Advocacy groups provide tailored support to the many Americans losing health insurance by using National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data to track where coverage is dropping and identify what resources are needed.

A working parent easily renews their family’s healthcare coverage because CMS data on state call center wait times holds their state Medicaid office accountable to drastically reduce wait times from almost an hour to less than a minute.

A warehouse worker gets shift flexibility to take their aging father to medical appointments because their company updated their HR policies to account for the growing caregiving responsibilities documented in the American Time Use Survey.

A transitioning military servicemember uses IPEDS data in the Department of Education’s College Navigator to find a college that will give credit for military training and has a vibrant student veteran community.

A student gets the special education services they need because their family and attorney uses the Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection to demonstrate that the school is not meeting its responsibilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

A state water development board used EPA's Safe Drinking Water Information System to deploy limited federal funds for improving rural drinking water quality where it was needed most.

A small veteran-owned AI company enables first responders to more quickly deploy resources to save lives during emergencies by using the National Blend Model and Weather Research & Forecasting Model in their decision-support tool.

A refugee family gets a tornado warning in both English and their native language and are able to seek shelter in time because their local public broadcasting system used the American Community Survey to identify the most common languages in the area.

A property owner in rural Louisiana identified the best location to dig a well using the USGS National Water Information System groundwater level data.

A pregnant mom was quickly approved for Medicaid health coverage in time for her prenatal visits because CMS application timeliness data holds states accountable for swiftly processing applications.

A major marketing company creates customized prospect profiles that include accurate small area calculations of home values and rents, which rely on data from the American Housing Survey.

A local grocery store owner increases sales with a new delivery service after they learn, based on data from the American Time Use Survey, that their customers have a high rate of online grocery ordering.

A family relocating to a riverside community consults FEMA’s National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL) map to compare the flood risks of their top home choices.

A company developing a new line of home healthcare products uses American Housing Survey data on the aging-in-place movement (home modifications, accessibility features) to tailor their product design and marketing.

The public data that we all rely on is under attack, from economic statistics 📈 to weather data🌪️. So we are sharing stories every day about how essential public data is. Calling all data nerds to add your favorite dataset to the collection at essentialdata.us 🤓

America's Essential Data

Highlighting examples of how our essential public data serve the American people.

essentialdata.us

A cancer patient living in a rural county is able to fly direct to a regional cancer center for lifesaving treatment because their local airport used the DOT's T-100 Domestic Segment Data on airplane passenger traffic to make the case for one-stop-service between the airports.

A single mom quickly receives approval for SNAP benefits because publicly available USDA application processing timeliness (APT) data prompted her state to speed up their processing of paperwork.