data.gov

Data.gov publishes two distinct kinds of resources for people who need to understand or manage open government data: a Metrics section that reports how the catalog is being used, and a Data Management & Governance area that collects guidance, tools, case studies, and training material. If you want usage statistics, go to the Metrics section or data.gov/metrics. If you want to know how to run or improve a data program, the governance resource sections are the place to start.

Metrics: What Data.gov Measures

The Metrics section breaks the catalog down along several dimensions rather than reporting a single headline number.

Catalog composition. Data.gov states that you can view breakdowns of the type, age, and distribution of catalog.data.gov datasets. In other words, the metrics describe what the catalog contains and how it is spread across agencies and categories, not just how many records exist.

Usage by agency. For page-level activity, Data.gov points to data.gov/metrics, where you can see:

• Top dataset page views
• File downloads
• External link clicks

These are broken down by agency, so you can compare how much attention different agencies' datasets receive.

Freshness of the numbers. The metrics page carries a timestamp — the source page shows "Last Updated: Tue, 29 Sep 2026 05:00:33 GMT" — which tells you how current the figures are before you cite them.

Where to learn more. Data.gov directs readers to a Digital.gov blog post for a fuller explanation of the Metrics section, which is useful if you need to interpret the numbers rather than just read them.

Data Management & Governance Resources

Beyond statistics, Data.gov groups a set of practical resource areas aimed at agencies and data practitioners:

These sections serve different needs: Guidance and Data Management & Governance are reference material for compliance and policy questions, while Case Studies & Examples and Skills Development are better starting points if you are trying to build something and want precedent or training.

Federal Source Code Repositories

Data.gov also hosts a code repository section tied to a specific legal requirement. The SHARE IT Act (Public Law 118-187) requires federal agencies to maintain source code repositories and make them publicly discoverable through Data.gov. The site lets you:

• Explore agency code repositories
• Track compliance status
• Discover open source projects from across the federal government

This is a governance function as much as a discovery one — the compliance tracking shows which agencies have met the requirement.

How to Choose Which Section to Use

• You need numbers to cite or compare agencies → use the Metrics section, and check the "Last Updated" timestamp first.
• You need policy or management guidance → start with Data Management & Governance or Guidance.
• You want to see how others solved a problem → browse Case Studies & Examples.
• You want to build skills or find tooling → use Skills Development or Data Tools.
• You are looking for government source code → go to the Federal Source Code Repositories section.

One practical caution: the metrics describe catalog.data.gov datasets specifically, so treat them as catalog-level statistics rather than a measure of all federal data activity.

Data.gov is the official U.S. government open data portal, described on its homepage as "the home of the U.S. Government's open data." It aggregates data, tools, and resources you can use to conduct research, build web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more. As of the homepage listing, it reports 570,120 datasets available. It is the right starting point if you need federal datasets or want to find agency source code repositories; it is not a single dataset itself, but a catalog that points to data published across government.

What the site is designed to do

The site states its mission is to "unleash the power of government open data to inform decisions by the public and policymakers, drive innovation and economic activity, achieve agency missions, and strengthen the foundation of an open and transparent government."

In practical terms, that means Data.gov serves as a discovery layer: you search or browse, then follow links to the agency or catalog entry that actually hosts the data.

What you can do on Data.gov

• Search and browse datasets. The homepage provides a search function and surfaces several browsing paths:
  • Most Viewed Datasets
  • Recently Added Datasets
  • Datasets by Organization
  • Geospatial data
• Use the data for building things. The site explicitly lists research, web and mobile application development, and data visualization as intended uses.
• Find federal source code. A dedicated Code Repository section lets you explore agency code repositories, track compliance status, and discover open source projects across the federal government.
• Access supporting resources. Data Management & Governance, Data Tools, Data Incubator, Guidance, Case Studies & Examples, and Skills Development are all listed as resource areas.
• Review catalog metrics. A Metrics section shows breakdowns of the type, age, and distribution of catalog.data.gov datasets. For top dataset page views, file downloads, and external link clicks by agency, the site points to data.gov/metrics.

The code repository section, explained

The homepage notes that the SHARE IT Act (Public Law 118-187) requires federal agencies to maintain source code repositories and make them publicly discoverable through Data.gov. The Code Repository area is where you can explore those agency repositories, check compliance status, and find open source projects. If your goal is finding government-built software rather than datasets, this is the section to start with.

