Research Links

Data USA offers a number of charts and comparisons between cities and counties within a state. You cannot search by ZIP code, but it does have many small towns. Areas of data include economy, health, diversity, education, and housing.

The Census Report is a very clean and simple way to read reports based on national census data. It allows you to search by ZIP code and learn the following about your community: demographics, economics, families, housing, and social details.

Searchable by state and county (and ability to compare counties), this data base will give you health-related statistics concerning quality of life, health behaviors, clinical care, social & economic factors, and physical environment.

Explore Your Neighborhood (free trial report) uses your zip code to allow you to explore the following: population density, median age, financial involvement, education, and manufacturing workforce.

This dashboard of the largest 500 US cities, plus 250 small to mid-size cities, breaks down a number of health-related topics: health outcomes, social and economic factors, health behaviors, physical environment, and clinical care. You can even download full reports by clicking “Data Access” at the very bottom of the website.

The free version of PolicyMap features a large amount of information that can be narrowed down to your ZIP code. There are numerous topics under each of the following categories: demographics, income, housing, lending, quality of life, economy, education, and health.

GuideStar is a specific database for nonprofit organizations across the US. You can search for free, but you do have to create an account. This will help you locate nonprofits in your city and state, based on IRS data and those who choose to update their profile through GuideStar.

The U.S. Census Bureau is a wealth of knowledge, but it can quickly feel overwhelming. If you are willing to dig into the numbers, here is a good way to start. From this link, type your county into the top search bar (county name, state name). Once you click enter, the top right corner will say “Explore Data” of county name, state profile. This will give you some high-level charts about various areas that you can dive deeper into, if you so desire. But this will give you a starting look at people, health, education, economy, housing, poverty, and more.