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. SDC lead organizations are appointed by the Governor of that state.

The SDC program's mission is to provide easy and efficient access to U.S. Census Bureau data and information through a wide network of lead, coordinating and affiliate agencies in each state. To accomplish this mission, the SDCs work in partnership with the Census Bureau through the Customer Liaison Office (CLO) and the Regional Offices of the Census Bureau. A Memorandum of Agreement between each state, the District of Columbia, and the outlying areas of American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands supports this partnership.

The SDCs are official sources of demographic, economic, and social statistics produced by the Census Bureau. These data are made available by the Census Bureau to the SDCs at no charge (fees may be charged for customized products). 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.

The SDCs also provide training and technical assistance in accessing and using Census Bureau data for research, administration, planning and decision making by local governments, the business community, and other interested data users.