U.S. CITIES
A Central Library Research Guide
For facts on and evaluations of specific cities in the United States, refer to these books in our 2nd floor reference collection:
| America's Top-Rated Cities | R 307.760973 Am |
| Social, business, economic, demographic and environmental profiles, as well as brief evaluative comments, on 100 cities. |
| America's Top-Rated Smaller Cities | R 307.760973 Am |
| Profiles of 60 top-rated US cities with populations between 25,000 and 99,999. |
| Places Rated Almanac | R 307.7640973 Bo |
| Rates and ranks 354 metro areas across the United States and Canada, examining nine essential factors to help people make the right choice for their lifestyle. |
| City Profiles USA | R 917.304929 Ci |
| Contains key contact information for travel-related services, facilities, attractions, and events in 250 U.S. and Canadian cities. Entries also contain a brief description for each city, and basic facts such as population, county, latitude and longitude, area codes, and climate. |
Rankings and Evaluations Available Online
Access the following websites from the Library's Internet computers or from home:
The Best Places to Live
Money Magazine's annual rankings of US metro areas.
EPodunk
Provides links to information for over 25,000 communities around the country, focusing more on small places than on cities. Searchable and browsable.
ERSys.com
Statistical information on 2,600 US cities and metropolitan areas in all fifty states, on topics such as education, transportation, ethnicity, and much more.
Sperling's Best Places
Climate profiles, crime statistics, school rankings, and more for thousands of cities world-wide, including hundreds in the United States. The 'Best Place Finder' helps identify your best place to live, work, rear children, or retire based on several factors.
The Kid-Friendly Cities Report Card
Rates cities according to various 'child friendliness' factors. Searchable and browsable.
America's Safest (and Most Dangerous) Cities
An alphabetical listing of the top 25 and bottom 25 cities in which to live based on safety and danger. Rankings for previous years are available back to 1995.
Economic and Demographic Information
State of the Cities Data Systems (SOCDS)
Includes demographic and economic statistics, employment, county business patterns, FBI crime data, and local building permits.
County and City Data Book
Not the complete text of the print version (in our Reference collection at R 317.3 Un Co), but useful for data on cities over 200,000 population. Basic tables are available here. See also County and City Extra at R 317.3 Co.
Real Estate Journal
Search for neighborhood demographic data or school profiles by zip code, city, or county. From the Wall Street Journal.
Environment
Search Your Community
Search by zip code in a number of different Environmental Protection Agency databases measuring a variety of environmental conditions, including toxic waste releases, current UV ratings, watershed conditions, and more. Select "Where You Live" on the left column.
Other Information
News Directory
Containing links to not only newspaper and broadcast TV news sources in specific cities, this site also has an 'additional research' section that includes links to city and county government web pages, and a 'travel planner' with links to visitors and convention bureaus. Searchable and geographically browsable, including by U.S. state, area code, and city.
ReferenceUSA Business Directory
Do a 'custom search' to find all the businesses in a specific yellow page category in a city or town. Use in the Library, or access remotely from any Internet computer using your library card number.
From this page, click in the 'Directories' section, then 'ReferenceUSA Business Directory'.
Return to Research Guide Index
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Funded in whole or in part by a Loan Star Libraries Grant authorized by the Texas Legislature and awarded by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to the Austin Public Library.
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