Library Guides: Public Administration Subject Guide: Understanding a Community

Who Cares?

When in doubt, ask yourself who cares about this topic?

Identify a population or type of organization that cares about your topic.
Search online to find a specific organization or website associated with your community.
Assess the authority and reliability. See what others say about this website or organization.
Search the website to find statements, reports, and other information relevant to your community and topic.

Community Research Resources

The Census Bureau collects official demographic data about the United States and its communities. The Census Bureau and related agencies are the most-trusted resources for this information.

Census Bureau Data
Use the basic search bar to search for a type of data set and place. Search for a specific town or city to see its Profile.
Find Census Tract
Find the Census tract and geography for a location by searching for a street address.
American Community Survey
Search for a place in the Data Profiles and Narrative Profiles. Keep in mind "place" is the term used for cities. You can find the data from American Community Surveys as well as estimates based on the last ACS on the census website.
Census Quick Facts
QuickFacts provides statistics for all states and counties, and for cities and towns with a population of 5,000 or more.

Historical Statistics of the United States This link opens in a new window
Historical Statistics of the United States is a five-volume reference work with topics ranging from migration and health to crime and the Confederate States of America. The fully searchable and downloadable electronic edition permits users to graph and create customized tables and spreadsheets.
Subjects: multidisciplinary
Content: U.S. Census bureau statistics
Publication date: 2000

City and county governments usually have websites that offer invaluable information.

Start with a Google Search for your city or county. Be aware that multiple locations may use the same name and be sure to the find the correct one.

Example: Oswego, IL Village of Oswego Website: http://www.oswegoil.org/
Example: Kendall County, IL Kendall County Website: https://www.co.kendall.il.us/

Look for webpages / sections of the website that discuss residents. Every site will be different, but often you will find this information under About Us, History, Demographic Information or Community Profile.

Also, look for information on city government; these sections will give you access to Board meeting minutes, agendas, and reports that can provide great details.

You may also want to look for services and resources available to residents.

The best information can often be found on local police and/or sheriff's office websites in annual reports and statistics.

Search online to find the website for your community's law enforcement.

The resources below may also be useful.

FBI Crime Data Explorer
Crime data for the nation are derived from Summary Reporting System (SRS) and National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) reports voluntarily submitted to the FBI.

To find data for your area, select the state and then type the name of the city or county into the "agency select" box. Please note not all data is submitted to the FBI. You may need to look at the local police department or municipality websites.
FBI Law Enforcement Explorer
The LEOKA Program offers information about officers who were feloniously or accidentally killed while performing their duties.
Bureau of Justice Statistics

Bureau of Labor Statistics
Illinois Labor Statistics
This is the home page for information about Illinois on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website.
Bureau of Labor Statistics - Data Finder
Illinois Labor Market Information
Labor Market Information includes employment statistics, unemployment statistics, job forecasts, wages and demographic characteristics. IDES collects, analyzes and disseminates these data in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Employment and Training Administration (ETA), and with the U.S. Census Bureau.
Bureau of Economic Analysis Data
FRED Economic Data

The resources linked below can help you find local election authorities and learn about elected officials.

You may also wish to explore local government webpages, such as for a city council or board.

Ballotpedia
Learn more about the representatives serving your community as well as the issues they may be voting on.
Find the Local Election Authority
Local Election Authorities will have details about how, when, and where voting can occur. They also report official results and other essential information.
Open States
This organization aggregates legislative information from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.

For more information about voting, elections, and political information, please see our guide on the topic, linked below.

Voter Registration, Voting, Elections
by Shoshana Frank Last Updated Sep 12, 2024 2289 views this year

For more information about researching state or federal policies that may effect your community, see the guide below.

U.S. Domestic Policy Research
by Evangeline Reid Last Updated Oct 25, 2024 2245 views this year

Neighborhoods in Chicago that we recognize as discrete areas are not actually polled that way by the US Census. To find quality data about these areas, you may need to look at other sources.

