Philadelphia Federal Statistical Research Data Center

Federal Statistical Research Data Centers (RDCs) are partnerships between federal statistical agencies and leading research institutions. They are secure facilities providing authorized access to restricted-use microdata for statistical purposes only.

In July 2016, Drexel University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia founded a consortium to establish, in partnership with the U.S. Census Bureau, a Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC) in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia FSRDC opened its doors in October 2017 and is located at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Since its conception, University of Delaware, the University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University have also joined the consortium.

FSRDCs are partnerships between federal statistical agencies and leading research institutions that allow qualified researchers to conduct research on a wide-range of non-public micro-data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the National Center for Health Statistics, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. There are currently 29 FSRDCs around the country. The datasets available through FSRDCs are among the largest and most important sources of statistical information in the U.S. for researchers in economics, business, demography, sociology, medicine, statistics, criminology, and many other disciplines.

Andre Kurmann, LeBow College of Business, is Drexel’s representative in the consortium. Researchers interested in obtaining access to the Philadelphia RDC should contact FSRDC@drexel.edu