1. "How can I find Census Data?"
2. "What other sources of aggregate business data are available?"
3. "How can I find data for Tompkins County (or Ithaca)?"
4. "How can I find market research data?"
5. "Does the library have advertising data?"
6. "What databases are best for statistical research?"
7. "What data is available for free on the internet?"
8. "How do I find a company's financial data historically?"
9. "Where can I find historical economic/financial data for the U.S. or foreign countries?"
10. "I need a kind of data not addressed by this FAQ. Where do I start?"

1.  "How can I find Census Data?"

The U.S. Census Bureau collects data on the population and economy of the United States. Well known are the decennial Census of Population and Housing, and the economic censuses the Bureau conducts every five years. The Bureau also publishes the results of a number of surveys each year, on topics such as crime, health, and poverty.

Census data at Cornell has traditionally been available in print and on CD-ROM, but an increasing amount is available freely at the Census web site This site provides data from the economic and population censuses, as well as data from other surveys/reports published by the Census Bureau.

2.  "What other sources of aggregate business data are available?"

• The Census collects a variety of information on business in the United States. Access to this data is available via the Bureau's Economic Programs page. Programs include County Business Patterns, Minority & Women-Owned Business, E-Commerce Statistics, and more.

• The Survey of Current Business publishes sales data at the industry level. It is available through Stat-USA. In Stat-USA, click on the SOTN Library and then click on Survey of Current Business. Stat-USA also contains a variety of other business & industry reports.

3.   "How can I find data for Tompkins County (or Ithaca)?"

There isn't one authoritative resource for local statistics. For Tompkins County information, we recommend the following resources, depending on the type of data you need:

• County Business Patterns provides industry data for Tompkins County. It includes the number of business establishments, number of employees, and payroll figures, all at the industry (up to 4-digit SIC) level.

• New York State Statistical Yearbook (HA 541 A35 in Reference) provides county-level demographic data as well as election data, local government finance, health and human service data, and more.

• CareerSearch to screen for a list of Ithaca or Tompkins County companies.

If you are looking for data specifically on Ithaca, try:

• The Census Bureau's American FactFinder site for Ithaca data from the most recent Census of Population (2000).

• Zip Code Business Patterns for business data.

• CareerSearch to screen for a list of Ithaca or Tompkins County companies (search by zip code).

• Community Sourcebook of County Demographics (HA 203 S71 in Ready Reference) for population, household, income, and spending potential data, with forecasts, available at the zip code level.

4.   "How can I find market research data?"

Market research reports and/or statistics are available in the following resources:

• Mintel contains market research reports on a variety of U.S. industries as well as on certain demographic groups, like teenagers. It provides reports for the UK, US, and some other countries.

• Gartnerweb provides market research reports on the Information Technology industry.

• Choices 3 provides demographic analysis of the purchasers of many goods and services, including specific brands.

• The Lifestyle Market Analyst (HF 5415.33 U6 L72 in Ready Reference) analyzes the demographics of people with different "lifestyles," e.g. people who travel for business, people who jog regularly, or people who own cats.

For a more complete list of market research sources available at the Management Library, see our Market Research Resource List.

5.   "Does the library have advertising data?"

The Management Library carries Ad$Summary (HF 5801 A18 in Ready Reference) which publishes company advertising expenditures at the brand level by medium (newspaper, tv spot, billboard, etc). Superbrands, published as a special issue of Brandweek (HF 1040 A19 in Regular Stacks) provides detailed analysis of the top 2000 U.S. brands. Advertising Age (++ HF5801 A237 in Current Periodicals & Oversize Stacks) is a journal that publishes several special issues each year, such as the annual "100 Leading National Advertisers" report (generally published in June or September).

6.  "What databases are best for statistical research?"

This depends on the type of statistics you are trying to retrieve.

• Equity and Equity Index data is available in Datastream (when in the library) or remotely in Yahoo Finance (U.S. stocks only). Datastream also contains historical, downloadable data on commodities, currencies, country funds, macroeconomic data, and more for countries worldwide.

• Historical corporate financial statement data is available in many databases. Mergent Online provides financial statements for U.S. and international businesses, and is available remotely. Datastream contains company accounts data for companies worldwide, but must be used in the library.

• Demographic or business census data is largely available at the U.S. Census web site.

• Market research data can be gathered in downloadable spreadsheet format from Choices 3.

7.  "What data is available for free on the internet?"

There is a significant amount of data freely available on the internet. Be careful to confirm the accuracy of your data or stick with "official" data providers. Our list of free web sites for Statistics, Government Information, and Demographic Data provide some initial sites for you to check out. You may want to browse through the subject areas of our list of free web sites itself for sites containing the specific type of data you need.

8.  "How do I find a company's financial data historically?"

Mergent Online provides spreadsheet financials in annual and quarterly format, including 20 years of data (where available) and uses each company's own statement template (providing more detail about each company, but reports are less easy to compare with those of other companies). Datastream, which is not available remotely, has extensive international company coverage in its Company Accounts data.

Note: If you need an entire annual report, please read our research guide for Finding Annual Reports.

9. "Where can I find historical economic/financial data for the U.S. or foreign countries?"

When you are in the library:

• Datastream provides economic, stock, index, commodity, currency, and other data and downloads in Excel format.

• Fred, a site of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which provides U.S. and some international data historically.

• Also, Yahoo! Finance provides substantial U.S. stock and index histories (Type the ticker symbol and click Get Quotes, then click on Profile and scroll down and click the Historical Quote Data link).

10.  "I need a kind of data not addressed by this FAQ. Where do I start?"

The Statistical Abstract of the United States (HA 202 C73 in Ready Reference; or online) is a great way to start gathering data on almost any topic. It pulls in tables from a variety of government and industry data collection agencies. Basic data is supplied in the book; users can go back to the original agency's data for more detail.

Online, FedStats provides statistical data generated by many different U.S. government agencies.

Still can't find the answer you're looking for? Send a question to Ask A Librarian or stop by the reference desk during reference hours.