Census State Data Centers

STATE DATA CENTER PROGRAM

The State Data Center (SDC) Program is one of the Census Bureau's longest and most successful partnerships. It is a cooperative program between the states and the Census Bureau that was created in 1978 to make data available locally to the public through a network of state agencies, universities, libraries, and regional and local governments. The Business and Industry Data Center Program (BIDC) was added in 1988 to meet the needs of local business communities for economic data. The SDC lead organization is appointed by the Governor of the state, commonwealth, Puerto Rico, insular areas or the Mayor of the District of Columbia.

Vision Statement

To create a State Data Center/Business Industry Data Center Program that is a model of Federal-State cooperation by being well-managed, providing efficient and timely access to data and meeting the needs of the government partners and the ultimate customer, the data users.

Mission Statement

The mission of the State Data Center program is to provide efficient access to U.S. Census Bureau data and data products, provide training and technical assistance to data users, and provide a mechanism for feedback to the Census Bureau on data usability, state and local government data needs, and operational issues.

To accomplish this mission, the State Data Center lead agencies organize a statewide network of coordinating and affiliate agencies. This network works in partnership with the Census Bureau through the Census Bureau's Customer Liaison and Marketing Services (CLMSO) and Regional Offices. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the State Data Center lead agency in each state and the Census Bureau authorizes and supports this partnership. The State Data Centers are official sources of demographic, economic, and social statistics produced by the Census Bureau and other state and federal agencies. CLMSO will attempt to make available Census Bureau data products to the SDCs at no charge though fees may be charged for customized products. CLMSO will also attempt to include data products from other federal agencies such as the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The SDCs make these data accessible to state, regional, local and tribal governments, and non-governmental data users at no charge or on a cost-recovery or reimbursable basis as appropriate. A primary goal of the SDC Program is to provide data and information at little or no cost to its users. Due to organizational structures, some State Data Centers are required to charge for services to cover their salaries and expenses.

The SDCs also provide training and technical assistance in the use of Census Bureau data for research, administration, planning and decision making to local governments, the business community, researchers, and other interested data users. The expertise of the national State Data Center network has proved to be a valuable source of feedback to the Census Bureau on data use, the operational aspects of decennial and economic census and survey programs, and the various federal-state-local partnership programs that support Census activities.