LibGuides: Social Work Liaison Toolkit: Data Sets

About

Sources of data sets on issues related to social welfare. All content on this page is freely available unless otherwise noted.

Current Page Editor: Thomas Weeks (tweeks@augusta.edu)

Note*

Data Rescue

Some data on this page may be at risk of removal in light of recent federal actions. Data rescue efforts are ongoing. To view a comprehensive list of governement data and government resources that have been preserved, visit the Data Rescue Project's Google Doc.

For more on the Data Rescue Project, visit their website (https://www.datarescueproject.org/).

Additional information is available from the University of Minnesota's Guide for "Finding Government Information during the 2025 Administration Transition"

Comprehensive

Data Sets

Data.gov
The homepage for the U.S. Government's open data. You will find federal, state, and local data along with tools are other resources for using this open data.
more...less...
Specific data can be found at:
• counties.data.gov
• states.data.gov
• cities.data.gov
Current Population Survey (CPS)
The CPS is a monthly survey of labor force characteristics. The March Supplement to the CPS, the Annual Social and Economic Supplement, gives data on income, poverty, and health insurance for the country.
General Society Survey (GSS)
The longest-running project of the National Opinion Research Center (NORC), GSS contains demographic, behavioral, and attitudinal questions with many core questions going back to the survey’s inception, 1972.
Social Science Electronic Data Library (SSEDL)
Licensed resource by Sociometrics, provides data archives in nine topical areas including AIDS/STD, Adolescent Pregnancy, Aging, the American Family, Child Well-being, Disability, Maternal Drug Abuse, and more.

Data Repositories

The following data repositories are popular for depositing social sciences research data, and good sources to find free, comprehensive data sets.

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR)
This is the largest archive of social science data in the world. Data downloads may be restricted to member institutions. Most downloads require an account.
Open ICPSR
Provides a cheaper, easier place for researchers to archive, store and share their data. All data included in OpenICPSR is free for public use.
Open Science Framework
A free and open-source web application. Provides all researchers with a mechanism to organize, collaborate, share, and store components of their research projects.
Qualitative Data Repository
Hosted by the Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry at Syracuse University.
re3data.org
You can explore more social science repositories at the re3data, a global registry of research data repositories.

Topical or Subject

Children, Youth, and Family Services

Common Core of Data (CCD) - National Center for Education Statistics
Fiscal and nonfiscal data about public school students and staff collected annually. The dataset covers covers public elementary and secondary school districts from all 50 states in the U.S. Information is available on enrollment, student characteristics, dropout rates, participation in Free and Reduced-Price Lunch programs, Head Start participation and other useful information.
Early Childhood Longitudinal Program (ECLP)
“The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) program includes three longitudinal studies that examine child development, school readiness, and early school experiences.”
Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study
“The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study is following a cohort of nearly 5,000 children born in large U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000 (roughly three-quarters of whom were born to unmarried parents).”
National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA)
This is the largest library of electronic data on aging in the United States. NACDA is located within ICPSR, and is funded by the National Institute on Aging.
National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect
Datasets available include The National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), Foster Care and Adoption files, and more. Most free and for researchers across the U.S. Affiliation with a university with an IRB may be necessary.
National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health, (ADD HEALTH) 1994-2008
“The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) is a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of adolescents in grades 7-12 in the United States during the 1994-1995 school year. The Add Health cohort has been followed into young adulthood with four in-home interviews, the most recent in 2008, when the sample was aged 24-32. Add Health combines longitudinal survey data on respondents' social, economic, psychological and physical well-being with contextual data”
Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Child Development Supplement
Information includes a broad array of developmental outcomes on children aged 0-12 including physical health, emotional well-being, intellectual and academic achievement, cognitive ability, social relationships with family and peers.

Healthcare

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) - Public-Use Data Files and Documentation
Data sets from National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) surveys and data collection systems.
HealthData.gov
Data sets from U.S. Health and Human Services agencies like Administration for Children and Families, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Institute on Drug Abuse, and others. Also includes some state health data.

Mental Health

National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) Series
NSDUH series (formerly titled National Household Survey on Drug Abuse) is a major source of statistical information on the use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco and on mental health issues among members of the U.S. civilian, non-institutional population aged 12 or older.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (SAMHDA)
SAMHDA is an initiative of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, (SAMHSA) and allows you to search and download data sets, codebooks and documentation from national studies on substance abuse and mental health. You can also produce interactive maps and quick tables using this data.

Poverty

Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)
"The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), begun in 1968, is a longitudinal study of a representative sample of U.S. individuals (men, women, and children) and the family units in which they reside. It emphasizes the dynamic aspects of economic and demographic behavior, but its content is broad, including sociological and psychological measures."
Survey of Income and Program Participation Datasets (SIPP)
SIPP is the premier source of information for income and program participation. SIPP collects data and measures change for many topics including economic well-being, family dynamics, education, assets, health insurance, childcare, and food security.

Leadership and Social Change

County-level Measure of Social Capital
Data on the estimated stock of social capital in each US county for the years 1990, 1997, 2005, 2009, and 2014, by Pennsylvania State University, Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development.
HUD User-Data Sets
HUD USER (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) provides interested researchers with access to the original data sets generated by the Office of Policy Development and Research sponsored data collection effort.
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data
Collection housed at ICPSR (Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research.)
National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership (NNIP)
In collaboration with the Urban Institute and various local cities this group develops neighborhood level information for local policy and community building.
Social Security-Public Use Data Files
Social Security public-use data files are subsets of survey or administrative data which have been released to the public with all identifying information removed.
Welfare Rules Database (Urban Institute)
A database designed to make it easy to compare cash assistance programs between states, follow changes in cash assistance funding in a selected state or find information on cash assistance rules by state.