Subject Guides: Social Sciences Data: Covariates

Adding Covariates to Your Data

Covariates allow you to control for some of the many factors involved in output from statistical analysis. These control variables are related to your dependent variable, but may not be the focus of your research question. The covariates you want to include may or may not be in the same dataset with your dependent and independent variables.

If you need to add covariates to your data, this page is for you.

*Remember to find covariates from the same time period, level of observation, and geography as the rest of your data.

General Recommended Sources

General

Social Explorer
Great source for control variables by geographic region, down to census tract level. Include demographic variables like population, age, education, and income.

World Bank World Development Indicators
Great source for social, economic, and environmental variables for countries throughout the world.

Historical Statistics of the United States
Source for historical time series variables in the United States, going back to the 1700s.

Topical Recommended Sources

This list includes the most commonly used sources, but is not exhaustive. Check out the other tabs or talk to the Data Librarian for additional sources.

Economic

Bureau of Labor Statistics
Data for economic indicators like inflation, unemployment, GDP, and wages. Down to county level in some cases.
County Business Patterns
County-level economic data from 1962 - 2003. County GDP was not collected until 2001, but this is a good alternate data source.
Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)
Source for individual time-series variables merge into existing data.