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau is a bureau of the United States Department of Commerce. The major functions of the Census Bureau are authorized by Article 2, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, which provides that a census of population shall be taken every 10 years, and by Title 13 and Title 26 of the United States Code of Federal Regulations. The Census Bureau is responsible for numerous statistical programs, including census and surveys of households, governments, manufacturing and industries, and for United States foreign trade statistics. The first United States census was conducted in 1790 for the purposes of apportioning state representation in the House of Representatives of the United States and for the apportionment of taxes.
United States Department of the Treasury This federal agency is responsible for promoting economic prosperity and ensuring the financial security of the United States. As part of the executive branch of the US government, the Treasury Department is responsible for advising the President on economic and financial issues, encouraging sustainable economic growth, and fostering improved governance in financial institutions. The Department operates and maintains systems that are critical to the nation's financial infrastructure, including the production of coin and currency, the disbursement of payments to the American public, revenue collection, and the borrowing of funds necessary to run the federal government.
United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was created by the Agricultural Act of May 15, 1862, signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln. Key activities include: expanding markets for agricultural products and support international economic development; further developing alternative markets for agricultural products and activities; providing financing needed to help expand job opportunities and improve housing, utilities, and infrastructure in rural America; enhancing food safety by taking steps to reduce the prevalence of food-borne hazards; improving nutrition and health by providing food assistance and nutrition education and promotion; and managing and protecting America's public and private lands working cooperatively with other levels of government and the private sector. Major data statistical programs of USDA include the Economic Research Service, the Foreign Agricultural Service, the National Agricultural Statistics Service, and the World Agricultural Outlook Board.
There are literally millions of statistics in the Data Planet statistical repository that are relevant to business, economics and marketing. A description of a small sampling of the available datasets is provided below. Click on the links to view data visualizations and descriptions of the underlying data. Log into Data Planet through your library's website to explore further!
Consumer Price Index Several datasets include the Consumer Price Index for the US. Linked here is CPI as produced by Bureau of Labor Statistics, considered the official source of this index.
House Price Index This index, produced by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, assesses housing prices for states against a base period of 1980=100.
US Trade Statistics This dataset, also known as the FT900 data release, provides the official import and export statistics of the United States.
Local Areas Personal Income and Employment This dataset presents annual estimates of personal income and employment for states and counties in the United States. These estimates are developed as part of the Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Economic Accounts program.
Consumer Expenditures This Bureau of Labor Statistics dataset provides data on the sociodemographic characteristics and annual income and expenditures of the entire population of consumer units surveyed as part of the Consumer Expenditure Survey. These data can be analyzed in subsets of the population classified according to income, age, consumer unit size, etc.
Consumer Credit The G.19 Statistical Release, "Consumer Credit," reports outstanding credit extended to individuals for household, family, and other personal expenditures, excluding loans secured by real estate. The report is issued by the Federal Reserve Board.
Sharadar Core US Fundamentals This database provides financials for over 14,000 US public companies. Data points include earnings and dividends, ratios, revenues, assets and liabilities, and more. Note that not all metrics are available for all stocks.
Agricultural Census and Agricultural Surveys In addition to the Census of Agriculture conducted every five years, the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) conducts hundreds of surveys during each calendar year of farm operations in the US. Included are statistics related to animal and livestock and crop production, farm economics, and use of chemicals by farm operations.
Money Stock Measures The Federal Reserve Statistical Release H.6, which is published weekly, provides measures of the monetary aggregates (M1 and M2) and their components. M1 and M2 are progressively more inclusive measures of money: M1 is included in M2. M1, the more narrowly defined measure, consists of the most liquid forms of money, namely currency and checkable deposits. The non-M1 components of M2 are primarily household holdings of savings deposits, small time deposits, and retail money market mutual funds.
Energy Metrics The United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) publishes granular data on energy metrics important to US business and industry. Track consumption, production, price, and expenditures by fuel source.
Import-Export Indexes The International Price Program (IPP) of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces Import/Export Price Indexes (MXP), which measure the change over time in the prices of goods or services purchased from abroad by US residents (imports) or sold to foreign buyers by US residents (exports). The Import/Export Price Indexes, along with the Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index, form the basis of three major BLS programs measuring the change in the prices of goods and services in the US economy. Each of the three has been designated as a Principal Federal Economic Indicator.