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Keep these things in mind when trying to locate data on a health-related topic: 

  • Think in terms of major stakeholders. Who is likely to be responsible for keeping track of data on a particular health-related topic?
  • It takes time to compile data on a topic. The past few years may have to suffice as “recent” data. 

Finding & Using Health Statistics 
Online tutorial “describes the range of available health statistics, identifies their sources and helps you understand how to use information about their structure as you search.” Offered by the National Library of Medicine.

Tools for Locating Health Data and Statistics

Some of these databases are broader in scope, covering much more than health topics. Most of these pages offer many more links to drill down to specific topics and resources. 


American Community Survey (ACS)
Collected by the U.S Census Bureau; an ongoing survey that provides data every year. Survey samples the U.S population on topics such as age, sex, race, family, income, health insurance, education, disabilities, commuting, housing and more.

Data.gov
Searchable catalog of machine-readable data-sets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government.

FastStats
A-Z topic list of statistics and data available from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Health, United States
Annual report on trends in health statistics. Presents national trends in health statistics. Each report includes an executive summary, highlights, a chartbook, trend tables, extensive appendixes, and an index.

Health Services Research Information Central
A huge repository of data tools and statistics, including links to state and local resources.

Kaiser Family Foundation
Data on health care produced by the Kaiser Family Foundation as well as from other organizations. Includes data on each U.S. state.

Partners in Information Access for the Public Health Workforce 
An extensive list of sources and links to data on the health of a population. Includes tools for data collection and planning.

Resource Center for Minority Data (RCMD)
An initiative from the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), at University of Michigan, which advances and expands social and behavioral research, acting as a global leader in data stewardship and providing rich data resources and responsive educational opportunities. The RCMD has not been updated since 2010 but has a lot of interesting data sets and national survey results.

Geographically Specific