statehealthfacts.org from the Kaiser Family Foundation
This web site provides a remarkably quick and easy way to find and compare health and health care statistics and data on a U.S. state level. Over 500 topics are represented, many of which are from freely available public sources, but some private sources are included such as original Kaiser Family Foundation reports. All data are fully documented and can be downloaded in Excel or tab delimited format. Before you download, though, notice that you can graph, chart, sort, and map results in your browser.
Good for: comparing the states on topics of health and health care; finding current data and data sources for state-level health topics
Publishing Organization: Henry J. Kaiser Foundation
Example citation: The Kaiser Family Foundation statehealthfacts.org. Data Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV Surveillance Supplemental Report, Midyear Edition, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2001, “Characteristics of Persons Living with AIDS at the End of 1999.”
Time period: usually the most current data (i.e., not historical)
Outputs: On the web site, data can be displayed in table, map, or graph formats with some ability to sort. Individual tables can be downloaded in Excel format. Full datasets can be downloaded in tab-delimited format.