Profiles of America Review

“[T]his new, massive four-volume compilation does not disappoint: it has been expanded and updated to provide
statistical and descriptive information on every populated place in the country…A fascinating and thorough, albeit physically unwieldy, print publication. All libraries holding earlier editions will want to replace it with the new one. The publisher states that the buyers of the new edition will receive a free subscription to the online version, which makes the data in this resource even more appealing and infinitely more accessible. Summing Up: ★★★ Highly recommended. All libraries, all readers.”
-CHOICE

A Library Journal Best Reference Source
“Combining official census information and other public domain statistics with original research, this set provides the most comprehensive portrait of America ever published. It includes basic information on geography, weather, economic data, industries, housing, education, population, hospitals, crime rates, election results, newspapers and contact numbers for municipalities, counties, etc…While large academic and public libraries will want to acquire the entire set, smaller libraries can purchase regional volumes. An outstanding compilation.”
- Library Journal

“Originally published by Toucan Valley (1995), Profiles has been expanded and put on a regular timetable by Grey House. It covers 42,282 places in the US, and while coverage is more complete for counties than small towns, and for large cities than counties, coverage of even the smallest locations is significant and difficult to find elsewhere…The great value of this set is its thorough treatment of every inhabited place in the US. Though it is often easy to find data for cities, metro areas, and sometimes countries from multiple sources, no other work offers this level of consistent and well-organized information about small places. It provides comparable information for both Hatfield, MA, a town of 3,249, and McCoy, Texas, and unincorporated postal area of 151, including: specific location (coordinates); basic geography; ethnic breakdown, including ancestry by specific country; population density; marriage rates; labor force and employment statistics; income; city taxes if any; education levels; home ownership; crime rate if any, and commuting information. Arrangement by county makes comparison of neighboring towns and regions easy, as well as inferences about town population, religious makeup, health and weather from the more complete county data. When the area includes a school district, college, or chamber of commerce, phone numbers are listed…Data are drawn primarily from the Census Bureau and other federal agencies, but other reliable information sources are used…and cited in the front matter of each volume, including URLs for many. Summing Up: Highly Recommended. All Collections.”
- CHOICE