How to get oriented quickly

1. If you know what you want: use the search box on the homepage and enter your topic.
2. If you are exploring: start from Most Viewed Datasets to see what others commonly use, or Recently Added Datasets to see what is new.
3. If you need data from a specific agency: use Datasets by Organization.
4. If your interest is location-based: go to the Geospatial entry.
5. If you want code, not data: open the Code Repository section.

What to keep in mind

• Data.gov is a catalog and discovery portal. The dataset pages you reach may be hosted by the publishing agency, so terms, formats, and update schedules can vary by source.
• The dataset count (570,120) and the metrics timestamp (last updated Tue, 29 Sep 2026 05:00:33 GMT, as shown on the homepage) are point-in-time figures and will change.
• The homepage does not state pricing or login requirements for using the catalog, so treat access conditions as something to confirm on the specific dataset or repository page you land on.

For background on the portal itself, the site provides an About Us page and a timeline.

Data.gov is the U.S. government's open data site, and you can search or browse its catalog of 570,120 datasets in several ways: use the search box for keyword queries, or start from curated entry points like Most Viewed Datasets, Recently Added Datasets, Datasets by Organization, Geospatial, and Code Repository. The site is built for research, application development, data visualization, and general public exploration, so the right entry point depends on whether you already know what you're looking for.

Search with the search box

If you have a topic in mind, the search box is the fastest route.

1. Enter a keyword or phrase describing the data you need (for example, a subject, agency program, or geographic area).
2. Submit the search to get a result list drawn from the catalog.
3. Open a result to view the dataset's detail page, where you can review its description and access download options.

The expected result is a filtered list of datasets matching your terms, which you then narrow by opening individual records. A common snag: broad terms return large result sets, so add specificity (a place name, a time period, or an agency) when the first pass is too wide.

Browse curated entry points

If you don't have a specific keyword, browsing is more useful. The homepage surfaces several starting points:

Each entry leads into the catalog, where you continue to dataset detail pages and their download options.

Choose the right resource type

Data.gov hosts more than one kind of resource, and picking the correct category saves time:

• Datasets — the main catalog of 570,120 datasets, searchable and browsable as described above.
• Geospatial — a dedicated path when your work involves location or mapping.
• Code Repository — federal source code repositories. Under the SHARE IT Act (Public Law 118-187), agencies must maintain source code repositories and make them publicly discoverable through Data.gov, so this section lets you explore agency repositories, track compliance status, and find open source projects.

If your goal is analysis or visualization, start with datasets or geospatial. If you need the software behind a tool, use the code repository section instead.

Check catalog metrics before you commit

Data.gov publishes breakdowns of the type, age, and distribution of catalog.data.gov datasets, with a last-updated timestamp. For top dataset page views, file downloads, and external link clicks by agency, the site points to data.gov/metrics. Reviewing these metrics helps you judge how active or well-used a dataset or agency is before building on it.

Verify your result

Once you reach a dataset detail page, confirm it fits your need by checking the description and then using the available download options. If a dataset seems outdated or incomplete, cross-check the metrics section or try the Datasets by Organization entry to see whether the publishing agency offers a better-maintained alternative.

Data.gov is the United States Government's open data site, and its stated mission is to "unleash the power of government open data" for four purposes: to inform decisions by the public and policymakers, drive innovation and economic activity, achieve agency missions, and strengthen the foundation of an open and transparent government. If you want to know what the site is for — not just what it contains — those four goals are the answer, and everything else on the site (datasets, tools, metrics, code repositories) is a means to them.

The Four Mission Goals

The mission statement on Data.gov's homepage breaks into four distinct objectives. Each one implies a different kind of user and a different reason the data matters.

The wording matters: the site does not describe itself as a warehouse or a download portal. It describes itself as a way to unleash data that already exists across government.

Why the Mission Is Framed This Way

Open data as infrastructure, not a product

The homepage lists what you can do with the catalog — "conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more" — alongside the mission. That pairing is deliberate. The mission only holds if the data is actually usable, so the site positions itself as a place where data, tools, and resources sit together rather than as a pure file store.

Transparency and utility are treated as complementary

A common assumption is that open government data is either a transparency exercise or an economic one. Data.gov's mission statement refuses that split: informing the public and policymakers sits in the same sentence as driving innovation and economic activity. In practice this means a dataset published for accountability reasons can also be the raw material for an app.

