The latest Data Wednesday explains what per capita data is, how it's calculated, and why you'd want to use it. Using food stamp spending as an example, we see how per capita spending figures are useful when comparing numbers between states.

The presidential election is about voters’ vision for how the federal government should serve the American people. National Priorities Project’s Primary Stakes series examines how residents of primary states currently rely on assistance from the federal government, and two Super Tuesday states illustrate that support from the federal government—and taxes ...

Many of our Facebook fans have been asking why National Priorities Project includes Social Security in charts about federal spending. If Social Security is funded by a dedicated source—your payroll taxes, also called FICA—then shouldn’t Social Security be shown separately from other kinds of federal spending? Most of the cost ...

Senior research analyst Mattea Kramer looks through the President's budget proposal to find out what is designated for job creation.     Want to make sure you don't miss any of our videos? Subscribe to NPP's YouTube Channel!

Likely voters said their top priority for President Obama’s 2013 budget was job creation, according to a poll conducted last month by The Hill. The president released his fiscal 2013 budget on Feb. 13, and it includes around $350 billion for job creation, including money for jobs in the short-term, ...

National Priorities Project examines direct federal support to Michigan residents, and federal money in the state’s budget.

National Priorities Project's executive director Jo Comerford explains NPP's Twelve Zeros campaign, three weeks of bite sized information about the President's budget proposal.

Our latest data story highlights some of the historical federal spending patterns for several grant programs featured in President Obama's budget proposal for fiscal year 2013.

On February 14, 2012 the Obama Administration released its proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget for the federal government. The request includes $525.4 billion for the Department of Defense (DoD) in Fiscal Year 2013, which begins on October 1, 2012. Adjusted for inflation, this is 2.6 percent below FY2012 levels, the ...

When looking at data, you may hear or read the phrase normalization. Simply put, normalization is transforming a set of data so that they may be compared in a meaningful way. Still sounds geeky? Although you may not realize it, you use normalized data all the time. The latest Data Wednesday walks you through an example using familiar information: unemployment numbers.