FRED Economic Data API
fred.stlouisfed.org · Government
Access 800,000+ economic time series from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Covers GDP, unemployment, inflation, interest rates, money supply, trade, and state/regional data. Widely used for financial modeling, insurance pricing, and economic research.
Authentication
API Key
Free API key from fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html. Required on all requests.
Parameter name: api_key (in query)
Sample Requests
GET
Get unemployment rate series
Returns monthly US unemployment rate observations (UNRATE series).
https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observations?limit=24&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY&file_type=json&series_id=UNRATE
Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does
curl -X GET "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observations?limit=24&api_key=YOUR_API_KEY&file_type=json&series_id=UNRATE"
import requests
params = {
"limit": "24",
"api_key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
"file_type": "json",
"series_id": "UNRATE"
}
response = requests.get(
"https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observations",
params=params,
)
print(response.json())const url = new URL('https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observations');
url.searchParams.set('limit', '24');
url.searchParams.set('api_key', 'YOUR_API_KEY');
url.searchParams.set('file_type', 'json');
url.searchParams.set('series_id', 'UNRATE');
const response = await fetch(url);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);package main
import (
"fmt"
"io"
"net/http"
"net/url"
)
func main() {
baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observations")
q := baseURL.Query()
q.Set("limit", "24")
q.Set("api_key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
q.Set("file_type", "json")
q.Set("series_id", "UNRATE")
baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
targetURL := baseURL.String()
req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)
client := &http.Client{}
resp, _ := client.Do(req)
defer resp.Body.Close()
body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
fmt.Println(string(body))
}require "net/http"
require "json"
uri = URI("https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observations")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
"limit" => "24",
"api_key" => "YOUR_API_KEY",
"file_type" => "json",
"series_id" => "UNRATE"
})
http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)<?php
$url = "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observations?" . http_build_query([
"limit" => "24",
"api_key" => "YOUR_API_KEY",
"file_type" => "json",
"series_id" => "UNRATE"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
"method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));
GET
Search series by keyword
Search for series by keyword. Returns matching series IDs, names, and metadata.
https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/search?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY&file_type=json&search_text=workers compensation
Hover any highlighted part to learn what it does
curl -X GET "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/search?api_key=YOUR_API_KEY&file_type=json&search_text=workers%20compensation"
import requests
params = {
"api_key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
"file_type": "json",
"search_text": "workers compensation"
}
response = requests.get(
"https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/search",
params=params,
)
print(response.json())const url = new URL('https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/search');
url.searchParams.set('api_key', 'YOUR_API_KEY');
url.searchParams.set('file_type', 'json');
url.searchParams.set('search_text', 'workers compensation');
const response = await fetch(url);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);package main
import (
"fmt"
"io"
"net/http"
"net/url"
)
func main() {
baseURL, _ := url.Parse("https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/search")
q := baseURL.Query()
q.Set("api_key", "YOUR_API_KEY")
q.Set("file_type", "json")
q.Set("search_text", "workers compensation")
baseURL.RawQuery = q.Encode()
targetURL := baseURL.String()
req, _ := http.NewRequest("GET", targetURL, nil)
client := &http.Client{}
resp, _ := client.Do(req)
defer resp.Body.Close()
body, _ := io.ReadAll(resp.Body)
fmt.Println(string(body))
}require "net/http"
require "json"
uri = URI("https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/search")
uri.query = URI.encode_www_form({
"api_key" => "YOUR_API_KEY",
"file_type" => "json",
"search_text" => "workers compensation"
})
http = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port)
http.use_ssl = uri.scheme == "https"
req = Net::HTTP::Get.new(uri)
res = http.request(req)
puts JSON.parse(res.body)<?php
$url = "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/search?" . http_build_query([
"api_key" => "YOUR_API_KEY",
"file_type" => "json",
"search_text" => "workers compensation"
]);
$opts = ["http" => [
"method" => "GET",
]];
$ctx = stream_context_create($opts);
$res = file_get_contents($url, false, $ctx);
print_r(json_decode($res, true));Postman Setup Guide
- Get a free API key at https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/api_key.html
- Find series IDs by searching at https://fred.stlouisfed.org/
- In Postman, GET https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/series/observations
- Required params: series_id (e.g. UNRATE, GDP, CPIAUCSL), api_key, file_type=json
- Optional: observation_start, observation_end (YYYY-MM-DD), limit, sort_order
- Response includes observations array with date and value fields
What can you build with FRED Economic Data API?
FRED Economic Data API is a Government API. Developers commonly use government APIs for:
- surfacing public datasets in citizen-facing apps
- building transparency and civic engagement tools
- accessing legislation, court records, and official data
- powering research and journalism tools
- creating compliance and regulatory monitoring dashboards
API Key authentication. You'll receive a key after signing up. Send it with every request — in a header or query parameter. Keep it out of client-side code and never commit it to version control. FRED Economic Data API is free to use, making it a low-risk choice to experiment with.
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