The Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) API is a public web service operated by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. It provides programmatic access to more than 800,000 economic time series drawn from 100+ data sources (BLS, BEA, OECD, World Bank, Census, Treasury, Eurostat, Federal Reserve Board, and others). The API exposes five primary endpoint families — Categories, Releases, Series, Sources, and Tags — plus an Observations endpoint that returns the underlying data values for any series, with optional frequency aggregation, unit transformations, and real-time / ALFRED vintage support. A companion Maps (GeoFRED) API surfaces regional data and GeoJSON shape files. All endpoints are HTTPS, return XML or JSON (CSV / Excel for observations), and require a free API key.
FRED publishes 10 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Categories API, Observations API, Regional Data API, and 7 more. Tagged areas include Finance, Government, Economic Data, Federal Reserve, and Time Series.
The FRED catalog on APIs.io includes 3 JSON-LD contexts and 2 Spectral governance rulesets.
FRED’s developer surface includes authentication, documentation, engineering blog, GitHub presence, tooling, code examples, and 33 more developer resources.
aid: fred
name: FRED
description: The Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) API is a public web service operated by the Research Division of the
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. It provides programmatic access to more than 800,000 economic time series drawn from
100+ data sources (BLS, BEA, OECD, World Bank, Census, Treasury, Eurostat, Federal Reserve Board, and others). The API exposes
five primary endpoint families — Categories, Releases, Series, Sources, and Tags — plus an Observations endpoint that returns
the underlying data values for any series, with optional frequency aggregation, unit transformations, and real-time / ALFRED
vintage support. A companion Maps (GeoFRED) API surfaces regional data and GeoJSON shape files. All endpoints are HTTPS,
return XML or JSON (CSV / Excel for observations), and require a free API key.
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
accessModel:
pricing: free
onboarding: self-serve
trial: false
try_now: true
public: false
label: Free · Self-serve signup
confidence: high
source:
- plans
- authentication
generated: '2026-07-22'
method: derived
image: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/images/api/fred-square-blue.svg
specificationVersion: '0.20'
created: '2026-05-28'
modified: '2026-05-28'
x-source: public-apis/public-apis
x-type: government
x-category: Finance
x-tier: 1
x-tier-reason: comprehensive-pipeline-enrichment
tags:
- Finance
- Government
- Economic Data
- Federal Reserve
- Time Series
- Open Data
- Public APIs
apis:
- aid: fred:fred-categories-api
name: FRED Categories API
description: Category hierarchy navigation — children, related, series, and tags within a category.
humanURL: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
baseURL: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred
tags:
- Categories
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/fred-categories-api-openapi.yml
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
- type: Overview
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/overview.html
- type: APIKey
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: TermsOfService
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/
- type: Authentication
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: RealTimePeriods
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/realtime_period.html
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/geofred/
- aid: fred:fred-observations-api
name: FRED Observations API
description: The underlying time-series data values, with frequency aggregation and unit transformations.
humanURL: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
baseURL: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred
tags:
- Observations
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/fred-observations-api-openapi.yml
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
- type: Overview
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/overview.html
- type: APIKey
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: TermsOfService
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/
- type: Authentication
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: RealTimePeriods
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/realtime_period.html
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/geofred/
- aid: fred:fred-regional-data-api
name: FRED Regional Data API
description: Regional data values for a series group across a geography.
humanURL: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
baseURL: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred
tags:
- Regional Data
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/fred-regional-data-api-openapi.yml
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
- type: Overview
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/overview.html
- type: APIKey
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: TermsOfService
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/
- type: Authentication
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: RealTimePeriods
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/realtime_period.html
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/geofred/
- aid: fred:fred-releases-api
name: FRED Releases API
description: Economic data releases — schedules, member series, sources, and tags per release.
humanURL: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
baseURL: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred
tags:
- Releases
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/fred-releases-api-openapi.yml
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
- type: Overview
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/overview.html
- type: APIKey
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: TermsOfService
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/
- type: Authentication
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: RealTimePeriods
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/realtime_period.html
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/geofred/
- aid: fred:fred-series-api
name: FRED Series API
description: Economic data series metadata, search, categorization, release linkage, tags, updates, and vintages.
humanURL: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
baseURL: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred
tags:
- Series
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/fred-series-api-openapi.yml
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
- type: Overview
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/overview.html
- type: APIKey
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: TermsOfService
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/
- type: Authentication
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: RealTimePeriods
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/realtime_period.html
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/geofred/
- aid: fred:fred-series-data-api
name: FRED Series Data API
description: Regional data values attached to a specific FRED series.
