Data is a critical component of decision making, helping businesses and organizations gain key insights and understand the implications of their decisions at a granular level. And visual analytics, in the form of interactive dashboards and visualizations, are essential tools for anyone—from students to CEOs—who needs to analyze data and tell stories with data. Public data sets are ideal resources to tap into to create data visualizations. With the information provided below, you can explore a number of free, accessible data sets and begin to create your own analyses.
The following COVID-19 data visualization is representative of the the types of visualizations that can be created using free public data sets. Explore it and a catalogue of free data sets across numerous topics below.
COVID-19 Data Visualization
Free Health Data Sets
Health dashboards can be used to highlight key metrics including: changes in a population’s health over time, how people choose to receive healthcare, or urgent public health information, such as vaccination rates during a global pandemic.
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- Tuberculosis Burden by Country
- Estimating the prevalence and mortality of Tuberculosis by country. Source: World Health Organization
- U.S. County Health Rankings
- Ranks U.S. counties on a variety of health factors. Source: County Health Rankings & Roadmaps (CHR&R)
- Global Burden of Disease
- Estimating the burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors globally and for 21 regions for 1990 and 2010. Source: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME)
Free Social Impact Data Sets
Social Impact dashboards highlight topics related to society as whole - from local to global public policy issues and concerns. Dashboards can be used to visualize the number of police shootings in the United States or analyze anti-refugee sentiment. Social Impact dashboards can help decision makers understand policy gaps and create solutions to address specific needs.
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Free Climate and Environment Data Sets
Climate change is one of the most urgent issues of our time. With relevant data, scientists, leaders, and policymakers are able to see trends, make policy recommendations, and share critical findings. Browse the vast quantity of climate- and environment-related data dashboards through the links below.
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- Predicting Faulty Water Pumps in Tanzania
- Air Quality and Pollution
- US Climate Data
- Commercial Building Energy Dataset
- ETH Zurich Electricity Consumption and Occupancy Dataset
- US Energy Information and Administration Electric Power and Fossil Fuel Data
- UN Greenhouse Gas Inventory Data
- UN World Meteorological Organization Standard Normals
- Global Climate Data
- US Weather History
Free Government Data Sets
State, local, and federal governments rely on data to guide key decisions and formulate effective policy for their constituents. The data they generate is often in the form of open data sets that are accessible for citizens and groups to download for their own analyses. Browse the list below for a variety of examples.
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- Predicting US Presidential Election Outcomes
- New York City Open Data
- San Francisco Open Data
- Austin Open Data
- Seattle Open Data
- Los Angeles Open Data
- Denver Open Data
- Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Data
- U.S. Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates
- USDA Food and Nutrition Service: SNAP Vendor Data
- Airline Safety
- Federal Surveillance Planes
Free Education Data Sets
Education dashboards provide educators and others a way to visualize critical metrics that affect student success and the fundamentals of education itself. These dashboards can help inform decision-making at a local, state, and national level. Browse through more education public data sets below.
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- Wall Street Journal: Where it Pays to Attend College
- Popular Online edX Courses from Harvard and MIT
- World Bank Education Status Indicators
- Cost of Higher Education in the US
- Brazilian High School National Exam Scores
- Indian Primary and Secondary Education Data
- Visualize the State of Public Education in Colorado
- National Student Loan Data System
Other Cool Free Data Sets
The variety of data sets outlined below are great resources that showcase that with the right data you can create just about any sort of visualization to tell your own unique story.
Free Public Data Sets for Advanced Users
The variety of data sets outlined below are great resources that showcase that with the right data you can create just about any sort of visualization to tell your own unique story.