American FactFinder

Have you ever tried to find the population of city? That is a fairly easy task, as a simple search on Google can provide that information. What about finding the age, gender, or ethnicity of a particular population? How about comparing the number of males and females in the workplace of a city? Would you know where to search? The answer is American FactFinder, the Census Bureau’s online tool for accessing a wide variety of population, economic, geographic, and housing information about the United States. American FactFinder provides access to data from the Decennial Census, American Community Survey, Puerto Rico Community Survey, Population Estimates Program, Economic Census, and Annual Economic Surveys (see below for a detailed description regarding the data sources).

American FactFinder homepage screenshot

American FactFinder consists of four major functions: Community Facts, Guided Search, Advanced Search, and Download Center. The Community Facts serves as the quick search feature on the site. Researchers can type in a location (state, county, city, town, or zip code) to find popular facts about a community. The Guided Search feature creates a custom data table by following step by step instructions to gather data by topic, geography, and race/ethnic groups. The Advanced Search feature provides access to all available data tables/files without the guidance shown in the Guided Search option. The Download Center allows a user to download a specific dataset/table or download a prepackaged dataset. The feature also includes step-by-step instructions to help locate and download content.

American FactFinder produces helpful guides and tutorials to assist users navigating their resource tool. For additional assistance, please follow the links below for help:

American FactFinder tutorials, http://factfinder.census.gov/legacy/aff2.html

Frequently Asked Questions, https://ask.census.gov/faq.php?dept=769&id=5000

Data from surveys and censuses available in American FactFinder include the following:

  • Decennial Census
    • collects data every 10 years about age, sex, race, housing units and more for the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas.
  • American Community Survey
    • a nationwide survey designed to provide communities a fresh look at how they are changing.
  • Population Estimates
    • publishes estimated population totals for the previous year for cities and towns, metropolitan areas, counties, and states.
  • Economic Census of the United States
    • profiles the U.S. economy every 5 years, from the national to the local level and by detailed industry and business classification.
  • In addition to conducting the Economic Census every 5 years, the Census bureau publishes these economic surveys:
    • Survey of Business Owners
    • Commodity Flow Survey
    • County & ZIP Code Business Patterns
    • Non-employer Statistics
    • Annual Survey of Manufacturers