About This Project

Understanding the data behind How Is America.

What Is How Is America?

How Is America is a free, open data visualization platform that makes U.S. Census Bureau data accessible and understandable. We transform raw survey data into interactive charts, maps, and analysis covering AI adoption, food security, housing affordability, employment, health insurance, and spending across America.

Our goal is to answer one question: How is America really doing? By combining data from multiple federal sources, we provide a comprehensive, data-driven picture of American life in 2026.

Data Sources

How Is America draws on multiple official government data sources:

•U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey (HTOPS) — primary source, March 2026
•CDC PLACES — Local health indicators and chronic disease prevalence
•Census ACS — American Community Survey demographic and economic profiles
•USDA ERS — Economic Research Service food security data
•BLS — Bureau of Labor Statistics employment and unemployment data
•FRED — Federal Reserve Economic Data on housing and economic indicators

Methodology

•Sample Size: 7,485 respondents
•Weighting: All percentages use PWEIGHT (person-level weights) to produce nationally representative estimates
•Geography: Regional data is at the Census Division level (9 divisions). The public-use file does not include state-level identifiers
•Multi-select questions: For topics like AI tools, purposes, concerns, transportation modes, and insurance types, respondents could select multiple options

View full methodology →

Census Divisions

New England: CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT

Middle Atlantic: NJ, NY, PA

East North Central: IL, IN, MI, OH, WI

West North Central: IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD

South Atlantic: DE, DC, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV

East South Central: AL, KY, MS, TN

West South Central: AR, LA, OK, TX

Mountain: AZ, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, UT, WY

Pacific: AK, CA, HI, OR, WA

Who Built This

Built by Kian O Connor as part of TheDataProject.ai — a portfolio of 60+ data-driven websites making government and public data accessible to everyone.

AI Disclosure

This site uses AI-assisted content generation and data analysis. All statistics are derived from official government data sources. AI tools were used to help process raw data, generate analysis text, and build interactive visualizations. The underlying data is always sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies listed above.

Attribution

This project is an independent analysis of publicly available Census data. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. Census Bureau. Data is sourced from the HTOPS Public Use File (PUF).

Privacy Policy

How Is America is a static data visualization website. We are committed to protecting your privacy.

Data Collection: This website does not collect personal information from visitors. We do not use cookies for tracking, and we do not require account creation or login.

Analytics: This site may use basic analytics (via the hosting platform, Vercel) to understand aggregate traffic patterns such as page views and visitor counts. No personally identifiable information is collected.

Third-Party Links: This site contains links to external websites (Census Bureau, sister sites). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites.

Data Downloads: The data files available for download on this site are derived from publicly available U.S. Census Bureau data and contain no personal information about individual respondents.

Contact: For questions about this privacy policy or the data presented on this site, please visit TheDataProject.ai.