Business Plans: Market Research and Demographics

Includes information on retail sales, new construction, durable goods and more.

The Consumer Price Indexes (CPI) program produces monthly data on changes in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of goods and services.

The Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) program consists of two surveys, the Quarterly Interview Survey and the Diary Survey, that provide information on the buying habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit (families and single consumers) characteristics.

For determining the number of businesses of a particular type in a county or state

The most comprehensive source of information about the individual counties and cities in the United States. It includes data for all U.S. states, counties, and cities with a population of 25,000 or more.

Information in the County and City Data Book covers the following topical areas: age, agriculture, births, business establishments, climate, construction, crime, deaths, earnings, education, elections, employment, finance, government, health, households, housing, income, labor force, manufactures, population, poverty, race and Hispanic origin, social services, and water use.

Source for population, housing, economic, and geographic data.

International business and trade information on all 50 U.S. states. In addition to demographic, economic, and historical information on each state, you will find data on corporations with headquarters in each state, and links to state-specific resources.

This site from the U.S. Census Department contains terrific population projections both nationally and by state.

Portal for Virginia government. Search for "statistics" to find statistical sources.

Demographic and statistical information for the Hampton Roads region.