Finding and Preserving Government Information and Data

This search tool provides links for data that have been downloaded from federal, state, and local agencies. From the Boston University School of Public Health.

Census and survey data from around the world. Find microdata from the U.S. Decennial Census, the American Community Survey (ACS), and the Current Population Survey. As part of their standard procedures, they download and preserve original data from U.S. statistical agencies that serve as the source data for IPUMS. Since Fri., Jan. 31, 2025, several organizations (and individuals) have downloaded many other public federal datasets. There are efforts underway to catalog and make these data available.

U.S. government and other social science data. DataLumos is an ICPSR archive for valuable government data resources. ICPSR has an older version of many major datasets, including some from the CDC.

U.S. government documents. The Digital Federal Depository Library Program provides decentralized and distributed preservation of documents published by the U.S. Federal Government.

Federal Reserve Economic Data. A source for economic data since 1991.

Intersectional census data for climate change initiatives. Contains 46 demographic, energy, health, and housing indicators down to the tract-level with free access for community-based organizations; others require a subscription.

Census data. A free, open-source platform focused on making American Community Survey (ACS) data more accessible, including the recent upload of the 2022 1-Year ACS data.

Public opinion data. Has collected over 50,000 files (datasets and documentation) from 22 federal survey projects. Efforts to this point have been focused on acquiring the files and ensuring backup copies are preserved on multiple servers. From Cornell University.

Data visualizations and mapping software. Mapping application, analytics platform, and data licensing services are built for non-GIS professionals, data-literate researchers, and everyone in between. To access the free version of PolicyMap, click on "To try PolicyMap with limited data and features,
enter without logging in."

Crowdsourcing effort to figure out which journals are being removed from ERIC. From Michigan State University.

Direct link to Department of Education archived data in DataLumos.

Complete data files from 1980 to 2023. Includes data file, STATA data file, SPSS program, SAS program, STATA program, and dictionary. The IPEDS surveys most postsecondary institutions annually, including universities and colleges, as well as institutions offering technical and vocational education beyond the high school level. Allows users to compare the characteristics of different postsecondary institutions. Older IPEDS data are also available through the central ICPSR archive. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).

The tool has an interactive map and uses datasets that are indicators of burdens communities experience in eight categories: climate change, energy, health, housing, legacy pollution, transportation, water and wastewater, and workforce development. This tool has been downloaded and rehosted in advance of the Trump administration's takedown of this invaluable website and data resource. Article

An unofficial copy of EJScreen hosted by the Public Environmental Data Partners.

Committed to preserving and providing public access to federal environmental data. They have identified 57 high-priority databases, of which 37 have been archived thus far [February 2025].

Data uploaded by the Climate Change and Health Research Coordinating Center (CAFE)
Includes CDC's Social Vulnerability Index data.
Most of what's being placed here is data focusing on health and the environment. Harvard College.

DataRefuge is also an initiative committed to identifying, assessing, prioritizing, securing, and distributing reliable copies of federal climate and environmental data so that it remains available to researchers. Harvard College.

A research collaborative and network of diverse professionals promoting evidence-based policy-making and public interest science that advances the Environmental Right to Know (ERTK). EDGI's Federal Environmental Web Tracker. Environmental Data & Governance Initiative (EDGI).

Trying to mirror and safely archive U.S. Govt. websites and datasets related to climate, climate change, and global warming.

A centralized repository of datasets aggregated from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Programs, Offices, and National Laboratories.

Mirrored and archived public data on locally hosted git server. Includes retrieved data sets from CDC, DoE, NIH, and NOAA.

A recently updated version of the EPA’s Risk Management Program, with submissions through December 2024. It includes risk management plans filed by facilities with extremely hazardous substances. Data Liberation Project (DLP).

Preserved datasets and guidances include: The Center for Disease Control (CDC); The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Available via Box.

Internet Archive.

Here is gathered bibliographic information about 22,695 research items (journal articles etc.) as compiled by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS); part of the US federal government's National Institutes of Health (NIH) for its Climate Change and Human Health Literature Portal (CCHHL). Internet Archive.

Direct link to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) archived data in DataLumos.

