The Everyday Decisions Behind Federal Data
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September 2026
New NORC research shows how U.S. adults use federal statistics to make decisions about their homes, finances, and businesses.
Federal statistics shape more everyday decisions than most people realize. A new NORC study by researchers Angelo Cozzubo and Zachary Seeskin surveyed a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults to understand who relies on federal data and how they use them. While federal statistics play critical roles in research, federal government decision-making and policy development, state and local planning, and the distribution of public funds, our study shows that their reach extends much further. We found that U.S. adults use federal statistics in a wide range of everyday decisions.
Roughly 1 in 10 U.S. adults uses federal data at least quarterly—and their reasons are strikingly practical. Respondents described checking crime statistics before choosing where to live, tracking inflation and unemployment figures before making personal financial decisions, and consulting census data to make decisions for a small business. These are the kinds of ordinary choices that federal statistics inform, sometimes without people stopping to notice the data’s origin.
Respondent Descriptions of Uses of Federal Statistics
Figure 1. AmeriSpeak Omnibus open-ended responses from June 2025 to February 2026 about how respondents use federal data, including 120 responses from June 2025 to January 2026 and 317 responses from February 2026. The June 2025-January 2026 questionnaire asked respondents to specify federal use only if their use of federal data was not among the available options. The February 2026 questionnaire asked respondents for an open-ended description of how they use federal data. Questionnaires are available at amstat.org. The size of each word reflects the relative frequency (unweighted) of the word among responses.
The range of everyday uses is broader than most assume.
Beyond financial and housing decisions, respondents described relying on federal data for grant writing, curriculum development, genealogy research, weather planning, and even settling arguments with facts and figures. Federal statistics, in other words, function less like a specialized tool and more like a quiet utility—present in the background of countless decisions across American life.
“Federal statistics reach into everyday decisions most people never realize are shaped by government data,” said Angelo Cozzubo, a data scientist in Statistics & Data Science.
“Federal statistics reach into everyday decisions most people never realize are shaped by government data.”
That everyday reliance is reflected in how much people trust the data. An estimated 51 percent of the general public tends to trust federal statistics, and that figure rises to 73 percent among people who use the data regularly. People who work more closely with the data—those who access detailed records rather than relying solely on summary reports—report even greater confidence in their accuracy and the safeguards protecting them.
Interestingly, confidence is not uniform. People report somewhat less certainty about how well their privacy is protected and how quickly new data becomes available, even as they express strong trust in the statistics themselves. That distinction points to specific areas, including clarity about privacy protections and timeliness, where a clearer picture could help people feel even more confident in the data they already rely on.
“Understanding how people actually use federal data—and where their confidence is strongest or most uncertain—offers a clearer picture of the role this information plays in everyday American life.”
Federal statistics often work quietly in the background of American life.
NORC’s research offers a rare, close look at who relies on this data and why—from families choosing a neighborhood to entrepreneurs planning a new venture. It’s a reminder that the numbers behind the headlines are also the numbers behind everyday decisions.
“Understanding how people actually use federal data—and where their confidence is strongest or most uncertain—offers a clearer picture of the role this information plays in everyday American life,” said Zachary Seeskin, a senior statistician in Statistics & Data Science.
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