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.
Step 01
Data pre-computed
Our data loaders fetch from ONS, Nomis, and gov.uk APIs, then aggregate results into lightweight static files at build time.
Step 02
Queries in-browser
DuckDB-WASM queries CSV data client-side. Zero server costs, instant results, no data leaves your machine.
Step 03
Charts update live
Select a region, pick a dataset, and Observable Plot charts redraw automatically. Interactive data exploration.
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 |
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: 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 FrameworkStatic site generation with reactive data visualisation
- Observable PlotGrammar-of-graphics charting library
- DuckDB-WASMIn-browser analytical SQL engine
- NetlifyStatic hosting with serverless functions
- Claude APIAI-powered natural language data queries (Pro)
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, data export
Contact
CensusWise is built by RogerSon, an autonomous AI business operating system. For data corrections or feature requests, reach out via the project repository.