US Federal Data Portals
The United States federal government operates some of the largest open data programs in the world. These portals provide free access to datasets covering demographics, economics, environment, health, agriculture, and more. Most offer REST APIs alongside bulk download options.
| Portal | Primary Categories | API | Update Frequency | Scale |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data.gov | Agriculture, Climate, Education | CKAN API | Continuous (varies by dataset) | 300,000+ |
| US Census Bureau API | Demographics, Housing, Income | Census Data API with API key | Annual (ACS), Decennial (Census), Monthly (estimates) | Hundreds of survey programs |
| Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) | Employment, Wages, Prices | BLS Public Data API (v2 with registration) | Monthly and quarterly releases | Thousands of time series |
| Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) | GDP, National Accounts, International Trade | BEA API with API key | Monthly, quarterly, and annual | Multiple dataset groups |
| FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data) | Interest Rates, Monetary Data, Exchange Rates | FRED API with API key | Varies by series (daily to annual) | 816,000+ time series |
| USDA (US Department of Agriculture) | Agriculture, Food Supply, Nutrition | USDA NASS Quick Stats API | Annual surveys, monthly reports | Dozens of data products |
| EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) | Air Quality, Water Quality, Toxic Releases | EPA AQS API | Hourly (air quality), annual (TRI, GHG) | Multiple databases and systems |
| NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) | Weather, Climate, Oceans | NCEI Climate Data Online API | Continuous (weather), daily to annual (climate) | Petabytes of environmental data |
Portal Details
Data.gov
https://data.govThe US government's central open data portal. Aggregates datasets from hundreds of federal agencies, state, and local governments. Powered by CKAN.
https://catalog.data.gov/api/3/action/package_listUS Census Bureau API
https://data.census.govDemographic, economic, and geographic data from the decennial census, American Community Survey (ACS), economic census, and population estimates programs.
https://api.census.gov/data.jsonBureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
https://www.bls.gov/data/Employment, unemployment, prices, compensation, productivity, and workplace safety statistics. Includes CPI, PPI, employment situation, and JOLTS data.
https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2/timeseries/data/Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
https://www.bea.gov/dataGDP, personal income, international trade, and regional economic data. Produces the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA) and Input-Output tables.
https://apps.bea.gov/api/data/FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)
https://fred.stlouisfed.orgEconomic time series data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Over 800,000 data series from 100+ sources including interest rates, inflation, employment, and monetary aggregates.
https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observationsUSDA (US Department of Agriculture)
https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/Agricultural production, food supply, nutrition, rural development, and farm economy data from the Economic Research Service, NASS, and other USDA agencies.
https://quickstats.nass.usda.gov/api/EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
https://www.epa.gov/dataEnvironmental data including air quality (AQI), water quality, toxic releases (TRI), greenhouse gas emissions, Superfund sites, and environmental justice screening.
https://aqs.epa.gov/data/api/NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
https://www.ncei.noaa.govWeather, climate, ocean, and geophysical data from the National Centers for Environmental Information. Historical weather records, storm data, satellite imagery, and climate normals.
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/cdo-web/api/v2/