Federal Reserve Economic Data: Your trusted data source since 1991

FRED Economic Data | St. Louis Fed

Frequently Asked Questions


FRED in Action Videos

What’s the Link between Education and Unemployment? How Has Job Growth Changed Since the Great Recession? Is the economy performing to its potential? Have Wages Kept Up with Inflation?

Posted in Frequently Asked Questions

What Formulas are Used to Calculate Growth Rates?

Note that because FRED uses levels and rounded data as published by the source, calculations of percentage changes and/or growth rates in some series may not be identical to those in the original releases. The following formulas are used: Change:   … Continue reading

Posted in Understanding the Data, Frequently Asked Questions

What Dates Are Used for the U.S. Recession Bars?

FRED uses business cycle turning points determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) for recession shading on graphs. Although recessions may end before the NBER determines the official end date, FRED graphs will continue to display shading for … Continue reading

Posted in Understanding the Data, Frequently Asked Questions

Contact Us

If you have questions about the data in the FRED® database, please send us an email. We are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Central Time, and respond to all email inquiries within two business days.

Posted in Contact Us, Frequently Asked Questions

Cite the Data

For citation information, scroll below any FRED graph and view the Notes. View the “Suggested Citation” to see how you may cite the data series. The notes also include any relevant copyright information. For copyrighted data in FRED, you must get permission … Continue reading

Posted in Frequently Asked Questions, How can I share my FRED graph?

Customize Data, Add Series to Existing Line

You can create a customized formula to combine two series on one graph line. To do so, above the graph, click the “EDIT GRAPH” button. In the pop-up box that appears, click the “EDIT LINE” tab. (If you have more … Continue reading

Posted in Frequently Asked Questions, How can I customize a FRED graph?

Add a Data Series to Graph

Above the graph, click the “EDIT GRAPH” button. In the pop-up box that appears, click the “ADD LINE” tab. Click the text box and type keywords for the series you want to add. A list of the most popular suggestions will … Continue reading

Posted in Frequently Asked Questions, How can I customize a FRED graph?

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

Sharing Options

Options to share data appear right below your FRED graph. Clicking the icons allows you to easily share your graph on Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, or LinkedIn. When you click on the “Share Links” button, you can obtain a unique URL … Continue reading

Posted in Frequently Asked Questions, How can I share my FRED graph?

Subscribe to the FRED newsletter


Follow us

Back to Top