Talk:Federal Reserve Economic Data

shouldn't be flagged for deletion

This page shouldn't be flagged for deletion. FRED is an important public service of the US Federal Reserve that deserves its own page. Many of the economic indicators published on FRED have their own page on Wikipedia, but sadly many do not. And worse, the Federal Reserve provides no explaination as to how the data are collected or their economic implications.

Many of the time series already have references on Wikipedia:

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/BOPBCA -> Balance_of_payments

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MULT -> M1_(economics)

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/UNRATE -> Unemployment_rate

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/WPCREDIT -> Prime_lending_rate

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/UMCSENT -> University_of_Michigan_Consumer_Sentiment_Index

However, many don't have references.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/ECOMSA

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MZMNS

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/WRMFSL

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/NONREVNS

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/USNUM

My goal with this article is to encourge dialog and documentation of critical US economic indicators -the method of data collection, implications on the broader economy, inferences of historic data, etc. Rricci (talk contribs‎) 23:24, 18 December 2008‎

There is not much I would change on this article. I thought that it was informative on the topic and organized in a structure that is easy to follow and understand. My only critique I would give this article would be to give a brief description on the provided chart and go into further detail on what each category means. Other than that, this was a very solid article that provided a good amount of information on a very relevant topic to the country's economy. JackLoughren (talk) 17:12, 3 October 2024 (UTC) Jack Loughren

— Assignment last updated by JackLoughren (talk) 15:43, 2 October 2024 (UTC)

I fully agree with you that the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) platform is substantial in the world of economics and finance. I'm going to dig into this article a bit to try and imporve and ensure we have the correct balance of references. FactStacker (talk) 13:52, 11 May 2026 (UTC)

FRED API

One of FRED’s notable features is its support for programmatic access via a public API, which enables integration with third-party and open-source applications. I’ve drafted a short section outlining the API’s scope and functionality and would appreciate feedback from other editors.

User:FactStacker/sandbox FactStacker (talk) 23:31, 30 April 2026 (UTC)

Various Enhancements

The current lead states that FRED contains data from “various sources” and then emphasizes that “many are collected from government agencies such as the U.S. Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” While technically correct, this wording may unintentionally imply that FRED is predominantly a repository of U.S. federal government data.

According to the FRED Sources page () and the FRED API source listings, FRED currently aggregates data from hundreds of distinct providers (approximately 499 sources). These include not only U.S. federal agencies, but also state agencies, universities, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, and private-sector firms.

Examples of non-federal and/or private sources include:

• Zillow (e.g., Zillow Home Value Index series such as USAUCSFRCONDOSMSAMID)
• National Association of Realtors (e.g., Existing Home Sales release EXHOSLUSM495)
• University of California, Davis (Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes)

Because source diversity is a defining characteristic of FRED, the lead could more clearly indicate that the database aggregates economic and financial time series from both public and private institutions, rather than primarily government agencies.

I have a suggested update in my Sandbox. FactStacker (talk) 13:09, 13 May 2026 (UTC)

Series Listing

The Series table is too large. It attempts to be a partial list but there are 800K+ series in FRED. In my sandbox I have a proposed revision that would provide 5 popular example series. Wikipedia shouldn't and literally can't be an inventory for FRED data. The FRED platform has search and taxonomy tools for that exact purpose. Thoughts? FactStacker (talk) 13:04, 10 June 2026 (UTC)