The U.S. Census Bureau

    The United States Census Bureau's website is a statistic lover's delight. There are fact sheets, a population clock, and not to mention that you have access to the entire U.S. 2000 census. I looked up the statistics for Arabs in the United States and found out the Arab population has increased 40% since 1990.  I also found out that there are 117,014 gas station and they employ 887,341.  The population clock estimates how many people are in the United States currently, even the world population (which is 6,870,731,967).
    The census bureau's mission statement says the following, "The Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy. We honor privacy, protect confidentiality, share our expertise globally, and conduct our work openly. We are guided on this mission by our strong and capable workforce, our readiness to innovate, and our abiding commitment to our customers." The U.S. Census Bureau is considered part of the department of Commerce. One of the most important reasons the it exists is to determine the distribution of Congressional seats to the states. They also provide information regarding age so congress can know how many individuals qualify for Social Security.
    There are several different types of censuses the census bureau conducts. The one we are the most familiar with is the Population and Housing census which occurs every 10 years. We just recently completed on for 2010. There is also the economic census, American community survey, and the census of governments.