Statistical Abstract of the United States is an authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political and economic conditions of the United States.
Data resources Best Bets
Demographics and other Statistics
U.S. Census
Use the "Guided Search" to find a huge variety of statistics about U.S. residents. You can find population breakdowns by age, gender, race, socio-economic status, etc. from the federal level down to a specific zip code.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Includes facts about employment, joblessness, average wages broken down by region, and more.
County Health Rankings
Includes reports ranking each US county. This site provides facts such as the percentage of people in each county who suffer from poor physical activity, long commutes, "severe housing problems," unemployment, etc.
CDC Fast Facts
The Centers for Disease Control's "Fast Facts" site has statistics on a large range of public health issues, including statistics related to specific age groups (children, older people, etc.), Suicide rates (see under "Injuries"), etc.
Special U.S. Census Report on the Homeless (2010)
"The Emergency and Transitional Shelter Population: 2010" includes statistics on people living in shelters, broken down by age, race, etc. Document is .pdf.
Land and Property Value Statistics (raw data)
Includes data on property values for areas like Oregon or the Portland Metro area from the 1980s-2015, provided by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy at Rutgers. Warning: this is raw data in Excel tables, so you'll have to analyze the data yourself to get your own statistics.
Lebanon Valley College, Bishop Library, maintains the website.
Government Facts
Oregon Blue Book
The "Official State Fact Book about all levels of government in Oregon." Describes the duties of all state agencies, offices, etc.; provides links to Legislation; etc. Current info is online. For old facts (like, what committees existed in 1972, etc.) we have old printed Blue Books in the library. Similar sources exist for other U.S. states.
GovInfo
Comprehensive database of US federal publications from the last 15 years, including legislation, directories, court opinions, etc. This is the online version of what was once the Government Printing Office.
United States Government Manual
Official handbook describes the function, structure, etc. of the parts of the federal government, such as the Department of Education, the U.S. Court of Appeals, etc.
World Factbook
Authoritative statistics about countries around the world, compiled by the CIA. "Provides information on the history, people, government, economy, energy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities."