Government Activity
The Governments Division of the Census Bureau collects data via the Census of Governments, taken every 5 years, as well as through annual and quarterly surveys. Here are direct links to the data:
- Census of GovernmentsIncludes government employment, payroll, taxes, and pensions; data is available by level of government, type of government, and category of governmental activity.
Annual Surveys:
- Annual Survey of Public Employment & Payroll (ASPEP)"Statistics on the number of federal, state, and local government civilian employees and their gross payrolls for the month of March."
- Annual Survey of Public Pensions (ASPP)"Provides revenues, expenditures, financial assets, and membership information for the defined benefit public pension systems."
- Annual Survey of School System Finances"Include revenues, expenditures, debt, and assets of elementary and secondary public school systems. Statistics cover school systems in all states, and include the District of Columbia."
- Annual Survey of State and Local Government Finances"Provides statistics on revenue, expenditure, debt, and assets for the 50 states and D.C."
- Annual Survey of State Government Finances"Summary of the annual survey findings for state governments, as well as data for individual states."
- Annual Survey of State Government Tax Collections (STC)Provides a summary of taxes collected by state for 5 broad tax categories and up to 25 tax subcategories.
Quarterly Surveys:
- Quarterly Summary of State & Local Tax Revenue (QTAX)"Quarterly estimates of state and local government tax revenue at a national level, as well as detailed tax revenue data for individual states."
- Quarterly Survey of Public Pensions (QSPP)Summary data on defined benefit public pension systems.
How much government operates in your area?
The more darkly-colored counties have more layers of government than the lighter ones. As you might expect, urban areas often have more government. But there are some surprises: look at sparsely populated Wyoming and North Dakota.
Print: Government
The Library's holdings of printed reports from the Census Bureau dealing with government activity are listed below. These series cover public sector employment at different levels.
