Dataset compiled by Yushu Xia and Michelle Wander for the Soil Health Institute. Data were recovered from peer reviewed literature reporting results for three ‘Tier 2’ indicators (β-glucosidase (BG), fluorescein diacetate (FDA) hydrolysis, and permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC)) in terms of their relative response to management where soils under cover crops, grassland cover, organic amendments and residue return compared to conventionally managed controls. Peer-reviewed articles published between January of 1990 and December 2017 were searched using the Thomas Reuters Web of Science database (Thomas Reuters, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Google Scholar to identify studies reporting results for: “β-glucosidase”, “permanganate oxidizable carbon”, “active carbon”, “readily oxidizable carbon”, and “fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis”, together with one or more of the following: “management practice”, “tillage”, “cover crop”, “residue”, “organic fertilizer”, or “manure”. Records were tabulated to compare SQI abundance in soil maintained under a control (conventional cropping with that found under soil health promoting practice) and soil aggrading practice with the intent to contribute to SQI databases that will support development of interpretive frameworks and/or algorithms including pedo-transfer functions relating indicator abundance to management practices and site specific factors. Meta-data include key descriptor variables and covariates useful for development of scoring functions which include: 1) identifying factors for the study site (location, year of initiation of study and year in which data was reported), 2) soil textural class and pH, 3) depth of sampling, 4) analytical methods for quantification (i.e.: loss on ignition, combustion), 5) units used in published works (i.e.: equivalent mass, concentration), 6) SOC class (L,M,H), and 7) statistical significance of difference comparisons.