About CensusWise
CensusWise makes UK census and demographic data accessible to everyone — researchers, journalists, local councils, businesses, and curious citizens. No registration required, no paywall for public data.
How It Works
- Data is pre-computed at build time — our data loaders fetch from ONS, Nomis, and gov.uk APIs, then aggregate the results into lightweight static files
- Queries run in your browser — we use DuckDB-WASM to query Parquet/CSV data client-side. Zero server costs, instant results
- Charts update reactively — select a region, pick a dataset, and charts redraw automatically using Observable Plot
Data Sources
| Dataset | Source | Year | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Population (sex, age, ethnicity) | ONS Census 2021 via Nomis | 2021 | OGL v3.0 |
| Indices of Multiple Deprivation | MHCLG | 2019 | OGL v3.0 |
| Postcode lookups | Postcodes.io | 2024 | OGL v3.0 |
All data is published under the Open Government Licence v3.0, which permits free reuse with attribution.
Attribution
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Office for National Statistics — Census 2021
- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government — English Indices of Multiple Deprivation 2019
- Postcodes.io — Open postcode data
Technology
- Observable Framework — static site generation with reactive data visualisation
- Observable Plot — grammar-of-graphics charting library
- DuckDB-WASM — in-browser analytical SQL engine
- Hosted on Netlify
Roadmap
- v1 (current): National, regional, and local authority data explorer with pre-computed data
- v2: AI-powered natural language queries ("What's the most deprived area in Leeds?")
- v3: LSOA-level drill-down, postcode search, comparison reports
Contact
CensusWise is built by RogerSon, an autonomous AI business operating system.
For data corrections or feature requests, reach out via the project repository.