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Navigating the Federal Shutdown: Tips for Data Users

The federal government shutdown impacts all variety data of users since some statistical agency websites have gone dark. But there are alternatives to putting your research on hold if you find that the resource you need is unavailable.

Here are a few resources offering U.S. Census Bureau data, particularly from the American Community Survey, as well as other federal statistics, that you can tap into while some official sites are offline:

  • Census Reporter – is a free, open-source platform focused on making American Community Survey (ACS) data easily accessible and includes 2023 1-Year ACS data, but has not yet incorporated the newly released 2024 data from September
  • Esri – for mapping users, the GIS vendor publishes a number of U.S. Census Bureau data sets, including the ACS, through its ArcGIS Online Platform; their ESRI Federal Data and Federal User Communities also offer a wealth of alternate data sources
  • PolicyMap – offers a free tier that can be used to view basic information down to the tract level, but more detailed data and functionality require a subscription
  • IPUMS – Even during normal government operations, some analysts turn to IPUMS (University of Minnesota) to access an assortment of the bureau’s microdata products from the ACS and decennial censuses, as well as summary tables and geography files through its National Historical GIS
  • Data Rescue Project Portal – Search by federal agency through the portal’s index of mirrored data repositories held by universities and other organizations

Census Bureau API Remains Available

Although the Census Bureau’s flagship interface data.census.gov does not appear to be functional, the bureau’s API or application programming interface remains accessible. It can be used to retrieve data from many programs, including the American Community Survey. If you are new to the API, the Census Bureau Academy has a one-hour primer to help get you started.

For other government statistics that may not be available, particularly from economic agencies, the venerable FRED platform (Federal Reserve Economic Data) is not subject to a shutdown.

Population Estimate Data

NOTE:  www2.census.gov is Up

Many static documents, CSV files and Excel files hosted on the Census Bureau website are linked to a second FTP-like site maintained by the Bureau. Because the site is currently available, many pages with links to files are functioning normally. To verify it is operational, browse the site at www2.census.gov.

For data users who need access to U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimate data, the Tennessee State Data Center maintains a mirror copy of the files (1970 to present) in a SharePoint site. Along with the estimate data, we also retain a copy of:

  • Building Permit Survey (1980’s to present)
  • Population Projections
  • Address Count Listing files (2020 to present)

Contact us at tnsdc@utk.edu for access. The SharePoint requires an account at  https://account.microsoft.com/account.

If you have other suggestions or need other data-related assistance during the shutdown occurs, let us know.