2007 Economic Census

Finding Data

The Census Bureau collects a wide variety of data on U.S. businesses. To find the data you are interested in, you should begin your search by identifying most or all of the following 5 items.

1. Industry

Data are classified according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

2. Geographic Area

The economic census presents statistics for the Nation, States, Metropolitan Areas, Counties, Places and ZIP Codes. However, geographic coverage varies from sector to sector. The greatest variety of statistics and the most detailed classifications usually are published at the national level.

Note: Data for some industries are not collected at the establishment level, and therefore data are not available for every geographic level.

3. Data Items

See the data items by sector table or a list of data items.

4. Business Unit

Most statistics are published in terms of establishments. There are a few data sets that show firms or enterprises in the Establishment and Firm Size data sets, as well as in ancillary programs, including the Survey of Business Owners and the Statistics of U.S. Businesses.

5. Employers, Nonemployers or Both

Most data sets from the economic census only include data for establishments with paid employees. Data for establishments without paid employees, or nonemployers, are released separately.

One data set, Economy-Wide Key Statistics (2002 Economic Census version) includes data for all employers, as well as all industry sectors by geographic area. Starting in late 2010, it will also include data for nonemployers.