humanURL: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
baseURL: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred
tags:
- Series Data
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/fred-series-data-api-openapi.yml
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
- type: Overview
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/overview.html
- type: APIKey
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: TermsOfService
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/
- type: Authentication
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: RealTimePeriods
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/realtime_period.html
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/geofred/
- aid: fred:fred-series-group-api
name: FRED Series Group API
description: Series-group metadata — the regional identifier and supported region types for a series.
humanURL: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
baseURL: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred
tags:
- Series Group
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/fred-series-group-api-openapi.yml
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
- type: Overview
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/overview.html
- type: APIKey
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: TermsOfService
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/
- type: Authentication
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: RealTimePeriods
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/realtime_period.html
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/geofred/
- aid: fred:fred-shapes-api
name: FRED Shapes API
description: GeoJSON shape files for state, county, MSA, country, and census-tract geographies.
humanURL: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
baseURL: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred
tags:
- Shapes
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/fred-shapes-api-openapi.yml
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
- type: Overview
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/overview.html
- type: APIKey
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: TermsOfService
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/
- type: Authentication
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: RealTimePeriods
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/realtime_period.html
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/geofred/
- aid: fred:fred-sources-api
name: FRED Sources API
description: Originating institutions for FRED series (BLS, BEA, OECD, etc.) and the releases they publish.
humanURL: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
baseURL: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred
tags:
- Sources
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/fred-sources-api-openapi.yml
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
- type: Overview
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/overview.html
- type: APIKey
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: TermsOfService
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/
- type: Authentication
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: RealTimePeriods
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/realtime_period.html
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/geofred/
- aid: fred:fred-tags-api
name: FRED Tags API
description: Faceted classification across FRED — tag listings, related tags, and tag-matched series.
humanURL: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
baseURL: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred
tags:
- Tags
properties:
- type: OpenAPI
url: openapi/fred-tags-api-openapi.yml
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
- type: Overview
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/overview.html
- type: APIKey
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: TermsOfService
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/
- type: Authentication
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: RealTimePeriods
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/realtime_period.html
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/geofred/
common:
- type: AgenticAccess
url: agentic-access/fred-agentic-access.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
url: security/fred-domain-security.yml
- type: Authentication
url: authentication/fred-authentication.yml
- type: Website
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org
- type: Documentation
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
- type: APIKey
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- type: TermsOfService
url: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/legal/
- type: PrivacyPolicy
url: https://www.stlouisfed.org/privacy-notice-and-terms-of-use
- type: PublicAPIsListing
url: https://github.com/public-apis/public-apis
- type: Blog
url: https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/
- type: Twitter
url: https://twitter.com/stlouisfed
- type: GitHub
url: https://github.com/stlouisfed
- type: Tools
title: MCP Server (stefanoamorelli)
url: https://github.com/stefanoamorelli/fred-mcp-server
- type: Tools
title: MCP Server (Jaldekoa)
url: https://github.com/Jaldekoa/mcp-fredapi
- type: Tools
title: MCP Server (cfdude/mcp-fred)
url: https://github.com/cfdude/mcp-fred
- type: Tools
title: MCP Server (kablewy)
url: https://github.com/kablewy/fred-mcp-server
- type: Tools
title: MCP Server (shanehull, full coverage)
url: https://github.com/shanehull/fred-mcp
- type: Tools
title: MCP Server (QuentinCody)
url: https://github.com/QuentinCody/fred-mcp-server
- type: Tools
title: US Gov Open Data MCP (includes FRED)
url: https://github.com/lzinga/us-gov-open-data-mcp
- type: SDKs
title: Python SDK (fredapi)
url: https://pypi.org/project/fredapi/
- type: SDKs
title: Python SDK (pyfredapi)
url: https://pypi.org/project/pyfredapi/
- type: SDKs
title: Python SDK (fred-py-api)
url: https://pypi.org/project/fred-py-api/
- type: SDKs
title: Python SDK (pystlouisfed)
url: https://pypi.org/project/pystlouisfed/
- type: SDKs
title: R SDK (fredr)
url: https://cran.r-project.org/package=fredr
- type: SDKs
title: Go SDK (fred)
url: https://github.com/ChrisSwanson/fred
- type: SDKs
title: Rust SDK (fred-rs)
url: https://crates.io/crates/fred-rs
- type: SDKs
title: Node.js / TypeScript SDK (fred-api-client)
url: https://github.com/iamkanishka/fred-api-client
- type: SDKs
title: .NET SDK (Xaye.Fred — archived)
url: https://www.nuget.org/packages/Xaye.Fred
- type: SDKs
title: Elixir SDK (Fred)
url: https://hex.pm/packages/fred
- type: Rules
url: rules/fred-rules.yml
- type: Vocabulary
url: vocabulary/fred-vocabulary.yml
- type: RateLimits
url: rate-limits/fred-rate-limits.yml
- type: Plans
url: plans/fred-plans-pricing.yml
- type: JSONLD
title: Unified FRED + GeoFRED context
url: json-ld/fred-context.jsonld
- type: JSONLD
title: FRED API context
url: json-ld/fred-api-context.jsonld
- type: JSONLD
title: GeoFRED Maps API context
url: json-ld/fred-geofred-api-context.jsonld
- type: JSONSchema
title: JSON Schema directory (21 schemas)
url: json-schema/
- type: JSONStructure
title: JSON Structure directory (21 structures)
url: json-structure/
- type: Examples
title: Example payloads directory (21 examples)
url: examples/
features:
- name: 800,000+ Time Series
description: Programmatic access to more than 800,000 US and international economic time series, sourced from 100+ data
providers.
