National Public Health Data Resources

American FactFinder Accesses data from the Censuses of Population and Housing, the American Community Survey, and the Economic Census. Users can search Census STF databases, with metadata description, and format the results to create customized tables (or download to spreadsheets), construct reference maps to show boundaries and features for geographic entities, and produce quick thematic maps to reveal geographic patterns in statistical data.

Anne E. Casey Foundation Has links to KIDS COUNT, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. This is a national and state-by-state effort to track the status of children in the United States.

Annual Reviews Researchers and editors affiliated with Annual Reviews, a nonprofit organization, synthesize and filter critical reviews by leading scientists in 29 focused disciplines within Biological, Medical, Physical and Social Sciences. Public Health is among the disciplines reviewed. Annual Reviews' search feature, and abstracts can be used online by non-subscribers, while the entire article can be only accessed by subscribers.

Catalog of Administrative Data Sources for Neighborhood Indicator Systems (pdf, 49 pages):This catalogue, written in 1997 by the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership of the Urban Institute describes the sources and types of data from administrative agencies that can be used to produce local indicators. It provides a description of 42 different administrative data sources typically available in most cities. Sources are grouped into eight categories: economy, education, health, social services, safety and security, community resources and involvement, housing and physical development, and the environment.

Child Health USA 2000 Amasses secondary data on health status and service needs of children. Report provides over 50 health status indicators and includes information on infants, children, and adolescents, health service utilization, state-specific and local data, as well as information on the nation's progress towards meeting the Healthy People objectives.

Child Trends: Has national trends and research data on over 70 key indicators of child and youth well-being including demographic, health, social and emotional development, income-assets and work, education and skills, and family and community.

Children's Defense Fund: Has data and information related to child poverty, education, and child care costs.

Federal Interagency Council on Statistical Policy More than 70 agencies in the U.S. Federal Government produce statistics of interest to the public. This site provides easy access to the full range of county- and state-level statistics and information produced by these U.S. government agencies for public use. Among the postings are county level data on immigration, crime, and poverty estimates.

Healthy People 2000: The Healthy People 2000 main web site describes the overall agenda for achievement of national health objectives, priority areas, progress to date, lead agencies, data sources, publications, and more.

Healthy People 2010 Healthy People 2010 released in January, 2000 presents 467 objectives to improve the health of Americans by the year 2010. It is a statement of national health objectives designed to identify the most significant preventable threats to health and to establish national goals to reduce these threats. Background information and the entire HP 2010 document are available online.

Kids Count: Has data and information on child well-being indicators. Also links to state Kids Count Data publications.

National Survey of America's Families Provides a comprehensive look at the well-being of adults and children and reveals sometimes striking differences among the 13 states studied in depth. The survey pays particular attention to low-income families, and reporting on important aspects about their lives and how they differ from the lives of children and adults in families with higher incomes. It is a part of New Federalism, a multi-year research project of the Urban Institute. The survey is representative of the noninstitutionalized, civilian population of persons under age 65 in the nation as a whole and in 13 states:including Massachusetts and New York. Site visitors can retrieve and download survey results.

National Women's Health Information Center (NWHIC): Quick Health Data Online, provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office on Women's Health, includes comprehensive data, for both women and men, from 1998-2004 on a variety of health related topics. You can create tables, graphs, and maps from the data on:

  • mortality
  • infectious and chronic diseases
  • mental health
  • reproductive health
  • maternal health
  • violence and abuse
  • illness prevention
  • access to care

County, state, regional and national data can be accessed by gender, race/ethnicity, and age, concurrently. Single year and 3-year averages are included as are age-adjusted values for many of the indicators. Data are available for the 50 states, D.C. and U.S. territories.

Peristats: PeriStats is an interactive perinatal data resource developed by the March of Dimes that provides maternal, infant and child health-related data with state-level and some county-level indicators.

SOA (Society of Actuaries) Health Data Site Listing Located on the National Association of Health Data Organizations website, this is a comprehensive list of federal health data sites.

United Way State of Caring Index: Measures the health and well-being at the state and national levels using 32 social and economic indicators in six key areas:Economic and financial well-being; Education; Health; Voluntarism/Charity/Civic Engagement; Safety; Natural Environment and Other factors.