Finding Datasets

by Suraj Rampure

Every so often, students ask where they can find datasets to work on projects on your own. Over the past few years I’ve compiled this list.

Last updated January 6, 2022

General sources of data

These sites allow you to search for datasets (in CSV format) from a variety of different domains. Some may require you to sign up for an account; these are generally reputable sources.

• Kaggle Datasets.
• Google’s dataset search.
• FiveThirtyEight.
• DataHub.io.
• Data.world.
• CORGIS.
• R datasets.
• Wikipedia. (use this site to extract and download tables as CSVs)
• Awesome Public Datasets GitHub repo.
• Links to even more sources

Domain-specific sources of data

• Sports: Basketball Reference, Baseball Reference, etc.
• US Government Sources: census.gov, data.gov, data.ca.gov, data.sfgov.org, FBI’s Crime Data Explorer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Global Development: data.worldbank.org, databank.worldbank.org, WHO.
• Transportation: New York Taxi trips, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, SFO Air Traffic Statistics.
• Music: Spotify Charts.
• COVID: Johns Hopkins.
• Any Google Forms survey you’ve administered! (Go to the results spreadsheet, then go to “File > Download > Comma-separated values”.)

Tip: if a site only allows you to download a file as an Excel file, not a CSV file, you can download it, open it in a spreadsheet viewer (Excel, Numbers, Google Sheets), and export it to a CSV.