Social Work Research Resources
Searching for Data
Before you start your search consider:
- What is your research question? What type of data or statistical information do you need?
- Who or what organizations are also interested in your research question? Who would create or manage that information? What data sources have been used to answer topics related to the same or similar research questions (for example, those found in literature reviews)
- What geographical location does your data need to cover? National, state, county, municipality, census tract, etc?
- How is the data collected? What is the methodology or unit of analysis?
- When was the data collected? What is the time period you want to investigate? How frequently is the data collected?
Find Datasets
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Sage Data
Provides access to a wide variety of economic, social, and political indicators including data sets from the U.S. government, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the OECD, Eurostat, the United Nations, the world's stock exchanges, and Zillow. Offers customized graphing and mapping.
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Social Explorer
Interactive tool that combines modern and historical US census and demographic data with an intuitive map interface, 1790 to present.
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Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)Archive of online original research data on social science topics. Create your own MyData personal account.
UWM is a member - contact is Dr. Lex Renda
History Department. renlex@uwm.edu -
DataLumosDataLumos is an ICPSR archive for valuable government data resources. ICPSR has a long commitment to safekeeping and disseminating US government and other social science data. DataLumos accepts deposits of public data resources from the community and recommendations of public data resources that ICPSR itself might add to DataLumos.
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Harvard DataverseThe Harvard Dataverse Repository is a free data repository open to all researchers from any discipline, both inside and outside of the Harvard community, where you can share, archive, cite, access, and explore research data. Each individual Dataverse collection is a customizable collection of datasets (or a virtual repository) for organizing, managing, and showcasing datasets.
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General Social Survey (GSS): Data ExplorerSince 1972, the General Social Survey (GSS), from NORC at the University of Chicago, has been a reliable source of data to help researchers, students, and journalists monitor and explain trends in American behaviors, demographics, and opinions. Create a free MyGSS account to access, analyze, and save GSS data.
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DataPortals.orgA detailed list of Open Data Portals from around the world.
Changes in government information
In response to President Trump's January 2025 Executive Orders, federal agencies have removed government documents and data from official government websites, including those that refer to climate change, gender identity and sexual orientation, and vaccines, among others. Despite a court order to restore the information, some documents and data have not been restored or have been altered by government agencies.
Further, funding cuts across federal agencies have limited resources to collect and report data, which may impact data quality. Effected agencies include the NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Agency), Department of Education, and the NIH (National Institutes of Health), among others.
As of October 1, 2025 at 12:01am, the government entered a shut down. As a result, some federal government websites and information products will not be updated or accessible until Congress passes an appropriations bill to fund the government. This includes the September 2025 jobs report from the BLS (Bureau of Labor and Statistics).
Below are some resources to locate missing data. Please contact a librarian if you cannot find the data you are looking for.
Datasets
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Data Rescue Project PortalThe Data Rescue Project (DRP) serves as a clearinghouse for preserving at-risk public information. The Data Rescue Portal centralizes these efforts, providing a user-friendly gateway to over 1000 preserved datasets.
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DataLumosDataLumos is an ICPSR archive for valuable government data resources. ICPSR has a long commitment to safekeeping and disseminating US government and other social science data. DataLumos accepts deposits of public data resources from the community and recommendations of public data resources that ICPSR itself might add to DataLumos.
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Finding Government Information during the 2025 Administration Transition (University of Minnesota)This guide will point to resources that identify and track steps taken by the Trump administration and Congress to scale back or eliminate access to federal government information. It also provides links to groups performing data and website rescue.
Find Government Data and Statistics
Search or browse the USA.gov departments and agency index to identify the department or agency collects data on your topic. Agencies publish data on their websites under pages titled "library," "resources," "our work," or "research."
Browse Census Bureau topics and subtopics to help find the information you need.
**Since January 20, 2025, some federal agency data and reports were removed or altered from government webpages. Please contact a librarian if you cannot find the data you are looking for.**
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Data.gov
Data.gov provides access to federal, state and local open datasets. Search or browse non-sensitive government data and tools in a variety of formats, covering topics such as business, health, education, science, and much more.
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Census Data
The U.S. Census Bureau interface for distributing the Decennial Census of Population and Housing, the Economic Census, the American Community Survey, annual economic surveys, and other upcoming major related statistical files. This site is the primary source for the Census and the current economic census reports. The site is updated regularly with new data as it becomes available to the public.
