California Policy Lab

What California Policy Lab does

California Policy Lab (CPL) is a nonpartisan research institute housed at the University of California, with operational sites in Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. Founded in 2017, it conducts hands-on policy research with California state agencies—covering labor markets, the safety net, education, consumer credit, housing, and health—and builds the administrative data infrastructure those analyses require. CPL reports more than 50 government partnerships across dozens of active projects.

Its product portfolio centers on three flagship data products plus a secure compute layer. The University of California Consumer Credit Panel (UC-CCP), launched in 2020 in partnership with the Student Borrower Protection Center and Student Loan Law Initiative, is a longitudinal panel of anonymized credit-bureau records covering roughly 60 million consumers from 2004 onward. The California Credit Dashboard (December 2022) translates that data into near-real-time, publicly accessible measures of household financial health across six debt categories. The California AI-Unemployment Tracker (CAIT), launched June 2026 with the Governor's Office and EDD, links unemployment insurance claims to two AI-exposure measures—one derived from OpenAI and academic research, the other from Anthropic Claude usage data—and updates monthly with demographic and geographic cuts. Underpinning researcher access is the Secure Data Hub, a monitored virtual enclave for analysis of sensitive administrative microdata.

CPL is a 501(c)-style non-profit within the UC system and operates with 11–50 employees. It is 100% funded by competitive grants and donations, with disclosed inflows including a $2M NSF grant (October 2020), a $3.2M UC Multicampus Research Grant (February 2021), and a James Irvine Foundation gift underwriting UC Berkeley PI access fees through October 2026. Direct research services to government agencies are provided at no cost; the Secure Data Hub generates modest fee revenue from external researchers for UC-CCP basic access ($7,441/year), data linkage ($9,093/year), and assorted hosted-project services. Customer segments are California state agencies (primary), University of California researchers (secondary), and state policymakers/legislators (secondary), with public dashboards serving as a self-serve distribution channel.

Name

California Policy Lab

Legal name

California Policy Lab

Website

https://capolicylab.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

California Policy Lab is a nonpartisan, UC-affiliated research institute that partners with California state agencies to conduct policy research and build administrative data infrastructure on labor, safety-net, education, credit, housing, and health issues, funded entirely by grants and donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Policy Research and Data Analytics

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374)

akta.pro primary industry

Social Sciences & Public Policy Research Universities (EDAHABAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Research Administration & Compliance (Sponsored Programs, IRB/REB) (EDADAKAH)

Keywords

• Policy research services
• Data infrastructure
• Government research
• Consumer credit analytics
• Labor market research

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Foundation Grants and Competitive Grants: CPL relies on competitive grants for a portion of revenue, funding real-time policy-focused research with government partners across dozens of projects in California
2. Donations: Individual and organizational donations support CPL's research operations, with two UC campus sites processing online donations (UC Berkeley and UCLA)

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

California Policy Lab conducts rigorous, data-driven policy research through hands-on partnerships with California government agencies on issues including homelessness, poverty, crime, education inequality, consumer credit, and labor markets. The institute builds and maintains proprietary data infrastructure such as the Secure Data Hub, the UC-CCP longitudinal credit panel of approximately 60 million consumers, the California Credit Dashboard, and the California AI-Unemployment Tracker (CAIT), producing research outputs and dashboards for policymakers and approved academic researchers.

Product overview

California Policy Lab is a nonpartisan research institute at the University of California with sites in Berkeley, Los Angeles, and Sacramento. It offers a portfolio of research tools and data infrastructure products including: the California AI-Unemployment Tracker (CAIT) for monitoring AI-related job displacement, the California Credit Dashboard for tracking household financial health, and the University of California Consumer Credit Panel (UC-CCP) dataset for approved researchers. These products are supported by the Secure Data Hub infrastructure. CPL's research covers labor markets, safety net programs, education, consumer credit, health, and housing, with over 50 government partnerships.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• California AI-Unemployment Tracker (CAIT): A first-in-the-nation tool linking unemployment insurance claims with measures of occupational AI exposure to monitor labor market changes.
• California Credit Dashboard
• University of California Consumer Credit Panel (UC-CCP)

Products and services

• California AI-Unemployment Tracker (CAIT) First-in-the-nation tracking tool that links unemployment insurance claims data with AI exposure measures to monitor labor market changes in California for policymakers and researchers.
• California Credit Dashboard Interactive dashboard providing near-real-time measures of household financial health for California, tracking credit balances, loan originations, delinquency rates, credit scores, and foreclosures across demographic and geographic segments.
• University of California Consumer Credit Panel (UC-CCP) Longitudinal panel dataset of anonymized consumer credit information for approximately 60 million consumers from 2004 onward, with oversampling of California consumers, including demographic/geographic information, credit scores, and tradeline-level loan data for approved academic researchers.
• Secure Data Hub Virtual enclave environment that provides secure analysis and research access to sensitive administrative microdata for approved researchers, with monitored, logged, and audited user activities.
• Hosted Projects Infrastructure End-to-end hosted research service in which CPL facilitates policy research by hosting project data on its Secure Data Hub and supporting projects via existing master data-use agreements with government partners.

