Skip to Main Content

Citation Style Help

Citing Datasets

Citing the U.S. Census

In APA Style:

If you're citing data from the U.S. Census Bureau (data.census.gov), you can follow APA 7th edition guidelines for webpages on a website with a retrieval date. 

Examples: 

U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Without health care coverage in ZCTA5 90804. U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved September 27, 2022,

from https://data.census.gov/

Here's a brief explanation of each element in the reference list: 

  • For the author element, use U.S. Census Bureau. 
  • Use n.d. for no date since there is no date for this specific web page. 
  • Use the title of the data point as the title of the work and use italics. 
  • Then list U. S. Department of Commerce as the parent agency.
  • Add a retrieval date. This is uncommon in APA 7th edition, but you should include it here since contents of a page are designed to change over time.
  • Include the URL for data.census.gov.

     

In Chicago Style:

When creating Dynamically generated tables, maps, and files from data.census.gov always include:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau as the author
  2. Name of the database or other data repository/source (e.g., data.census.gov), set off by quotation marks, or follow publication citation style;
  3. The name of the person who generates the tabulation, etc., e.g., "generated by John Smith;"
  4. The name of the software package used to generate the tabulation, if known, e.g., "using data.census.gov;"
  5. The URL of the application software's main or first page set off by angle brackets, e.g., <https://data.census.gov/cedsci/>;
  6. The date, within parenthesis, when the user generated the tabulation, e.g., (8 April 2020).

Examples:

U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey, 2018 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, Table B01003; generated by John

Smith; using data.census.gov; https://data.census.gov/cedsci/ (8 April 2020).

U.S. Census Bureau; Economic Annual Surveys, Table CB1700CBP; generated by Jane Jones; using data.census.gov;

https://data.census.gov/cedsci/ (1 April 2020).

In MLA Style:

"Title of Census Data Set." Name of Survey, Publishing Organization, Publication Date, URL. Accessed Access Date. 

Example:

"Comparative Economic Characteristics." 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, United States Census Bureau, 2017,

factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACD/15_5YR/CP03/0500000US32031. Accessed 12 July 2017.