Wikipedia

Federal Reserve Economic Data

(Redirected from FRED database)

Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) is a database maintained by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis that provides access to more than 816,000 economic time series from hundreds of public and private sources.[1] The database includes data on banking, business and fiscal conditions, consumer price indexes, employment and population, exchange rates, gross domestic product, interest rates, monetary aggregates, producer price indexes, reserves and monetary base, U.S. trade and international transactions, and financial markets. FRED aggregates data from U.S. government agencies, state institutions, universities, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, and private companies, including sources such as the United States Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Zillow, and the National Association of Realtors.[2][3]

History

edit

FRED was created by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to improve public access to economic and financial data. Over time, the platform expanded from a relatively small collection of U.S. macroeconomic indicators into a large-scale aggregation service containing domestic and international economic data from hundreds of providers.

The platform is widely used by economists, researchers, journalists, students, policymakers, and participants in financial markets for economic analysis and forecasting.[4]

Data organization

edit

FRED organizes economic information primarily as time series ("series") consisting of dated observations. Series are associated with statistical releases and data sources, while categories and tags provide systems for browsing and metadata classification.

Concept Description
Source An institution or organization that provides data published through FRED
Release A statistical publication or dataset grouping associated with one or more sources
Series An individual economic time series consisting of dated observations
Observation A dated value within a series
Category A hierarchical classification used to organize and browse series
Tag A metadata label used for search and cross-classification
Vintage (ALFRED) A historical snapshot of a series as available at a specific point in time

Categories form a hierarchical browsing structure, while tags provide non-hierarchical metadata relationships across series. Individual series may appear in multiple categories and may be associated with numerous tags.

Services

edit

ALFRED

edit

ALFRED (Archival Federal Reserve Economic Data) provides access to vintage versions of economic data that were available at specific points in time. The service allows researchers to examine historical revisions to economic statistics and reproduce analyses using data available at earlier dates.[5]

GeoFRED

edit

GeoFRED is a geographic mapping tool that displays selected FRED data series using color-coded visualizations at the state, metropolitan statistical area, and county levels.[6]

FRASER

edit

FRASER (Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research) is a digital archive created by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to preserve and provide access to historical economic publications and documents related to the history of the United States financial system and the Federal Reserve System.[7]

The archive includes:

  • Publications of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
  • Publications of Federal Reserve Banks
  • Speeches and archival materials of Federal Reserve policymakers
  • Government statistical publications
  • Congressional hearings
  • Economic reports and books

FRASER was developed in collaboration with libraries, government agencies, and academic institutions.

CASSIDI

edit

CASSIDI is a data service that provides information about banking market structures, banking markets, and depository institutions within the United States.[8]

IDEAS and RePEc integration

edit

The St. Louis Fed Research division also hosts IDEAS, a bibliographic database associated with Research Papers in Economics (RePEc), which indexes economic research papers, articles, and working papers from academic and research institutions worldwide.[9]

Usage and influence

edit

FRED data are widely used in academic research, financial markets, journalism, and public policy analysis. The platform is commonly used for economic forecasting, macroeconomic analysis, and reproducible research.

The availability of machine-readable data and public APIs has contributed to the widespread adoption of FRED within quantitative finance, economics, and data science communities.

In a 2012 Business Insider article, economist Paul Krugman described FRED as an essential tool for real-time economic analysis.[10]

API and software ecosystem

edit

FRED provides a public web API that allows users to programmatically access economic data and metadata published through the platform.[11] The API follows a REST architecture and returns data in formats including JSON and XML. Access requires registration for an API key used to authenticate requests.

The API supports retrieval of time series observations, releases, categories, tags, and related metadata associated with FRED datasets.[12] Users may query individual series, filter observations by date ranges, and retrieve metadata describing data sources, units, frequencies, and seasonal adjustment methods.

