The Trump administration has deleted or altered nearly 400 federal datasets since taking office, with health data accounting for the largest share of changes, according to a tracker updated Aug. 17 by dataindex.us, a group of data policy experts, researchers and developers.
Here are six things to know:
- At least 28 federal datasets have been deleted outright and another 338 modified across more than 60 agencies covering health, the environment, labor and law enforcement, the tracker found.
- Health datasets account for about 40% of all changes. The affected data include several CDC surveys, such as the National HIV Surveillance System and the National Violent Death Reporting System, that have dropped questions on gender identity following an executive order on gender ideology.
- At least four health datasets have stopped updating entirely, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Drug Abuse Warning Network, which tracked drug-related emergency department visits in near real time to identify emerging overdose trends.
- Other affected datasets come from agencies outside healthcare. They include a twice-yearly USDA farmworker wage survey tied to H-2A visa pay rates and a National Center for Education Statistics survey of teacher and principal pay
- Dataindex.us’ co-founders said the tracker likely undercounts the total because agencies are not required to notify the public when datasets are discontinued and some have stopped updating because of staffing gaps.
- The findings build on a pattern of federal health data restrictions dating to early 2025, when a White House-directed freeze on federal health communications led the CDC and other agencies to pull webpages on HIV, reproductive care, gender-based violence and other topics. The removals prompted a physician group lawsuit and a court order requiring the pages to be restored. A January report also found nearly half of CDC surveillance databases paused updates in 2025.
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