# FRED: graph and download economic data from the St. Louis Fed

Source: https://sarang.pro/fred-economic-data-guide/
Author: Sarang | Published: 2 December 2025

**The site:** [FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis)](https://fred.stlouisfed.org/). Cost: Free. Useful for: finance and markets.

## What it is
FRED, short for Federal Reserve Economic Data, is run by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, which describes its research, data and tools as free. The site says it lets you download, graph and track more than 850,000 economic time series from over 120 sources, centred on US series such as unemployment, inflation and interest rates.

Each series page shows a graph and notes on the source, release, units and frequency, plus a suggested citation. You can change a series' units or frequency, download the data, and with a free account add series to a data list or get an email notification. There is also an Excel add-in and an API.

## Use it for
- Pulling a clean time series for an essay, model or chart
- Checking the latest US unemployment, inflation or interest rate figures
- Comparing two series on one graph, for example interest rates and inflation
- Keeping watch on a series through email notifications
The notes and suggested citation on every series page make it one of the easiest places to get a number that you can both use and reference properly.

## How to use it
- Search fred.stlouisfed.org for a series, such as the unemployment rate.
- Open the series page and read the notes on source, release, units and frequency.
- Edit the graph to change units or frequency, or to add another series.
- Download the data, or use the Excel add-in if you work in spreadsheets.
- Use Add to Data List or Get Email Notification to keep track of the series.
- Copy the suggested citation into your work.
Check whether a series is seasonally adjusted before comparing months. FRED often lists other versions of the same series under Other Formats.

## Example
An analyst writing about the US labour market can open the unemployment rate series, confirm it is the monthly, seasonally adjusted version, and switch to the not seasonally adjusted version through the Other Formats link if needed. The suggested citation then goes straight into the footnote.

## Watch out for
- FRED republishes data from its sources, so revisions happen at the source and flow through.
- Series with similar names can differ in adjustment, units or frequency; read the notes.
- A graph shows a series, not an explanation, so check the original release for context.
It works well alongside IMF DataMapper, Damodaran Online and OECD Data.