The FRED API has supported the development of third-party libraries, integrations, and open-source software for statistical and programming environments including R, Python, Ruby, Julia, and command-line interfaces. Examples include fredr, an R package used for economic data analysis,[13] and RESERVE, an open-source command-line interface for interacting with the FRED API.[14]

The API is widely used by researchers, analysts, developers, and financial market participants to integrate economic data into statistical software, forecasting systems, financial models, and research applications.[15]

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis provides citation guidelines for FRED data and associated metadata.[16]

FRED economic indicators (partial list)

edit
SERIESCATEGORYSUB-CATEGORYINDICATORPERIOD
TREAST Finance Monetary Data US Treasuries Held by the Fed W
WSHOMCB Finance Monetary Data Mortgage Backed Sec Held by the Fed W
WALCL Banking Monetary Factors All Fed Reserve Banks - Total Assets W
TLAAC Banking Monetary Factors All Commercial Banks - Total Assets W
TOTBKCR Banking Commercial Credit Bank Credit of All Commercial Banks W
TOTALSEC Banking Commercial Credit Securitized Total Consumer Loans M
TOTALSL Banking Commercial Credit Total Consumer Credit Outstanding M
INVEST Banking Investment Total Investments All Commercial Banks M
USGSEC Banking Investment US Treasury and Agency Securities

at All Commercial Banks

 M
CONSUMER Banking Loans Total Consumer Loans M
BUSLOANS Banking Loans Total Commercial/Industrial Loans M
DALLCACBEP Banking Delinquencies Delinquencies On All Loans And Leases M
T10Y2Y Banking Interest Rates US 10-YR / 2-YR Spread W
TB3MS Banking Interest Rates 3-Month T-Bill: Secondary Market Rate W
DGS10 Banking Interest Rates 10-Yr Treasury Const. Maturity Rate W
GFDEBTN Business/Fiscal Federal Government Federal Government Debt (Public) Y
FYOINT Business/Fiscal Federal Government Interest on National Debt Y
FYONET Business/Fiscal Federal Government Federal Spending Y
FYFR Business/Fiscal Federal Government Federal Receipts Y
FYFSD Business/Fiscal Federal Government Budget Deficit/Surplus Y
CDSP Business/Fiscal Household Sector Consumer Debt/Income Ratio Q
PERMIT Business/Fiscal Household Sector New Home Permits M
HSN1F Business/Fiscal Household Sector New Home Sales M
CMDEBT Business/Fiscal Household Sector Outstanding Mortgage Debt Q
DGORDER Business/Fiscal Ind. Production Manufacturers' New Orders M
TCU Business/Fiscal Ind. Production Capacity Utilization: Total Industry M
TTLCONS Business/Fiscal Construction Total Construction Spending M
BUSINV Business/Fiscal Other Total Business Inventories M
ALTSALES Business/Fiscal Other Light Weight Vehicle Sales M
UMCSENT Business/Fiscal Other Univ of Michigan: Consumer Sentiment M
STLFSI Business/Fiscal Other St. Louis Financial Stress Index W
OILPRICE Business/Fiscal Other Spot Oil Price - West Texas Intermediate M
CPIAUCSL Consumer Prices CPI Consumer Price Index: Seasonally Adj. M
UNRATE Empl & Population Household Survey Civilian Total Unemployment Rate M
UEMP27OV Empl & Population Household Survey Long Term Unemployment: >27 WKS M
UEMPMED Empl & Population Household Survey Length of Unemployment M
CE16OV Empl & Population Household Survey Total US Workforce M
EMRATIO Empl & Population Household Survey US Employment/Population Ratio M
POP Empl & Population Population US Population M
AHEMAN Empl & Population Est. Survey Avg Hourly Earnings: Manufacturing M
AWHMAN Empl & Population Est. Survey Avg Weekly Hours: Manufacturing M
AWOTMAN Empl & Population Est. Survey Avg Weekly OT Hours: Manufacturing M
DEXUSUK Exchange Rates Daily Rates USD/GBP Currency Exchange Rate D
DEXUSEU Exchange Rates Daily Rates USD/EUR Currency Exchange Rate D
DEXJPUS Exchange Rates Daily Rates JPN/USD Currency Exchange Rate D
DEXMXUS Exchange Rates Daily Rates MXP/USD Currency Exchange Rate D
DEXCAUS Exchange Rates Daily Rates CAD/USD Currency Exchange Rate D
DEXCHUS Exchange Rates Daily Rates CNY/USD Currency Exchange Rate D
COMPOUT Financial Data Monetary Commercial Paper Outstanding W
VIXCLS Financial Data Volatility Inexes CBOE Volatility Index D
GDP GDP & Components GDP/GNP US Gross Domestic Product Q
GNP GDP & Components GDP/GNP US Gross National Product Q
GDI GDP & Components GDP/GNP US Gross Domestic Income Q
NETFI GDP & Components Imports & Exports US Current Account Balance Q
EXPGS GDP & Components Imports & Exports US Exports Goods & Services Q
IMPGS GDP & Components Imports & Exports US Imports Goods & Services Q
DGI GDP & Components Govt Accounting Fed Govt: Defense Budget Q
FGRECPT GDP & Components Govt Accounting Fed Govt: Tax Receipts Q
TGDEF GDP & Components Govt Accounting Fed Govt: Budget Deficit Q
CP GDP & Components Industry Corporate Profits After Tax Q
DIVIDEND GDP & Components Industry Corporate Dividends Q
PI GDP & Components Personal Personal Income M
PSAVE GDP & Components Savings & Inv. Personal Savings Q
PSAVERT GDP & Components Savings & Inv. Personal Savings Rate M
MORTGAGE30US Interest Rates 30yr Mortgage 30-yr Conventional Mortgage Rate W
DPCREDIT Interest Rates FRB Rates Discount Rate D
FEDFUNDS Interest Rates FRB Rates Effective Federal Funds Rate M
M1 Monetary Aggregates M1 M1 Money Supply M
M2 Monetary Aggregates M2 M2 Money Supply M
M1V Monetary Aggregates M1 Velocity of M1 Money Stock M
M2V Monetary Aggregates M2 Velocity of M2 Money Stock M
PPIACO Producer Prices PPI Producer Price Index: All Commodities M
IMPCH Trade Imports Imports from China M
IMPJP Trade Imports Imports from Japan M
IMPMX Trade Imports Imports from Mexico M
IMPCA Trade Imports Imports from Canada M
IMPGE Trade Imports Imports from Germany M
IMPUK Trade Imports Imports from UK M
EXPCH Trade Exports Exports to China M
EXPJP Trade Exports Exports to Japan M
EXPMX Trade Exports Exports to Mexico M
EXPCA Trade Exports Exports to Canada M
EXPGE Trade Exports Exports to Germany M
EXPUK Trade Exports Exports to UK M
BOPGEXP Trade Exports Exports: Goods M
BOPGIMP Trade Imports Imports: Goods M
BOPGTB Trade Balance Balance: Goods M
BOPGSXP Trade Exports Exports: Services M
BOPSIMP Trade Imports Imports: Services M
BOPSTB Trade Balance Balance: Services M
BOPGSTB Trade Balance Balance: Goods & Services M

