FRED Shapes API

GeoJSON shape files for state, county, MSA, country, and census-tract geographies.

OpenAPI Specification

fred-shapes-api-openapi.yml Raw ↑
openapi: 3.0.3
info:
  title: FRED Maps API (GeoFRED) Categories Shapes API
  version: '1.0'
  description: GeoFRED (the FRED Maps API) exposes geographic / regional views of FRED economic data. Series-group metadata, regional-data lookups across geographies (state, county, MSA, country, census tract, etc.), and GeoJSON shape files for cartographic rendering of FRED indicators.
  contact:
    name: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis — Research Division
    url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/geofred/
  license:
    name: U.S. Government Work / Public Domain (most series)
    url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/
  termsOfService: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/
  x-generated-from: documentation
  x-last-validated: '2026-05-28'
servers:
- url: https://api.stlouisfed.org/geofred
  description: Production GeoFRED API
security:
- ApiKeyAuth: []
tags:
- name: Shapes
  description: GeoJSON shape files for state, county, MSA, country, and census-tract geographies.
paths:
  /shapes/file:
    get:
      operationId: getShapeFile
      summary: FRED Get GeoJSON Shape Files for a Geographic Type
      description: Get GeoJSON shape file data for a given geographic type (state, county, msa, country, etc.). Returns coordinates as quantized integers (not WGS84 lat/lon).
      tags:
      - Shapes
      parameters:
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/ApiKey'
      - $ref: '#/components/parameters/FileType'
      - name: shape
        in: query
        required: true
        description: Geographic type — bea, msa, frb, necta, state, country, county, censusregion, censusdivision.
        schema:
          type: string
          enum:
          - bea
          - msa
          - frb
          - necta
          - state
          - country
          - county
          - censusregion
          - censusdivision
        example: state
      responses:
        '200':
          description: GeoJSON shape collection.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/ShapeCollection'
              examples:
                Getshapefile200Example:
                  summary: Default getShapeFile 200 response
                  x-microcks-default: true
                  value:
                    shape: state
                    features:
                    - name: California
                      code: '06'
                      centroid: -1219000000,3700000000
                      geometry: '...'
                    - name: Missouri
                      code: '29'
                      centroid: -922000000,3837000000
                      geometry: '...'
      x-microcks-operation:
        delay: 0
        dispatcher: FALLBACK
components:
  schemas:
    Shape:
      type: object
      description: A single GeoJSON-style shape feature.
      properties:
        name:
          type: string
          description: Display name of the region.
          example: Unemployment Rate
        code:
          type: string
          description: Region code (FIPS
          ISO: null
          etc.).: null
          example: example
        centroid:
          type: string
          description: Quantized centroid coordinates.
          example: example
        geometry:
          type: string
          description: Quantized geometry path.
          example: example
      required:
      - name
      - code
    ShapeCollection:
      type: object
      description: A collection of shapes for a geographic type.
      properties:
        shape:
          type: string
          description: The geographic type that was requested.
          example: example
        features:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Shape'
      required:
      - features
  parameters:
    ApiKey:
      name: api_key
      in: query
      required: true
      description: 32-character lower-case alphanumeric FRED API key.
      schema:
        type: string
        pattern: ^[0-9a-f]{32}$
      example: abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789
    FileType:
      name: file_type
      in: query
      required: false
      description: Response format — json or xml.
      schema:
        type: string
        enum:
        - json
        - xml
        default: json
      example: json
  securitySchemes:
    ApiKeyAuth:
      type: apiKey
      in: query
      name: api_key
      description: 32-character lower-case alphanumeric FRED API key (same key used for the FRED API).