This search tool provides links for data that have been downloaded from federal, state, and local agencies. Boston University School of Public Health.

Tracks climate investments from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Includes many of the latest publicly available datasets in the climate space, including emissions data, disadvantaged community designations, public investments, and climatic event information. Focused on preserving federal agency resources that would be removed with the new administration, archiving fact sheets, program guidance, toolkits, and more. Atlas Public Policy.

In response to political threats to social, environmental, health, and personal data, the University of Washington Center for Advances in Libraries, Museums, and Archives (CALMA) in collaboration with Seattle-based BKS Studio, is hosting a series of DATA RESCUE efforts.

CDC datasets uploaded before January 28th, 2025.

"We are developing code to pull CDC pages which were archived by prior to January 20, 2025. Similar archives have been created by the End of Term (https://eotarchive.org) project and are hosted by the Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org). The individual pages are archived, but links between them are broken and the pages are not easy to locate through web searches. Therefore, we will re-build the links between the pages, to create a site that can be navigated the same way the pre-January 21, 2025 CDC site. The only changes we will make on these pages is to add a header that indicates that this site is not a CDC website. Because of the complex navigation between pages, we will also include a button to report problems in this header. Our goal is to provide a mirror site that provides the same information and user experience as the previous CDC website. Some functionality, such as videos, was not archived and therefore will not work on our site."

A CDC clone site with false vaccine claims is hosted by an NGO once led by the current HHS Secretary. With CDC logos, real social media links, and a near-identical design, it may violate federal laws. Substack of InfoEPI Lab.

Maintains an ongoing blog post that monitors and documents the changes in CDC data. STAT also has begun an effort to download and archive all available files from data.cdc.gov.

Data uploaded by the Climate Change and Health Research Coordinating Center (CAFE)
Includes CDC's Social Vulnerability Index data. Most of what's being placed here is data focusing on health and the environment. Harvard College.

Direct link to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMSHA) archived data in DataLumos.

Preserved datasets and guidances include: The Center for Disease Control (CDC); The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Available via Box.

Mirrored and archived public data on locally hosted git server. Includes retrieved data sets from CDC, DoE, NIH, and NOAA.

Links to archived versions of every CDC government page (Parts 1 through 15).

This search tool provides links for data that have been downloaded from federal, state, and local agencies. Boston University School of Public Health.

In response to political threats to social, environmental, health, and personal data, the University of Washington Center for Advances in Libraries, Museums, and Archives (CALMA) in collaboration with Seattle-based BKS Studio, is hosting a series of DATA RESCUE efforts.

Here is gathered bibliographic information about 22,695 research items (journal articles etc.) as compiled by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS); part of the US federal government's National Institutes of Health (NIH) for its Climate Change and Human Health Literature Portal (CCHHL). Internet Archive.

Hosting copies of immunization schedules and contraceptive use guidance from the CDC.

Archived content from the U.S. Department of Justice website.

The 1000 Genomes Project is mirrored in The International Genome Sample Resource (IGSR). European Molecular Biology Laboratory-European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). Provides open access.

Various individuals and organizations have worked to archive / save data from the NIH, CDC, and other websites. This page lists many of those entities.

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR).

Data at the country and country sub-division levels that are part of USAID's Demographic Health Survey (DHS). This collection includes geographically-linked health and demographic data from the DHS Program and the U.S. Census Bureau for mapping in a geographic information system (GIS). The data includes indicators related to: fertility, family planning, maternal and child health, gender, HIV/AIDS, literacy, malaria, nutrition, and sanitation. DataLumos.

3,000+ (possibly all) documents from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Internet Archive.

State Department and USAID data retrieved from ForeignAssistance.gov. ICPSR.

Summary data for countries, country subdivisions, and demographic categories that were generated from USAID's Demographic Health Survey (DHS). The indicators are population-level estimates that were generated from sample surveys that were conducted in over 90 low and middle income countries at various points over several decades. Almost 2,000 indicators capture information related to: fertility, family planning, maternal and child health, gender, HIV/AIDS, literacy, malaria, nutrition, and sanitation. DataLumos.

Data were retrieved from the DHS Program indicator data API for years 1985-2023. openICPSR.