Stlouisfed APIfred.stlouisfed.org ↗
Access FRED economic series, observations, categories, releases, and release calendars. Retrieve GDP, CPI, unemployment, Treasury rates, and more via 9 endpoints.
What is the Stlouisfed API?
The FRED API provides structured access to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis's economic data repository through 9 endpoints covering series metadata, time-series observations, category browsing, release schedules, and curated collections. The get_series_observations endpoint returns date-value pairs with support for frequency aggregation and transformations such as percent change, making it suitable for building economic dashboards, research tools, and financial models.
curl -X GET 'https://api.parse.bot/scraper/32962f24-6be4-4e65-a842-da6a917d09ee/get_series?series_id=GDP' \ -H 'X-API-Key: $PARSE_API_KEY'
Typed, relational, agent-ready
A generated client with real types, enums, and the links between objects — the structure a flat JSON response can't carry. Autocompletes in your editor and reads cleanly to coding agents.
- Fully typed · autocompletes
- Objects link to objects
- Typed errors & pagination
Typed Python client. Set up the SDK in your uv project, then pull this API’s typed client:
uv add parse-sdk uv run parse init uv run parse add --marketplace fred-stlouisfed-org-api
uv run parse add --marketplace pulls a pinned snapshot of this canonical API — it won’t change underneath you. To customize it, subscribe and swap to your own copy.
from parse_apis.fred_economic_data_api import Fred, CollectionType, Indicator, SearchResult
fred = Fred()
# Search for economic data series
for result in fred.searchresults.search(query="unemployment rate", limit=5):
print(result.series_id, result.title, result.metadata)
# Get full series metadata via search result navigation
first_result = next(iter(fred.searchresults.search(query="GDP", limit=1)))
indicator = first_result.details()
print(indicator.title, indicator.frequency, indicator.units, indicator.source)
# Construct an indicator directly and fetch observations
gdp = fred.indicator("GDP")
for obs in gdp.observations.list(start_date="2024-01-01", end_date="2024-12-31"):
print(obs.date, obs.value)
# Or fetch full metadata via the indicators collection
unrate = fred.indicators.get(series_id="UNRATE")
print(unrate.title, unrate.seasonal_adjustment, unrate.last_updated)
# Browse categories
for cat in fred.categories.list(limit=5):
print(cat.category_id, cat.name)
# Drill into a specific category
detail = fred.category("32991").details()
print(detail.name)
for sub in detail.subcategories:
print(sub.category_id, sub.name, sub.series_count)
# List releases and get series for one
for rel in fred.releases.list(limit=3):
print(rel.release_id, rel.name)
emp = fred.release("50")
for s in emp.series(limit=5):
print(s.series_id, s.title)
# Check this week's release calendar
for entry in fred.calendars.list(limit=5):
print(entry.date, entry.time, entry.release_name)
# Get a pre-built collection using the enum
coll = fred.collections.get(collection_type=CollectionType.INFLATION)
print(coll.collection, coll.series_count)
for item in coll.series:
print(item.series_id, item.title, item.units)
Retrieve metadata for an economic data series including title, frequency, units, source, and last updated date. Returns a single Series resource identified by its series_id.
| Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| series_idrequired | string | Series ID (e.g. 'GDP', 'CPIAUCSL', 'UNRATE') |
{
"type": "object",
"fields": {
"notes": "string",
"title": "string",
"units": "string",
"source": "string",
"frequency": "string",
"series_id": "string",
"last_updated": "string",
"observation_end": "string",
"observation_start": "string",
"seasonal_adjustment": "string"
},
"sample": {
"data": {
"notes": "BEA Account Code: A191RC",
"title": "Gross Domestic Product",
"units": "Billions of Dollars",
"source": "U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis",
"frequency": "Quarterly",
"series_id": "GDP",
"last_updated": "2026-05-28 07:48:19-05",
"observation_end": "2026-01-01",
"observation_start": "1947-01-01",
"seasonal_adjustment": "Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate"
},
"status": "success"
}
}About the Stlouisfed API
Series Data and Observations
The get_series endpoint returns metadata for a single series identified by its series_id — fields include title, units, frequency, seasonal_adjustment, source, observation_start, observation_end, and last_updated. To retrieve the actual numeric data, get_series_observations returns an array of date/value pairs. It accepts start_date and end_date filters in YYYY-MM-DD format, an optional frequency parameter (m, q, or a) for aggregation, and a transformation parameter (lin, chg, pch) to return levels, absolute changes, or percent changes. Values are null when observations are unavailable for a period.
