A Review of State Data Centers Indicators, Tools, and Methods

This project focused on the evaluation of state constitutions and amendments, State Data Centers (SDCs), and Federal-State Cooperative for Population Estimates (FSCPE) representatives to better understand how state governments utilize data and to identify the federal, state, and private data sources they use. This report highlights the results of our data discovery process. In addition, we surveyed FSCPE directors, asking them about the top six data sources they use. The report looks at the six categories on which the SDCs commonly provide data: demographic, economic, housing, health, education, and diversity. We describe the information SDCs provide on their websites, their data dissemination methods, and the levels of geographies used. We define and select four early adopters' states as exemplars for the Census Bureau to study. This project was ambitious in undertaking multiple approaches to understand the state and local data needs and how SDCs meet those needs. We provide a list of near-term recommendations that the Census Bureau could implement to supplement and enhance the SDCs. One of our primary recommendations is that the Census Bureau conduct a deeper dive into fewer states, starting with our list of early adopters (Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, and New York) and proactive data developers (Utah and North Carolina). A deeper dive could include a more detailed review of the website, interviews, focus groups with the SDC and Coordinating Agency employees and data users, and other methods to provide a richer overview of SDCs.