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FRED Economic Data | St. Louis Fed


How are Data Aggregated When Periods Overlap?

It is possible for higher-frequency periods to overlap lower-frequency periods. For example, a week can start in one month and end in the next month. In these cases, FRED frequency aggregation will include the higher-frequency value in only one of … Continue reading

Posted in Understanding the Data

How are Missing Values Treated in Average, Sum, and End of Period Aggregation Methods?

Except for the first and last observations, the average, sum, and end-of-period aggregation methods ignore any other missing values. For example, consider a daily series from 2003-06-01 to 2003-07-31 with a missing value for Friday 2000-07-04, the US Independence Day … Continue reading

Posted in Understanding the Data

How are Missing Values Determined for First/Last Observations?

Higher-frequency data may not be available for an entire lower-frequency period. For example, a monthly data series may end in February. With only 2 of the 12 months of the year available, the converted annual value will be missing for … Continue reading

Posted in Understanding the Data

What is Frequency Aggregation?

Frequency aggregation converts higher-frequency data series into lower-frequency data series (e.g., from monthly data to annual data). In FRED, the highest data frequency is daily and the lowest data is annual. There are three aggregation methods available: Average: This method … Continue reading

Posted in Understanding the Data

How Can I Navigate to the Originating Source of the Data?

FRED publishes data from various sources. There are multiple ways how to navigate to the originating source’s  website. Option 1: Below a graph, go to the “NOTES” section. Next to “Source” (on the first line), click the source name (see … Continue reading

Posted in Understanding the Data

How to Find More Information About the Data?

FRED publishes data from various sources. We provide multiple ways on how to navigate to the dataset on the source’s website. Option 1: Below a graph, go to the “NOTES” section. Next to “Release” (on the right-hand side of the … Continue reading

Posted in Understanding the Data

What is the Date Format?

All dates are represented as daily dates for consistency and ease of use. FRED uses a single date format widely supported by various spreadsheet applications (Excel, Lotus, etc.) and statistical software packages (SAS, Eviews, Stata, RATS, etc.). Because annual, quarterly, and … Continue reading

Posted in Understanding the Data, Frequently Asked Questions

Edit a Data Series: Units

Above the graph, click the “Edit Graph” button. In the pop-up box that appears, click the “EDIT LINE” tab. (If you have more than one line on the graph, click the “EDIT LINE” drop-down menu and select the line [series] you … Continue reading

Posted in How can I customize a FRED graph?

Publish a Data List

Publishing a data list is an easy way to share data with others. When you choose to share a data list, the series in that list will be published to a public web page. This shared list will have its own … Continue reading

Posted in What can I do with FRED Data Lists?

Edit a Data Series: Frequency Aggregation

Frequency aggregation converts higher-frequency data series into lower-frequency data series (e.g., from monthly data to annual data). In FRED, the highest data frequency is daily and the lowest is annual. To access this feature, above the graph, click the “EDIT GRAPH” … Continue reading

Posted in How can I customize a FRED graph?

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