Data presented here were gathered by the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research from census records and other government sources. For each decade between 1790 and 1960, users can browse extensive population and economic statistical information at state and county levels, arranged according to a variety of categories, including place of birth, age, gender, marital status, race, ethnicity, education, illiteracy, salary levels, housing, and specifics dealing with agriculture, labor, and manufacturing.

The website allows users to select up to 15 variables when conducting searches and displays both raw data and statistical charts. Categories are inconsistent between census periods and even within particular periods, a rich resource for studying how census questions changed over time. The site includes a 3,750-word essay on the history of American censuses. This database is a great statistical resource for students of American history. Additional, but less user-friendly, data focused on social history is available at "Integrated Public Use Microdata Series" (http://www.ipums.umn.edu/).