Note: There are 77 official "community areas" in Chicago. Many of the neighborhoods we recognize are actually a small part of one of these larger more official neighborhoods. It's a good idea to determine whether your community is one of the 77 or a less official area. When not available for the smaller community you have identified, data can be found for a larger geographic region.

Chicago Community Data Snapshots
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning’s (CMAP) Community Data Snapshots summarize demographic, housing, employment, transportation, land use, revenue, and water data in northeastern Illinois. Each year, CMAP updates these snapshots for the region’s seven counties (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will), 284 communities, and 77 Chicago neighborhoods.
Chicago Health Atlas
The Chicago Department of Public Health and PHAME Center at UIC created the Chicago Health Atlas so that you can review, explore and compare health-related data over time and across communities. In addition, the Chicago Health Atlas provides a place for residents to see progress in implementing Healthy Chicago, the citywide plan to improve health equity. Community area data is available.
Chicago Data Portal
The City of Chicago's open data portal lets you find city data, lets you find facts about your neighborhood, lets you create maps and graphs about the city, and lets you freely download the data for your own analysis. Many of these datasets are updated at least once a day, and many of them are updated several times a day. The open data portal is required under an Executive Order signed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel on December 10, 2012.

Determining the census tracts, or smaller geographic regions of census data, associated with your neighborhood will allow you to pull census data for that specific region.

2020 Census Demographic Data Map Viewer
Explore 2020 census data and tracts on a detailed map of the United States. Zoom in to identify tracts by street borders.
2020 Census Tracts for Chicago Neighborhoods
This list is compiled by the "Chicago Data Guy" Rob Paral. NOTE: Use the four numbers prior to the zeros as the census tract.
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For example, 17031670100 is tract 6701.
Understanding Data for Areas Within Chicago
This resource from the University of Chicago's library explains the type of data that is available for different areas of Chicago.

Illinois Report Card
IllinoisReportCard.com is the state’s official source for information about public schools across Illinois.
Chronicle of Higher Education Data
Provides statistics relevant to higher education.
U.S. Department of Education Data & Statistics

Local health departments are often the best option for health and mental health data.

Identify what county your community is in.
Find that county's health department website.
Look for data, reports, or other information that may help you.
When in doubt, try searching Google using site:[url] and your topic to more effectively investigate a website.

Try searching in Census data for some health information.

Search for demographic characteristics like disability. Limit by a geographic region using the filters on the left. It may need to be larger than your community such as a zip code or county.

You may also find useful information from these national resources.

Health Data
This government website shares cutting edge data about health issues in America. This is particularly useful for swiftly developing topics.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Data and Statistics
This U.S. government agency provides data and information about many important topics including disability, diabetes, child abuse and neglect, cancer, pregnancy, wildfire smoke, and more.
US Census Bureau Health Data
The United States Census provides data about the health care industry, individual health insurance coverage, disability, and fertility.

Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies
Explore a full list of federal government departments and agencies to see if any of them may speak to your particular question or interest.
Data.gov
The Home of the U.S. Government's Open Data. Search across hundreds of thousands of datasets.

Haven't found what you're looking for? Explore lists below with many more sources from other libraries.

You may also consider asking a librarian!

Resources by Social Issue
Guide created by University of Northern Iowa Rod Library
Finding Statistics and Data Sets
Guide from University of Michigan Library

Google Search

Google Search Tips

There are a few ways to conduct more effective Google searches. Use these in addition to your search terms.

1. Use the limiter site: to filter for websites that end in a specific domain.

Examples

site:.gov returns sites that end with .gov
site:.edu returns sites that end with .edu
site:.org returns sites that end with .org

2. Use the same limiter to search a specific website. This can be more effective than using the search feature on a website.

Examples

site:cdc.gov returns results from the CDC website
site:aurora.edu returns results from the Aurora University website

3. Use the limiter filetype: to search for specific types of material.

Example

filetype:pdf returns only pdf results