Data.gov — Federal Datasets

Official site: https://data.gov/

What This Site Is

A central catalog for official federal datasets published by U.S. government agencies.

What You Can Do Here

  • Search federal datasets across agencies
  • Filter data by agency, topic, or format
  • Download data files (CSV, JSON, Excel, etc.)
  • Access APIs for programmatic use

Start Here (Pick What You're Looking For)

If you want to...

  • Find official data on a topic → Search by agency name + topic + year
  • Get raw data to analyze or chart → Open a dataset and click Resources
  • Verify statistics used in a report or article → Check the publisher agency and last updated date
  • Find machine-readable data or an API → Look for datasets with API or JSON resources

How This Page Works

  1. Go to Data.gov
  2. Use the main search bar with specific keywords (agency + topic + year)
  3. Use filters on the left to narrow by Organization, Format, or Tags
  4. Open a dataset and check the Publisher and Last Updated date
  5. Click Resources to download files (CSV, JSON, etc.)
  6. Save the dataset URL and publisher name for citation or reference

Common Things to Search For

  • FBI crime data (by year)
  • CMS Medicare payments
  • SEC enforcement actions
  • DOT traffic fatalities
  • Census population data
  • EPA environmental metrics

Good to Know

  • Data.gov is a catalog — it often links to data hosted on agency sites
  • If multiple versions exist, use the most recently updated dataset
  • Adding an agency name (CDC, DOJ, GAO, Census, Treasury) reduces noise
  • For spending data, pair searches with USAspending.gov
  • The catalog API (CKAN) returns metadata and resource URLs, not always raw data
Open Data.gov — Federal Datasets →