Data to think about — Uplink Archive

The U.S. Census of Governments surveys over 85,000 governmental bodies including states, counties, cities, and various taxing districts, collecting data on debt, property values, revenue, and expenditures every five years. Complete data is available through 1987 with 1992 preliminary data on CD-ROM, obtainable from the Census Bureau or state data centers.

You can find more than 85,000 governmental bodies in the census of governments. In addition to states, counties, and cities, the census includes every taxing entity from sewer districts to school district to library districts.

The census looks at debt, property values, revenue and expenditures. The data includes the source of the revenue and purpose of the expenditure. There is also a directory file identifying all U.S. governmental units.

The census is conducted every five years in years ending in "2" and "7." The most recent year for which all the data is available is 1987. However, the preliminary finance file for 1992 is available on CD-ROM from the Census bureau.

To order the data, call the Census Bureau's customer service line at (301) 457-4100 Your state data center should also offer the data, probably at a cheaper rate.