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ↑ "What is FRED? | Getting To Know FRED". Federal Reserve Economic Data. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Sources". Federal Reserve Economic Data. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Everybody Loves FRED: How America Fell for a Data Tool". New York Times. 2024.
  4. ↑ "Everybody Loves FRED: How America Fell for a Data Tool". New York Times. 2024.
  5. ↑ "ArchivaL Federal Reserve Economic Data - ALFRED - St. Louis Fed". Alfred.stlouisfed.org. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  6. ↑ "GeoFRED: Geographic Federal Reserve Economic Data". Geofred.stlouisfed.org. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  7. ↑ "Economic Data Publications, Historical Federal Reserve Archive, FRASER". Fraser.stlouisfed.org. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Welcome to Cassidi". Cassidi.stlouisfed.org. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  9. ↑ "IDEAS". IDEAS/RePEc. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
  10. ↑ "The Most Amazing Economics Website in the World". Business Insider. September 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
  11. ↑ "FRED API Documentation". Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Categories". Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Accessing and Analyzing Economic Data in R with fredr". World Politics Data Lab. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
  14. ↑ "reserve". GitHub. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Fed Facts: FRED and Economic History". Federal Reserve Banks. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
  16. ↑ "Cite the Data". Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Federal_Reserve_Economic_Data&oldid=1358711630"