Searching and Browsing
search_series accepts free-text query strings (e.g., 'inflation', 'unemployment rate') and returns paginated results — each result includes series_id, title, metadata, and a popularity score. For structured browsing, get_categories returns all top-level FRED categories with numeric category_id and name. Passing any category_id to get_category returns that category's name, subcategories (each with series_count), and a list of featured series.
Releases and Calendar
get_releases returns the full list of FRED data releases with release_id and name. get_release_series takes a release_id and returns all series associated with that release. get_release_calendar returns the current week's scheduled releases as an array of objects with date, time, release_name, and release_id — useful for automating alerts or dashboards that react to fresh data drops.
Curated Collections
get_collection accepts a collection_type parameter (gdp, inflation, employment, treasury, money, housing) and returns a set of related series with series_id, title, last_updated, and units. The response also includes series_count and the requested collection name, providing a quick way to load a coherent group of indicators without constructing individual series lookups.
The Stlouisfed API is a managed, monitored endpoint for fred.stlouisfed.org — not a raw scraper you maintain. Every endpoint is automatically health-checked on a schedule, and when fred.stlouisfed.org changes and a check fails, the API is automatically queued for repair and re-verified. It is built to keep working as the site underneath it changes.
This isn't an official fred.stlouisfed.org API — it's an independent, maintained REST wrapper over public data. Where the source has no official API (or only a limited one), Parse gives you a stable contract over a source that never promised one, and keeps it current. Need a new endpoint or field? You can revise it yourself in plain English and the agent rebuilds it against the live site in minutes — contributing the change back to the shared API is free.
Will this API break when the source site changes?+
Is this an official API from the source site?+
Can I fix or extend this API myself if I need a new endpoint or field?+
What happens if I call an endpoint that has an issue?+
- Plot GDP growth over a custom date range using
get_series_observationswith quarterly aggregation and percent-change transformation. - Build an economic indicator dashboard that loads a full
employmentorinflationcollection in one call viaget_collection. - Subscribe to the weekly
get_release_calendarto trigger automated alerts when high-impact data releases are scheduled. - Populate a series selector UI by running
search_seriesqueries and displayingtitleandpopularityfor each result. - Browse FRED's taxonomy by traversing
get_categoriesandget_categorysubcategories to discover series by topic. - Fetch all series tied to a specific statistical release (e.g., BLS Employment Situation) using
get_release_series. - Compare seasonal adjustment status across series by reading the
seasonal_adjustmentfield fromget_seriesmetadata.
| Tier | Price | Credits/month | Rate limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 100 | 5 req/min |
| Hobby | $30/mo | 1,000 | 20 req/min |
| Developer | $100/mo | 5,000 | 100 req/min |
One credit = one API call regardless of which marketplace API you call. Exceeding the rate limit returns a 429 response. Authenticate with the X-API-Key header.
Does FRED have an official developer API?+
What does `get_series_observations` return and how can I filter it?+
series_id, a total count, and an observations array of date/value objects. You can narrow the date range with start_date and end_date (YYYY-MM-DD), resample to a lower frequency with the frequency parameter (m, q, a), and apply a transformation such as pch (percent change) or chg (absolute change). Values are null for periods with missing data.Does the API expose historical vintage data or revision history for a series?+
Can I retrieve observations for multiple series in a single call?+
get_series and get_series_observations operate on a single series_id per request. Bulk multi-series retrieval is not a current endpoint. You can fork this API on Parse and revise it to add a batch observations endpoint.How current is the data returned by `get_series_observations`?+
last_updated field from get_series shows when FRED last refreshed a given series, and the get_release_calendar endpoint shows which releases are scheduled for the current week.