Introduction to Obtaining Economic Data from FRED

Brian C. Jenkins
University of California, Irvine
April 4, 2015

FRED is a rich database of U.S. and international economic data maintained by the research
department of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The database is regularly updated
as new data become available. This tutorial will help to familiarize you with how to access
the data contained in FRED. We will look at how to create and save data lists and how to
download data.
The website for FRED is: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/

Searching for and Downloading Data Quickly

The advantage to using FRED is that it streamlines searching for and downloading data. To
find a given data series, you can search for the data by name or keyword using the search
field at the top-right of the page (Figure 1) and then browse the results (Figure 2). Or, since
each series on FRED has a unique ID, you can search for the ID directly if you know that
already.
Once youve found the page for the data that you want, you can download the data by
following the download link in the upper-left area of the page (Figure 3). You will be directed
to a screen with options for customizing how the data is downloaded. Generally, the default
will be what you want, but its still worth reviewing the settings to make sure that you are
getting what you want.

Data Lists

Downloading individual spreadsheets can be time-consuming and so FRED provides for

the creation of data lists. A FRED data list is basically a collection of different economic data
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series that you have assembled and saved in the FRED system. Data lists are convenient for
downloading several data series at once in a single spreadsheet.

2.1

Creating Data Lists

Before you can work with data lists, you must sign up for an account. The following
steps will help you to register an account.
1. Sign up for a FRED account by following the REGISTER link at the top right of the
FRED homepage or by using the following link:
http://research.stlouisfed.org/useraccount/register/step1.
You will need a name and an email address.
2. While you are logged-in, from the FRED homepage click on the MY ACCOUNT link
in the top right corner of the page (Figure 4).
3. Follow the Data Lists link in the middle of upper part of the page (Figure 5).
4. Next, follow the +Create link (Figure 6). You will be given an opportunity to supply
a title for your new data list. Pick something reasonably descriptive (Figures 7 and 8).

2.2

Adding Series to a Data List

In this section, we will look at how to add data series to a data list. We will practice
by adding data on M2 and the CPI for the U.S. to the list that we created in the previous
section. In Section 3 we will use our data to create a plot of M2 growth and CPI inflation.
2.2.1

Add M2 (Series ID: M2SL) to a Data List

1. From the FRED homepage, follow the Categories link (Figure 9) and then the Monetary Data link (Figure 10).1
2. Follow the link for M2 and Components (Figure 11).
3. Under the M2 Money Stock heading, check the box for Monthly, Seasonally Adjusted
(Figure 12). Click the Add to Data List button.
4. Select the data list to which you wish to add the M2 series. If you have not yet created
any data lists, then you will be prompted to do so here.
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You can also search for the data series that you want using the search field at the top of any FRED
page. And if you know the unique series ID code, then you can even search for that directly.

5. Make sure you have the correct data list selected. Next, select the units that you would
like your data to be in. While holding the CTRL key on a PC or CMD on a Mac,
select Levels and Percent Change from Year Ago (Figure 13).
6. Click the Add Series to My Data List button. You will be shown a screen indicating
that you have just added two series to your data list (Figure 14).
2.2.2

Add the CPI (Series ID: CPIAUCSL) to a Data List

1. Back at the FRED homepage, follow the Categories link (Figure 9) and then the
Consumer Price Indexes (CPI and PCE) link (Figure 15).2
2. Under the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items heading, check
the box for Seasonally Adjusted (Figure 16). Click the Add to Data List button.
3. Select the data list to which you wish to add the CPI series.
4. Make sure you have the correct data list selected. Next, select the units that you would
like your data to be in. While holding the CTRL key on a PC or CMD on a Mac,
select Levels and Percent Change from Year Ago (Figure 17).
5. Click the Add Series to My Data List button. If you added the CPI series to the same
list two which you added the M2 series, then you will be shown a screen indicating
that you have just added four series to your data list (Figure 18).

2.3

Downloading in Data Lists

Once you have constructed a data list with all of the series that you want, you can
download your data collection in an Excel (or tab-delimited if you prefer) format.
1. Find the data list that you want to download by following the Data Lists link on the
MY ACCOUNTS page (Figure 5). Click on the name of the list and then follow the
Download Data button (Figure 19).
2. Make sure the Observation Range for your data is what you want and that the data
format is Zipped Excel. Click the Download Data button (Figure 20). Save a file
called data list name xls.zip to your computer.
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You can also search for the data series that you want using the search field at the top of any FRED
page. And if you know the unique series ID code, then you can even search for that directly.

3. Open data list name xls.zip and move the contents data list name.xls to a suitable
place on your computer.
4. Open data list name.xls.3 The file will have multiple tabs. The first tab, titled
README (Figure 21), contains information about the series that you downloaded.
The second tab, titled Monthly (Figure 22), contains the actual data.
5. Click on the Monthly tab at the bottom of the spreadsheet. Now look at the column
headings. CPIAUCSL and M2SL refer to the CPI and M2 data. You can verify this
by looking at the README tab. The series names followed by PC1 correspond to
the annual percentage change in the respective series. Notice that the M2 data doesnt
start until January 1959 and so the annual percentage change in M2 isnt available
until January 1960.
6. Use a spreadsheet plotting utility to plot the annual percentage changes or growth
rates of M2 and the CPI starting from January 1960 (Figure 23). Notice that my
example plot has the following qualities:
(a) The plot title is descriptive.
(b) The axes are well labeled with units.
(c) In the legend, notice that the data titles have been changed from the FRED ID
codes to more descriptive names.
(d) The line styles have been adjusted so that the figure can still be clearly understood
even if when printed in black-and-white.
I expect that plots that you turn in with your assignments will share these qualities.

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I use Google Spreadsheet which is available for free as part of Google Drive. But you could also use MS
Excel or Mac Numbers or Libre Office.

Figure 1: Searching for GDP data from the FRED homepage.

Figure 2: Browsing the search results for GDP data from FRED.

Figure 3: Downloading for GDP data from FRED.

Figure 4: FRED homepage.

Figure 5: My Account page.

Figure 6: Data lists.

Figure 7: Create a data list.

Figure 8: Success.

Figure 9: The FRED homepage.

Figure 10: Categories.

Figure 11: Monetary Data.

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Figure 12: M2 and Components.

Figure 13: Select data list and units for series.

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Figure 14: Success.

Figure 15: Back at the Categories page.

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Figure 16: Consumer Prices and Indexes.

Figure 17: Select the data list and units for series.

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Figure 18: Success.

Figure 19: Download a data list.

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Figure 20: Download a data list.

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Figure 21: The README tab.

Figure 22: The Monthly tab.

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Figure 23: A plot of M2 growth and CPI inflation for the U.S. between January 1960 and
February 2014.

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