Method
Methodology
Where figures come from
Every statistic published on this site is the result of a SQL query that is checked into the repository next to the text that uses it. The text is written around the values the query returned. Nothing is written from memory, rounded by hand, or estimated.
Before a change is published, continuous integration re-runs each query and compares every number in the rendered page against the recorded result. A page whose text disagrees with its query does not ship.
Snapshots and provenance
Each ingestion writes an immutable, dated copy of exactly what the publisher served to object storage before anything is normalized. Those snapshots are never deleted, so any published figure can be traced back to the bytes it came from. Normalized tables are rebuilt from snapshots, never edited in place.
Freshness
A scheduled check compares the latest period each publisher offers against the latest period held here. When a source falls behind, changes shape, or stops responding, the check fails loudly rather than serving stale data quietly. Each page states the date of the snapshot behind it.
What we will not do
- We do not describe a correlation as a cause. Administrative data records what was reported, not why it happened.
- We do not compare jurisdictions without saying what the denominator is, or whether the set of reporting agencies changed between periods.
- We do not publish a page that has no data value of its own. Thin permutations are not generated, and where one exists it is excluded from search indexes.
- We reproduce a publisher’s disclaimer verbatim wherever the publisher requires it, including adverse-event reporting data.
- We do not use datasets whose license forbids commercial use.
Corrections
Corrections are published with a date and a description of what changed, at /corrections, and are never removed.
By topic
Each topic carries its own sources and its own limits, and each has a methodology page of its own. Those limits are part of the method, not a caveat appended to it.
- How the federal spending figures are madeFederal awards, contracts, grants, and agency obligations, as reported by agencies to USAspending.
- How the crime figures are madeOffense and arrest counts reported by law enforcement agencies to the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer.
- How the immigration figures are madeEncounters, apprehensions, and enforcement actions published by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
- How the health figures are madeWhat drug and device makers paid doctors, and what doctors prescribed to Medicare, from the records CMS publishes.
- How the nonprofit figures are madeTax-exempt organizations as they appear in IRS Form 990 filings and the Exempt Organizations Business Master File.
- How the farm subsidy figures are madeThe farm program payments USDA publishes for each year, by payee, county and program, from the Farm Service Agency's own files.
- How the defense casualty figures are madeU.S. military deaths and wounded in named operations, from the Defense Casualty Analysis System, beside what the Department of Defense spends and whom it pays.
- How the PPP loan figures are madeEvery Paycheck Protection Program loan the Small Business Administration published, by state, county, industry, lender and month, from SBA's own loan-level files.
- How the schools figures are madeEvery public school and district in the United States and every college that takes federal student aid: enrollment, teachers, spending and revenue, from the National Center for Education Statistics' own files.
- How the banks figures are madeEvery bank the FDIC insures and every credit union that files with the NCUA: their offices, assets, deposits and members, from the two agencies' own files.
- How the federal salary figures are madeWhat the federal government pays its civilian workforce, by agency, occupation, grade and place, from OPM's own record-level Federal Workforce Data.
- How the college sports figures are madeEvery college athletics program that reports to the Department of Education, from the Office of Postsecondary Education's Equity in Athletics files: its reported revenue and expenses, its athletes by sex beside its students, its division, conference and teams; and federal money for sports events.
- How the state payroll figures are madeWhat a state government pays its employees, by name, department and title, from each state's own published payroll.
Updated