The State of the Nation's Cities: A Comprehensive Database on American Cities and Suburbs

[Summary adapted from the CUPR Home Page] Link to the database: "policy.rutgers.edu/cupr/" Despite the proliferation of high-quality data sets from public and private sources over the past thirty years, the changing nature of American cities often eludes precise measurement. Incomparable variables, inconsistent definitions, and the spatial expansion of metropolitan regions all complicate efforts to analyze recent transformations in American urban life.

As part of a contribution to the United Nations' Habitat II conference in Istanbul in June 1996, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) contracted with the Center for Urban Policy Research to assemble a comprehensive database on 77 American cities and suburbs. As of January 19, 1998 Version 2.2a of the database brings together over 3,000 variables from a wide variety of sources, allowing easy comparability of indicators on employment and economic development, demographic measures, housing and land use, income and poverty, fiscal conditions, and a host of other health, social, and environmental indicators.