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USASpending.govUSAspending is the official open data source of federal spending information,
including information about federal awards such as contracts, grants, and loans. -
My Tribal Area - US Census BureauAccess select datasets collected from the American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) population from the American Community Survey (ACS).
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National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education.
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Housing and Urban Development Data SetsData sets provided by the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administration.
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Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) DataMaster list of databases, tables, and Calulators by subject of all data collected and reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
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U.S. Bureau of Economic AnalysisThe U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis is your source of accurate and objective data about the nation's economy. BEA's economists produce some of the world's most closely watched statistics, including U.S. gross domestic product, better known as GDP, as well as state and local numbers, foreign trade and investment stats and industry data.
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Data USAVisualization tool for open U.S. Government data on geographic locations, occupations, industries, and more. Map, compare, and download data, e.g. median household income by state.
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City of Milwaukee Open DataUnder the City's 2016 Open Data Policy, there is now a open data portal for City of Milwaukee data. Topics Include: Aldermanic districts, voting wards, neighborhoods, police districts, properties, parcels, streets, schools, snow removal, leaf collection, streetcar routes and stops, neighborhood strategic planning areas, and more.
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Milwaukee County Open DataThis is the GIS open data portal for Milwaukee County. The Topo-Planimetric county-wide data download offers users some of the most comprehensive basemap data available for Milwaukee County, including natural and man-made features. The Cadastral county-wide data download includes basemap information about real estate and property. Each are available county-wide or for specific areas.
Wisconsin Data and Statistics
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Children's Mental Health Indicators and Well-Being ReportAnnual reports from the Wisconsin Office of Children's Mental Health (OCMH).
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Death StatisticsAnnual statistical Death report from the state of Wisconsin based on aggregate data from Wisconsin death records.
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Department of Natural Resources Public Drinking Water Data SystemA Public Water System (PWS) provides piped water to the public for human consumption. Wisconsin PWSs are regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). This site allows you to query and download data from our database, the Drinking Water System (DWS), which is maintained and used by DNR SDWA regulators. Information is current as of approximately 10 p.m. the prior day. It includes information such as PWS monitoring and other requirements, sample results, violations, inspection findings, plan/document review status, etc.
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Department of Transportation Continuous Count DataThe Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) collects continuous count data from 316 permanent data collection sites primarily located on the State Trunk Highway System. Data at continuous count sites are scheduled to be collected in hourly intervals each day of the year.
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Health Insurance Enrollment ReportsThe Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) issues the Health Insurer Market Survey (HIMS) annually to collect enrollment data on comprehensive health plans. The data gathered allow OCI to monitor the state of Wisconsin's health insurance markets both by type of business (grandfathered, transitional, single risk pool) and market segment (individual, small group, large group).
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Multifamily Data Library - WHEDAcomplied datasets and statistical profiles for information containing to housing and multi-family developments.
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Wisconsin Department of Child and Family Welfare Reports and DataDCF publishes many reports about our work improving the lives of Wisconsin families.
Data and statistical reports have been grouped by program area. -
Wisconsin Department of Corrections Data and ReportsThe sections below contain data and reports that address the questions most frequently asked of DOC. This includes adult prison statistics, community supervision statistics, data on youthful offenders, staff assault and injury reports, and recidivism and reincarceration rates.
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Wisconsin Department of Health Services - Data & StatisticsSort through data and statistics from the state of Wisconsin DHS by topic.
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Wisconsin Energy StatisticsThe Wisconsin Energy Statistics Book is an annual publication from the OEI that serves as a comprehensive source of data on energy consumption, generation, prices, expenditures, and renewable energy development in Wisconsin.
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Wisconsin Fire Loss / Fire Department ProfilesThis page presents a snapshot of Wisconsin fire losses reported through the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS).
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Wisconsin Public School Nutrition Program StatisticsThese data reports give an overview of number of sites, participation, revenue, expenditures and reimbursements, for the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Afterschool Snack Program, Special Milk Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, Summer Food Service Program, Donated Food Distribution Program, Elderly Nutrition Improvement Program, and Wisconsin School Day Milk program.
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Wisconsin Trauma-Informed Care MapThis is an informational and mapping tool developed to track activities and initiatives across the state of wisconsin pertaining to Trauma-Informed Care by the Office of Children's Mental Health by the State of Wisconsin.