Assessing & Monitoring the Health of Federal Statistics
Problem
Understanding the effectiveness of federal data systems requires a system-wide view that includes measures of public trust and data use.
Federal statistics guide decisions worth trillions of dollars—setting funding formulas, apportioning congressional seats, and informing everything from interest rates to school policy. The statistics collected from government agencies include population figures, employment and inflation numbers, measurements of health, and much more.
Since 2023, the American Statistical Association (ASA) has worked with a multiorganizational team to assess the health of the federal statistical agencies. ASA’s reports document growing concern about the resilience of the system, citing sustained funding pressures, staffing constraints, and heightened political scrutiny. A full assessment covers agency budgets and staffing alongside monitoring public trust in federal statistics and understanding the ways people use the data.
Solution
NORC contributes across the monitoring effort, including survey research and analysis of public trust and data use.
NORC joined the ASA and its partner organizations to build a monitoring system that combines several kinds of evidence: agency budgets and staffing over time, policy developments affecting the statistical agencies, profiles of individual agencies, and public survey research on trust and data use. We work across these streams and co-author the project’s reports.
For the survey component, we have been collecting data since June 2025 through NORC’s AmeriSpeak® panel, our probability-based, nationally representative sample. Expert-reviewed questions cover trust, relevance, accuracy, timeliness, granularity, and privacy protection, asked the same way each wave.
Consistent measurement supports comparisons over time and across subgroups, including frequent data users—people who use federal data at least quarterly—and comparisons among them by subgroup characteristics.
Result
NORC’s trust and data use measures are a standing part of ASA’s assessment of the federal statistical system.
The trust and data use measures feed each round of that assessment, so the picture of the system includes both what the agencies are able to do and how the public regards and uses what they produce. Our research brief points to three investment opportunities: targeted measurement to capture evolving needs, clearer communication with different kinds of users, and engagement of applied users in modernization efforts.
As of early 2026, the surveys had tracked a decline in trust in federal statistics, with lower agreement about whether federal statistical agencies respect people’s privacy and the timeliness of federal statistics. Survey findings also show that frequent data users—nearly 1 in 10 adults—report higher confidence than the public overall, and reveal the broad use of federal statistics across individuals from different professional backgrounds.
Project Director
Learn More
For more information about the study, visit the American Statistical Association (ASA) website.
Related Tags
Data & Findings
Project Leads
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Zachary Seeskin
Senior StatisticianProject Director
“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.”
