Census Data API User Guide

The purpose of this user guide is to instruct developers and researchers on how to use the Census Data Application Programming Interface (API) to request data from U.S. Census Bureau datasets.

Available Data
  • Overview
  • What is the API
  • Available Data
  • Core Concepts
  • Example API Queries
  • Ucgid Predicate
  • Help & Contact Us

Available Data

What Data are Available in the Census Data API?

Determine the dataset that holds the information for which you are searching. Then decide what information you want from this dataset. The Census Bureau has already made available many datasets and is adding more almost monthly for querying with the API tool.  Currently, the most popular aggregate datasets to query for variables using the API are as follows:

  • American Community Survey (ACS): ACS 1-Year, ACS 5-Year, ACS Supplemental, ACS Migration Flows
  • Economic Indicators Time Series
  • Decennial Census
  • Economic Census
  • County Business Patterns and Nonemployer Statistics
  • Population Estimates and Projections
  • International Trade

You can find a complete list of available datasets in the API Discovery Tool.

Figure 1: Datasets in the Census Data API: https://api.census.gov/data.html

Related Information

Page Last Revised - March 20, 2025