during his tenure as secretary of state, thomas jefferson oversaw the first american census way back in 1790.  some of my countrymen express pride that we're the oldest democracy, but my heart swells with the knowledge that we've got the world's o... [Read more...]

for the unlucky among us born without a portuguese mother tongue, the pesquisa de orcamentos familiares (pof) translates to survey of household budgets.  this data set captures brazilian family consumption habits, allocation of expenses, and incom... [Read more...]

for those interested in the real estate and rental markets of the big apple, the census bureau's nyc housing and vacancy survey might be your key to the city.  if you care about how many new york residents live more than one person per room (a lot... [Read more...]

the social security administration (ssa) must be overflowing with quiet heroes, because their public-use microdata files are as inconspicuous as they are thorough.  sure, ssa publishes enough great statistical research of their own that outside re... [Read more...]

not a survey, not even remotely current, the society of actuaries' medical large claims experience study (mlces) might be the best private health insurance claims data available to the public.  this data should be used to calibrate other data sets... [Read more...]

think of the pesquisa nacional por amostra de domicilios (pnad) as the brazilian census for off-years - the ones that don't end in zero.  the principal household survey for the nation of brazil, pnad measures general education, labor, income, and ... [Read more...]

"Combining R's sophisticated calculations and MonetDB's excellent data access performance is a no-brainer. One gets the best of two (open source) worlds with minimal hassle." - Dr. Hannes Mühleisen"oh wow that was fast like a cheetah with a jetpack or something" - anthony damicowhy try monetdb + ra speed ... [Read more...]

a health professional shortage area (hpsa) is a geographic area, population group, or health care facility that has been designated by the united states government as having an insufficient supply of medical providers, based on certain provider-to-popu... [Read more...]

if the census bureau's budget was gutted and only one complex sample survey survived, pray it's the survey of income and program participation (sipp).  it's giant.  it's rich with variables.  it's monthly.  it follows households over three, four, now five year panels.  the congressional budget office uses it for their ... [Read more...]

the survey of consumer finances (scf) tracks the wealth of american families.  every three years, more than five thousand households answer a battery of questions about income, net worth, credit card debt, pensions, mortgages, even the lease on th... [Read more...]

the hrs is the one and only longitudinal survey of american seniors.  with a panel starting its third decade, the current pool of respondents includes older folks who have been interviewed every two years as far back as 1992.  unlike cross-se... [Read more...]

the meps household component leads the pack for examining individual-level medical expenditures by payor and type of service.  total expenditures captured by the survey tend to be low, but unbiased across the board and can be adjusted to match the... [Read more...]

experimental.  the behavioral risk factor surveillance system (brfss) aggregates behavioral health data from 400,000 adults via telephone every year.  it's um *clears throat* the largest telephone survey in the world and it's gotta lotta uses... [Read more...]

experimental.  think of the american community survey (acs) as the united states' census for off-years - the ones that don't end in zero.  every year, one percent of all americans respond, making it the largest complex sample administered by ... [Read more...]

the centers for medicare and medicaid services (cms) took the plunge.  the famous medicare 5% sample has been released to the public, free of charge.  jfyi - medicare is the u.s. government program that provides health insurance to 50 million... [Read more...]

warning: the instructions below are obsolete.  please check this page for the latest version.  [Read more...]

the consumer expenditure survey (ce) is the primo data source to understand how americans spend money.  participating households keep a running diary about every little purchase over the year.  those diaries are then summed up into precise expenditure categories.  how else are you gonna know that the average american household ... [Read more...]

some hacker news criticism convinced me to take a stab at the question: "what is R?" answer: the lingua statistica, s'il vous plaît. met my hero and the inspiration behind this website. bonus video: how to make coffee with r in two minutes. [Read more...]

the national survey on drug use and health (nsduh) monitors illicit drug, alcohol, and tobacco use with more detail than any other survey out there.  if you wanna know the average age at first chewing tobacco dip, the prevalence of needle-sharing,... [Read more...]

nhanes is this fascinating survey where doctors and dentists accompany survey interviewers in a little mobile medical center that drives around the country.  while the survey folks are interviewing people, the medical professionals administer labo... [Read more...]