The future of government data
Building the national data ecosystem America deserves
A partnership between
From the beginning, America’s founders recognized that information — and context to turn that information into knowledge — are critical to a healthy and robust democracy. The country’s commitment to national data and statistics has grown from the first US census, launched by Thomas Jefferson in 1790, to a complex collection of hundreds of thousands of data sources. This diverse, decentralized ecosystem produces data that is essential for Americans to understand the country, assess our progress, and govern effectively.
Now that data is at a transition point. While the national data ecosystem is still the global gold standard, it has become technologically and methodologically outdated in recent decades. The rise of artificial intelligence is placing more demands on government data than ever before, underscoring the urgent need for modernization. Meanwhile, evolving federal politics has led to the discontinuation of some data collections.
These disruptions are creating unique opportunities to reimagine America’s national data ecosystem holistically. To do so, USAFacts and the Center for Open Data Enterprise (CODE) brought together over 150 of the nation’s leading data experts to ask one question: How should the national data ecosystem evolve to meet 21st century needs? We heard from members of civil society, research and academia, community-based organizations, businesses and business associations, state and local governments, and former federal government employees, all of whom have deep experience using and/or producing government data.
USAFacts and CODE synthesized their input into this report to provide a vision for the national data ecosystem that America deserves. We also provide a roadmap to make that vision a reality. In particular, we identify the essential role that federal government data should play, while also developing a series of strategic and operational goals to build a modern and more robust national data ecosystem.
