Public Policy Data Sets and Resources
See the data sets that have been used by our DSPP students in recent projects. Additional data sets and resources for Washington, DC-specific data are also provided.
Recently Used Data Sets by DSPP Students
Global Terrorism Database
National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START)
National Nonprofit Research Database
Urban Institute National Center for Charitable Statistics
Student Performance Data (Student body, funding levels, and outcomes)
Massachusetts Department of Education
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Interactive Atlas of Heart Disease and Stroke
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Data Sets & Resources for Washington, DC
| Description of Data | Authentication | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geographic / Demographic Data | – | – | – |
| Master Address Repository Geocoder | Free (windows only) | .exe | This is the best way to geocode addresses in DC. It is a program that will take in an excel file of addresses and output lat/long, precinct, X/Y coords, etc. |
| Zillow API. Home/Neighborhood Data | Free API key with account | API | Zillow has quite a few APIs, all accessed in a similar way with the same ID. You can access data about neighborhoods, home prices, demographic data, etc. The most useful may be the neighborhood data, which could be used as a classification variable. There are a few libraries that assist in the processing of the zillow API, including ZillowR and pyzillow. Additionally, Zillow has some cool mapping tools. Learn how you can get data to map out their neighborhoods. |
| Google Maps geocoding API | 0.005 USD per query | API | Useful for turning addresses into lat/long |
| Google Maps directions API | 0.005 USD per query | API | Useful for finding directions. Might be able to help optimize the routes of inspectors. |
| Voting Precinct Data | Free | Excel File | Shows polygons of the voting precincts as of 2012. |
| Police Districts | Free | Excel File | Polygons of MPD Districts. |
| DC Main Street Corridors | Free | Excel File | Recent data about Main Street Corridors |
| Washington DC Boundary | Free | Excel File | Boundary areas of DC |
| Zip-code Demographic Data | Free | Excel File | Polygons of zip-codes, as well as some demographic data |
| Crime | – | – | – |
| DC Hate Crimes-list of incidents and locations | Free | Excel File | Uses address as location. Could be used in conjunction with the google maps api to get lat/long. Although this may get expensive. |
| Dc Juvenile Arrest Data | Free | Excel File | There are a lot of crime data files, more available here. |
| 2018 Crime Data file | Free | Excel File | Best Crime data so far. Includes lat/long and is broken down by district, voting precinct, neighborhood group, etc. |
| Business | – | – | – |
| Historically Underutilized Business Zones | Free | Excel File | Recent data, HUBZ areas as well as some demographics |
| Economic Development Zones | Free | Excel File | Historical data from 2004 |
| District Revitalization Areas | Free | Excel File | Historical data from 2003 |
| Housing | – | – | – |
| Affordable housing projects | Free | Excel File | Data on affordable housing projects |
| Basic Business Licenses (DCRA) | Free | Excel File | Business Licenses, this may be duplicated data. |
| Politics | – | – | – |
| Bill/Sponsors/Legislation Info | Free with ID number | API (with lots of options) | Very cool API, link is to the documentation. It allows you to get info about current/past sessions, active bills, sponsorship of bills. |