The University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research (UKCPR) National Welfare Data is a comprehensive state-level panel dataset spanning 1980-2023, covering population, employment, unemployment, welfare programs, poverty measurements, and political factors. Created by UKCPR researchers including James P. Ziliak with funding from the Russell Sage Foundation, this dataset provides detailed information on welfare program expenditures and recipiency, economic characteristics, policy implementations, and demographic trends across all 50 states. The dataset serves as a critical resource for researchers analyzing welfare reform impacts, particularly the transition from AFDC to TANF under the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. Its unique features include State-by-Year Effective Tax Rates for AFDC/TANF programs (1983-2002), constant-dollar adjustments using BLS price indexes, and comprehensive coverage of both traditional welfare metrics and broader economic-political contexts. The data is publicly available as Excel files with detailed codebooks, enabling researchers to study long-term trends in safety-net programs, state policy variations, and the complex relationships between economic conditions and welfare outcomes across time and geography.