USA Simple Civics · Explore the numbers
The numbers behind
everyday questions.
What costs more? Where does the money go? What has changed?
Choose a question to find tables, comparisons, and explanations. Each guide links to its sources and explains important limits.
Find a topicHow to read the numbersStart with a question
Explore the data
These pages contain different kinds of comparisons—not one shared dataset. Check each table’s dates and notes.
What does everyday life cost?
Follow costs over time and see how prices compare with income.
Where does public money go?
Explore taxes, federal debt, and the money flowing between states and Washington.
How are communities changing?
Read economic and crime trends with the place, year, and measurement in mind.
U.S. economic & crime indicators
Jobs, inflation, growth, crime, and policy context.
City & metro economies
Compare economic output, population, and workplace jobs.
City crime over time
Reported crime trends and the limits of comparisons.
Policing & incarceration
Historical measures of policing and imprisonment.
California crime source checks
Supporting agency counts, including an incomplete year.
What do immigration numbers count?
Separate legal status, enforcement activity, and public-benefit rules.
How do costs compare worldwide?
Compare specific measures and years, rather than assuming one country is cheaper in every way.
What do countries contribute?
Understand aid, shared organizations, and the different ways funding is measured.
Before comparing numbers
Five quick checks
- What year? “Latest available” may be older than this year. A forecast is different from a measured result.
- What is counted? A total, a percentage, and an amount per person answer different questions. A city, metro area, and police agency may cover different places.
- Are dollars adjusted for prices? Then-year dollars show the amount at the time. Inflation-adjusted dollars help compare buying power.
- Is anything missing? Unknown or unavailable does not mean zero. A partial year is not a full year.
- What explains the change? A trend and the person in office at the time do not prove cause and effect. Laws, markets, earlier decisions, and other events can all matter.
Read our methods and corrections policy · Explore sources and original records