The Hessian State Statistical Office (HSL) was established in December 1945 by the US military government and, as the highest state authority, was directly subordinate to the Minister President.

The core was formed by the Hessian State Statistical Office (Darmstadt), the Institute of Economic Sciences (Darmstadt), the parts of the Agricultural Department of the Reich Statistical Office based in Frankfurt Höchst and the IT facilities of the Reich Industry Group in Bad Nauheim. The HSL began its work with around 50 employees and carried out the first population, occupational and housing census on October 29, 1946.

Today, HSL has around 350 employees spread across two locations. Since 1954, the head office has been located in a historic building in Rheinstraße, which was used as an orthopaedic sanatorium in the 19th century. The HSL moved into the building on 11.05.1954.

The HSL collects figures from almost all social, economic and ecological areas in Hessen on the basis of state, federal and EU laws and regulations and makes them available to the public. The Federal Statistical Office, which is also based in Wiesbaden, compiles the results of the HSL and the 13 other state offices into a federal result. The focus of its work included the regular censuses of 1950, 1961, 1970, 1987 and the 2011 census.