- name: Real-Time / ALFRED Vintages
description: Every endpoint supports realtime_start and realtime_end parameters, letting consumers reproduce the data as
it existed on a historical date (Archival FRED).
- name: Frequency Aggregation
description: The series/observations endpoint can resample higher-frequency data (daily, weekly, monthly) into lower-frequency
series (quarterly, annual) using average, sum, or end-of-period aggregation.
- name: Unit Transformations
description: Built-in transformations (level, change, percent change, percent change from year ago, compounded annual rate,
natural log) applied at request time so consumers don't have to re-derive series.
- name: Multiple Response Formats
description: XML (default), JSON, CSV, and Excel (xlsx) responses controlled by the file_type query parameter.
- name: Five-Family Endpoint Surface
description: Discoverable taxonomy via Categories (hierarchy), Releases (publication schedule), Series (indicators), Sources
(originating institutions), and Tags (faceted classification).
- name: GeoFRED Maps API
description: Companion geographic API returning regional indicator values and GeoJSON shape files for state, county, MSA,
country, and census-tract geographies.
- name: Free Public API
description: Single self-service tier. Consumers register a free API key, abide by the rate limit (120 requests / minute
/ key), and operate at no cost.
useCases:
- name: Macroeconomic Dashboards
description: Build dashboards that pull GDP, CPI, unemployment, federal funds rate, and related indicators on a scheduled
cadence.
- name: Investment Research and Backtesting
description: Pull historical series (Treasury yields, commodity prices, FX rates) to backtest trading strategies or seed
macro factor models.
- name: Academic and Policy Research
description: Reproduce published research using point-in-time ALFRED vintages so the data matches what was available when
the original analysis was run.
- name: AI / LLM Tool Use
description: Connect a FRED MCP server to Claude, Cursor, or another MCP host so an agent can answer ad-hoc economic questions
with authoritative data.
- name: Embedded Economic Charts
description: Hydrate charts in news sites, fintech apps, or government dashboards directly from the FRED observations endpoint.
- name: Regional Economic Analysis
description: Use the GeoFRED API to render state-level or county-level heat maps of unemployment, income, housing, and demographic
indicators.
integrations:
- name: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
description: A large share of FRED series originates with BLS (CPI, employment, productivity).
- name: Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
description: National-accounts series (GDP, personal income, trade balance) are sourced from BEA.
- name: U.S. Census Bureau
description: Demographic, housing, and survey series originate at Census.
- name: U.S. Treasury
description: Daily Treasury yield curve and debt series are republished through FRED.
- name: Federal Reserve Board (FRB H.15)
description: Interest-rate releases (H.15) and balance-sheet series (H.4.1) flow through FRED.
- name: OECD
description: International cross-country series.
- name: World Bank
description: Global development indicators republished through FRED.
- name: Eurostat
description: European Union economic and demographic statistics.
- name: International Monetary Fund (IMF)
description: Cross-country financial-soundness and balance-of-payments series.
solutions:
- name: FRED Add-In for Microsoft Excel
description: Official Excel plug-in that pulls FRED series into spreadsheets without writing API calls.
- name: FRED Mobile Apps
description: Free FRED iOS and Android apps for browsing series, releases, and categories on mobile devices.
- name: FRED Graph Embeds
description: Interactive charts that can be embedded directly into web pages.
- name: FRASER Historical Archive
description: Companion archive of historical economic data and policy documents from the St. Louis Fed.
- name: ALFRED (Archival FRED)
description: Point-in-time vintages of every FRED series, accessible through the same API via realtime_start / realtime_end.
- name: FRED API MCP Ecosystem
description: A dozen community-built MCP servers expose the FRED API to AI agents (Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code Copilot)
without writing custom code.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
email: kin@apievangelist.com