Quantifiable outcome

• First-in-the-nation AI unemployment tracking tool launched
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and supporting.

• California Employment Development Department (EDD)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 25 June 2026Partnership with the Labor Market Information Division of EDD to develop the California AI-Unemployment Tracker (CAIT), linking unemployment insurance claims with AI exposure measures. CPL accesses and analyzes EDD unemployment administrative data in accordance with confidentiality requirements.
• Governor's Office of CaliforniacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026Partnership with Governor Gavin Newsom's office to develop AI workforce frameworks and track AI-related layoffs in California, as part of California's broader effort to understand how AI is reshaping the workforce.
• Student Borrower Protection CentersupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in creating the University of California Consumer Credit Panel (UC-CCP) dataset for studying consumer financial well-being and student debt trends.
• Student Loan Law InitiativesupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in creating the UC-CCP dataset for studying student loan impacts and consumer financial well-being in California.
• AnthropicsupportingTechnology or IntegrationCPL's CAIT tracker uses Anthropic's Claude platform data to measure 'Observed AI Exposure' - assessing how often workers use Claude to complete occupational tasks.
• Credit Bureau (Unnamed)coreOthersOne of three nationwide consumer reporting agencies provides credit data for the UC-CCP dataset, stripped of personally identifiable information before being provided to CPL.
• UCLAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCPL's UCLA site hosts researchers including Professor Till von Wachter (Economics, UCLA; Faculty Director of CPL's UCLA site) and Dr. Ben Hyman (Senior Researcher). UCLA processes online donations.
• UC BerkeleycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCPL's UC Berkeley site houses Executive Director Evan White and staff. UC Berkeley processes online donations and received James Irvine Foundation gift covering UC Berkeley PI project access fees.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• MDRC: MDRC designs and evaluates social policies and programs for governments and foundations, with deep expertise in education, employment, and poverty. Its nonprofit research model and government partnership structure closely parallel CPL's operating approach.
• Mathematica Policy Research: Mathematica conducts rigorous policy research and data analytics for government agencies on social programs, education, and labor markets. Like CPL, it builds bespoke data infrastructure to evaluate program impacts and serves government clients with research partnerships.
• Urban Institute: Urban Institute is a nonprofit research organization producing evidence-based insights on social and economic policy using large administrative datasets. It shares CPL's policy research focus, government partnership model, and reliance on restricted-access data infrastructure.
• Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL): J-PAL at MIT operates a near-identical university-embedded policy lab model, partnering with governments to run rigorous randomized evaluations on poverty, education, and labor. CPL mirrors this academic-policy-action approach within the UC system on California-specific issues.
• Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago: Chapin Hall is a university-based research center producing policy-relevant evidence on children, youth, and families using administrative data. CPL mirrors Chapin Hall's university-affiliated policy research model and use of restricted-access data enclaves.
• Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR): SIEPR is a Stanford-based policy research institute focused on economic issues, drawing on California administrative data and faculty. It is a direct California peer to CPL, especially in labor economics and consumer finance research.

Broad incumbents

• RAND Corporation: RAND is a much larger, established policy research organization covering a broader portfolio of topics including defense, health, and education. While not a direct California-policy competitor, RAND operates the same nonprofit government-partnered research model at greater scale.
• Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco: The SF Fed conducts economic research and produces regional data products on consumer credit, labor markets, and housing using administrative data. Its California-focused dashboards and consumer credit reports overlap with CPL's California Credit Dashboard.
• Brookings Institution: Brookings is a major nonprofit public policy organization producing research across economics, governance, and social policy. While broader than CPL, Brookings competes for the same foundation grants and government partnership opportunities.

Regional players

• Economic Roundtable: The Economic Roundtable is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit researching homelessness and poverty in California, frequently using administrative data. It operates in the same regional policy-research niche as CPL on overlapping issue areas.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CAPolicyLab

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about California Policy Lab