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🔍 Where to Find Great Datasets for Your Next Data Science Project

By Niaz Murshed Chowdhury, PhD


Whether you’re a beginner learning Python or an experienced data scientist polishing your portfolio, finding the right dataset is half the battle. The good news? There’s a treasure trove of free, high-quality data sources you can tap into — for machine learning, analytics, or storytelling projects.


Below, I’ve rounded up some of the best places to find real-world datasets, plus a few tips to help you get started.

📊 1️⃣ Kaggle Datasets

Kaggle is one of the best-known platforms for data science competitions — but its free Datasets hub is just as useful. You’ll find thousands of datasets on topics from sports and health to finance and social trends. Many come with sample notebooks to help you start fast.



📚 2️⃣ UCI Machine Learning Repository

The UCI ML Repository is a classic — it hosts dozens of well-documented datasets, perfect for testing algorithms or learning the basics. If you’ve heard of the Iris dataset or the Wine dataset, they probably came from here.


🌐 3️⃣ Google Dataset Search

Think of this like Google Search, but just for datasets. Type in your topic, and Google pulls open datasets from universities, governments, and research sites across the web.


🏛️ 4️⃣ Data.gov

If you love public policy, social science, or environment data, this is gold. The U.S. government’s open data portal has thousands of datasets — from healthcare spending to climate trends.


🌍 5️⃣ World Bank Open Dat

For global development, economics, and demographics, the World Bank’s open data portal is outstanding. You’ll find clean, structured data and easy-to-read indicators for almost every country.

💻 6️⃣ Awesome Public Datasets (GitHub)

This is a crowdsourced, curated list of public datasets in every imaginable category — from economics to biology to sports — all in one GitHub repo.



📈 7️⃣ FiveThirtyEight Data

Love data journalism? FiveThirtyEight shares the data behind its news stories — great for building projects that mix stats, visualization, and narrative.


🌐 8️⃣ UN Data & Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX)

For international development or humanitarian work, these sites offer open datasets on global population, health, education, and crisis response.

👉 UN Data

👉 HDX


💹 9️⃣ Quandl

Quandl specializes in financial and economic data. Some datasets are free; others need a subscription. Great for time series forecasting or fintech projects.


🧑‍🎓 🔟 Academic Data Archives

Finally, don’t forget the academic world! Sites like ICPSR, Zenodo, and Figshare host huge collections of research datasets, often used in social sciences, health, and environmental studies.

👉 ICPSR

👉 Zenodo


🚀 Pro Tip: Start Small, Document Well

When you choose a dataset, look for good documentation and clear variables — they’ll save you hours of frustration. And when you finish your analysis, share your process. A well-documented project is the best way to stand out in the data science community.


Happy coding and happy exploring!Got a favorite dataset source I didn’t mention? Drop it in the comments — let’s grow this list together!

 
 
 

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