FRED Sources Endpoints

FRED Sources Endpoints

Sources endpoints provide access to information about the data sources used in FRED.

Table of Contents

1. fred/sources - Get all sources
2. fred/source - Get a specific source
3. fred/source/releases - Get releases for a source

About Sources

Sources in FRED represent the organizations that produce economic data. Examples include:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
• Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)
• Federal Reserve Board
• U.S. Census Bureau
• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• World Bank

fred/sources

Get all sources of economic data.

URL: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/sources

Required Parameters

Optional Parameters

Example

response = requests.get(
    "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/sources",
    params={
        "api_key": API_KEY,
        "file_type": "json",
        "order_by": "name"
    }
)

Response

{
  "realtime_start": "2023-08-14",
  "realtime_end": "2023-08-14",
  "count": 100,
  "offset": 0,
  "limit": 1000,
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "realtime_start": "2023-08-14",
      "realtime_end": "2023-08-14",
      "name": "Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (US)",
      "link": "http://www.federalreserve.gov/"
    },
    {
      "id": 3,
      "realtime_start": "2023-08-14",
      "realtime_end": "2023-08-14",
      "name": "Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia",
      "link": "http://www.philadelphiafed.org/"
    },
    {
      "id": 18,
      "realtime_start": "2023-08-14",
      "realtime_end": "2023-08-14",
      "name": "U.S. Department of Commerce: Bureau of Economic Analysis",
      "link": "http://www.bea.gov/"
    },
    {
      "id": 22,
      "realtime_start": "2023-08-14",
      "realtime_end": "2023-08-14",
      "name": "U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics",
      "link": "http://www.bls.gov/"
    }
  ]
}

fred/source

Get a specific source of economic data.

URL: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/source

Required Parameters

Optional Parameters

Example

# Get Federal Reserve Board info
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/source",
    params={
        "api_key": API_KEY,
        "source_id": 1,
        "file_type": "json"
    }
)

Response

{
  "realtime_start": "2023-08-14",
  "realtime_end": "2023-08-14",
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "realtime_start": "2023-08-14",
      "realtime_end": "2023-08-14",
      "name": "Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (US)",
      "link": "http://www.federalreserve.gov/"
    }
  ]
}

fred/source/releases

Get the releases for a source.

URL: https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/source/releases

Required Parameters

Optional Parameters

Example

# Get releases from the Federal Reserve Board
response = requests.get(
    "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/source/releases",
    params={
        "api_key": API_KEY,
        "source_id": 1,
        "file_type": "json",
        "order_by": "name"
    }
)

Response

{
  "realtime_start": "2023-08-14",
  "realtime_end": "2023-08-14",
  "count": 26,
  "offset": 0,
  "limit": 1000,
  "releases": [
    {
      "id": 13,
      "realtime_start": "2023-08-14",
      "realtime_end": "2023-08-14",
      "name": "G.17 Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization",
      "press_release": true,
      "link": "http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/"
    },
    {
      "id": 14,
      "realtime_start": "2023-08-14",
      "realtime_end": "2023-08-14",
      "name": "G.19 Consumer Credit",
      "press_release": true,
      "link": "http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g19/"
    },
    {
      "id": 18,
      "realtime_start": "2023-08-14",
      "realtime_end": "2023-08-14",
      "name": "H.3 Aggregate Reserves of Depository Institutions",
      "press_release": true,
      "link": "http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h3/"
    },
    {
      "id": 21,
      "realtime_start": "2023-08-14",
      "realtime_end": "2023-08-14",
      "name": "H.6 Money Stock Measures",
      "press_release": true,
      "link": "http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/h6/"
    }
  ]
}

Common Source IDs

Use Cases

Find All Data from a Specific Agency

def get_agency_data(api_key, source_id):
    """Get all releases and their series from a source."""

    # Get source info
    source_info = requests.get(
        "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/source",
        params={
            "api_key": api_key,
            "source_id": source_id,
            "file_type": "json"
        }
    ).json()

    # Get all releases from this source
    releases = requests.get(
        "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/source/releases",
        params={
            "api_key": api_key,
            "source_id": source_id,
            "file_type": "json"
        }
    ).json()

    return {
        "source": source_info.get("sources", [{}])[0],
        "releases": releases.get("releases", [])
    }

# Get all BLS data
bls_data = get_agency_data(API_KEY, source_id=22)

Compare Data Availability Across Sources

def compare_sources(api_key, source_ids):
    """Compare release counts across sources."""
    comparison = {}

    for sid in source_ids:
        response = requests.get(
            "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/source/releases",
            params={
                "api_key": api_key,
                "source_id": sid,
                "file_type": "json"
            }
        )
        data = response.json()

        # Get source name
        source_resp = requests.get(
            "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/source",
            params={
                "api_key": api_key,
                "source_id": sid,
                "file_type": "json"
            }
        )
        source_name = source_resp.json().get("sources", [{}])[0].get("name", "Unknown")

        comparison[source_name] = {
            "source_id": sid,
            "release_count": data.get("count", 0),
            "releases": [r["name"] for r in data.get("releases", [])[:5]]
        }

    return comparison

# Compare Federal Reserve and BLS
comparison = compare_sources(API_KEY, [1, 22])

Build a Source Directory

def build_source_directory(api_key):
    """Build a directory of all FRED sources."""

    response = requests.get(
        "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/sources",
        params={
            "api_key": api_key,
            "file_type": "json",
            "order_by": "name"
        }
    )
    sources = response.json().get("sources", [])

    directory = []
    for source in sources:
        # Get releases for each source
        releases_resp = requests.get(
            "https://api.stlouisfed.org/fred/source/releases",
            params={
                "api_key": api_key,
                "source_id": source["id"],
                "file_type": "json"
            }
        )
        release_count = releases_resp.json().get("count", 0)

        directory.append({
            "id": source["id"],
            "name": source["name"],
            "link": source.get("link", ""),
            "release_count": release_count
        })

    return directory

Source Categories

U.S. Government Agencies

Federal Reserve System

International Organizations

Private Sector