Find Data

The U.Va. Library is currently developing its collection of data sources to support quantitative research. This page provides a general overview of the resources available to faculty, staff, and students. For a complete list of all fee-based resources, please see the Licensed Data Sources page.

Data by Subject

• Arts, Culture, and Religion
• Business, Market, and Consumers
• Census and Demography
• Crime and Justice
• Economic and Finance
• Education
• Health
• International Trade
• Media and Communication
• Political, Election, and Polling
• Science, Technology, and Environment
• More and Beyond, and Fun!

Data Archives

We are members of two major social science data archives—Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) and Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. ICPSR is one of the world’s oldest and largest social science data repositories and contains many large-scale studies, such as the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and American National Election Study, that are of interest to researchers.  (Please note that you must create a personal account in order to download data.) The Roper Center maintains a vast archive of public opinion data from leading survey organizations like Gallup, Pew Research, and the Associated Press. Additionally, the library has a membership to the Alliance for Audited Media, which publishes circulation statistics for approximately 3,000 U.S. newspapers and magazines.

U.S. Government Data

For more than a century, UVA Library has participated in the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), an initiative that promotes public access to government information. Through the FDLP, the library has acquired an extensive collection of statistical data from the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and other federal agencies. Our participation in the FDLP provides researchers with no-fee access to U.S. import and export data through USA Trade Online (please contact us for login information).

In addition to free resources provided by the federal government, the library licenses a number of commercial products that make finding and using government data easier. The Statistical Abstract of the United States is a convenient tool for locating quick facts and figures. For historical data, Historical Statistics of the United States contains tables on the economic, social, political, and demographic history of the U.S. that date back to colonial times.

Since many researchers use the decennial census, the library has a subscription to Social Explorer, an online resource that provides quick and easy access to current and historical census data. Users can create custom data reports at all geographic levels and download data in a variety of file formats for use with statistical and GIS software. We also have several GeoLytics products that normalize census data to examine change over time. The Neighborhood Change Database contains select variables from the 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010 censuses with data normalized (cross-walked) to the 2010 tract-level boundaries. Similarly, the Time-Series Research Package includes all variables from the 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010 censuses in their year-specific boundaries as well as normalized to the 2010 block group boundaries. These products are extremely helpful for doing time series analysis with census data.

The Current Population Survey (CPS) is another large government dataset that is used by many social scientists. The library has purchased CPS Utilities from Unicon Research. We currently have the most recent version of the Annual Social and Economic (March) Supplement.

International Data

While many international organizations provide free and open access to their data, some require a subscription. We subscribe to the OECD iLibrary, which includes access to their statistical databases (except IEA) on themes such as demography and population, finance, globalization, health, labor, and transportation. The library also subscribes to the IMF eLibrary Data. This database contains a deep archive of time series data on all aspects of international and domestic finance for more than 200 countries and areas. Additionally, we have purchased all three industrial statistical databases from UNIDO–INDSTAT4, INDSTAT2, and IDSB.

UVA Library has a strong collection of print statistical yearbooks from foreign governments. These are useful for locating summary-level data; the source notes can be used to identify more detailed tables. Newer volumes often come with a CD-ROM that contains tables in Excel format. China Statistical Yearbook is a useful title. Most of these statistical yearbooks are shelved in the HA36-4747 call number range and are grouped by region and country.

Further, UVA Library serves as a depository for the European Union and United Nations. As a depository, we receive one copy of most sales publications free of charge. These include core statistical publications, such as the UN Statistical Yearbook and Energy Statistics Yearbook, which we have back to the first date of publication.

Business Data

Researchers in a variety of disciplines are using business data so we are expanding our collection in this area. To find basic information on companies, Mergent Online has company profiles and financials but also covers international companies. It also has country economic reports and time series macroeconomic data.

Euromonitor Passport contains data and reports on more than 350 consumer product markets, including market size and market share. It also includes data on consumer trends and lifestyles, income and expenditures, and population for many countries.

ECRI Lending to Households in Europe contains data on lending to households in the 28 EU Member states, 2 EU candidate states, EFTA countries, as well as United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Russia, and India.  These data include consumer credit, housing and other loans, and allows users to make comparisons between countries.

The library also has access to the Nielsen Marketing Data from the Kilts Center for Marketing at Chicago Booth. Our subscription includes both the Consumer Panel Data and Retail Scanner Data.  As part of a joint funding effort, UVA Library is offering Nielsen Ad Intel for one year, through May 2021. The Consumer Panel Data includes information about product purchases made by a panel of consumer households across all retail outlets in all U.S. markets. The Retail Scanner Data consists of weekly purchase and pricing data generated from participating retail store point-of-sale systems in all U.S. markets.  Ad Intel provides advertising information for local markets, and across many types of platforms.  (As part of a joint funding effort, UVA Library is offering Nielsen Ad Intel for one year, through May 2021.) Access to these datasets is limited to tenure-line faculty and their Ph.D. students.  To request access to the Nielsen data at the Kilts Center for Marketing, please complete the online code request form. After the administrator approves your request for a code, you will receive an email with your registration code and instructions for how to complete the process. The Kilts Center will review your project(s) and send you a final activation email along with steps for how to access the data.  If you are a PhD student, your advisor will be required to take action before you can be activated.  For questions or difficulties, please contact Kilts Center for Marketing or data@virginia.edu.

More specialized databases, like Bloomberg, WRDS, and Datastream are licensed by the Darden School of Business or McIntire School of Commerce. These resources are available for the Darden and McIntire affiliates only.