The mission extends to code, not just data

The site's Federal Source Code Repositories section states that the SHARE IT Act (Public Law 118-187) requires federal agencies to maintain source code repositories and make them publicly discoverable through Data.gov. This is a useful illustration of the mission in action: transparency is applied to the software government builds, not only to the datasets it collects. The section lets you explore agency code repositories, track compliance status, and discover open source projects across the federal government.

What the Mission Looks Like in Practice

The homepage reports 570,120 datasets available, organized through entry points including Most Viewed Datasets, Recently Added Datasets, Datasets by Organization, Geospatial, and Code Repository. Those entry points map onto the mission:

• Most viewed and recently added serve the "inform decisions" goal by surfacing what people actually use and what is new.
• Datasets by organization supports accountability — you can see which agency published what.
• Geospatial and Code Repository reflect the breadth of "government open data," which includes maps and source code, not just spreadsheets.

The site also publishes metrics: breakdowns of the type, age, and distribution of catalog.data.gov datasets, with top dataset page views, file downloads, and external link clicks broken down by agency available at data.gov/metrics. Metrics are the feedback loop for the mission — if the data is not being viewed, downloaded, or linked to, the "unleash the power" claim is not being met.

How to Use the Mission When Evaluating the Site

If you are deciding whether Data.gov is relevant to your work, match your task to a mission goal rather than browsing blindly:

• You need evidence for a decision or a story → start from Most Viewed Datasets or Datasets by Organization, then check the metrics page to see how heavily a dataset is actually used.
• You are building something → the homepage explicitly frames the catalog as input for web and mobile applications and data visualizations.
• You care about government software transparency → go to Federal Source Code Repositories, where compliance status under the SHARE IT Act is tracked.
• You want to understand the catalog's shape → the metrics section shows type, age, and distribution across catalog.data.gov.

One practical caveat: the mission describes intent, not a guarantee about any individual dataset. A dataset being present does not tell you its update frequency, license, or completeness — those you have to check on the dataset's own page.

The Bottom Line

Data.gov's mission is to turn government open data into something that informs decisions, drives innovation and economic activity, helps agencies achieve their own missions, and strengthens open and transparent government. The catalog size, the tools and resources, the metrics, and the code repository section are all downstream of that single sentence. If your question is "why does this site exist," the four goals are the answer; if your question is "what can I get from it," the answer depends on which of those four goals your task falls under.

Federal Source Code Repositories on Data.gov are a dedicated section where U.S. federal agencies' source code repositories are made publicly discoverable. The SHARE IT Act (Public Law 118-187) requires federal agencies to maintain source code repositories and make them publicly discoverable through Data.gov. This section exists so that the public, developers, and researchers can find and explore open source projects produced across the federal government.

Why this section exists

The SHARE IT Act (Public Law 118-187) is the legal driver. Under it, federal agencies must:

• Maintain source code repositories
• Make those repositories publicly discoverable through Data.gov

Data.gov's role here is as the discovery layer — the place where those repositories are surfaced and linked, rather than the place where the code itself necessarily lives.

What you can do in this section

According to the Data.gov page, the Federal Source Code Repositories area lets you:

• Explore agency code repositories — browse repositories published by federal agencies
• Track compliance status — see how agencies are doing against the SHARE IT Act requirement
• Discover open source projects from across the federal government

The page provides a "View Code Repositories" entry point that takes you to the actual repository listings.

How it fits into Data.gov overall

Data.gov describes itself as "the home of the U.S. Government's open data," offering data, tools, and resources to conduct research, develop web and mobile applications, design data visualizations, and more. The catalog lists 570,120 datasets available, alongside sections for Geospatial data and the Code Repository.

So the Federal Source Code Repositories are a distinct resource type on Data.gov — separate from the dataset catalog. If you are looking for government data, you use the dataset search. If you are looking for government code, this is the section to use.

When to use it

Use the Federal Source Code Repositories section when you want to:

• Find source code published by federal agencies
• Check whether a specific agency has made its repositories discoverable
• Discover open source projects from across the federal government for reuse or contribution

If your goal is datasets rather than code, the main Data.gov search and the Most Viewed / Recently Added / Datasets by Organization listings are the better starting points.

Getting started

1. Go to Data.gov.
2. Locate the Federal Source Code Repositories section.
3. Select View Code Repositories.
4. Browse agency repositories, review compliance status, and open individual projects of interest.

The page itself does not state pricing or login requirements for this section, so treat access conditions as something to confirm on the repository pages you reach.