The FRED^® Blog

Since 2013, the Federal Reserve Board has conducted the SHED—the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking. It measures the economic well-being of U.S. households and identifies potential risks to their finances, with categories such as credit access and behaviors, savings, retirement, economic fragility, and education and student loans.

Our FRED graph above shows the shares of adults who report “doing okay financially” or “living comfortably” separated into levels of educational attainment. Higher levels of formal education are consistently associated with higher reports of comfortable living conditions. More education generally means more human capital and income, which results in a more positive overall financial self-assessment.

In the 2025 SHED, 73% of adults reported okay or comfortable financial conditions. But certain demographic groups, including low-income, young, and Black adults, saw meaningful declines in their economic well-being. You can find these data in FRED.

How this graph was created: Search FRED for and select “Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking: At Least Doing Okay Financially: Education, Bachelor’s Degree or More.” Click on the “Edit Graph” button and select the “Add Line” tab to search for “Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking: At Least Doing Okay Financially: Education, Some College / Technical or Associate Degree.” Don’t forget to click on “Add data series.” Repeat the last two steps to add data for the other series in the graph.

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.

The majority of Treasury securities are held by the American public and institutions, including the Federal Reserve. FRED recently added data from the Treasury International Capital (TIC) system. As the name implies, this dataset provides a global scope. In March 2026, the nine largest foreign holders of U.S. long- and short-term Treasury Securities were (in descending order)

1. Japan
2. United Kingdom
3. China, Mainland
4. France
5. Canada
6. Belgium
7. Ireland
8. Cayman Islands
9. Luxembourg

This May 2026 FEDS Note by Andrew McCallum et al. highlights that “these nine countries collectively hold about 45 percent of foreign-held U.S. Treasuries, a share that has remained relatively stable since the early 2000s.” However, the position of some of those countries in that list has shifted substantially in recent years.

Stay tuned to the FRED Blog as we continue to dive into the TIC collection of cross-border securities positions and transactions data.

How this graph was created: Search FRED for and select “Foreign Portfolio Holdings of U.S. Long-Term and Short-Term Treasury Securities: Japan.” Click on the “Edit Graph” button and select the “Add Line” tab to search for “Foreign Portfolio Holdings of U.S. Long-Term and Short-Term Treasury Securities: United Kingdom.” Don’t forget to click on “Add data series.” Repeat the last two steps to add data for the other countries in the list.

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.

The takeaway

Most economic time series reflect what we know today. That is, they provide the most current, most accurate versions of the data. But what if we want to look back at what we thought was true yesterday? That’s where ALFRED can help.

FRED’s archival data service has turned 20

ALFRED, launched in 2006, has helped many researchers better understand economic history by taking them back in time to see the data that were available on specific dates. ALFRED illuminates windows in time to help you accomplish many tasks:

• Identify and correct data errors. The January 6, 2021, release of the Economic Policy Uncertainty Index contained a 300% spike—an error that was corrected the next day.
• Compare different methods to collect data. In November 2021, Realtor.com changed how it reported the number of houses for sale. This change could impact the analysis of trends and cycles.
• Track periodic comprehensive updates. Major economic indicators such as real GDP undergo periodic comprehensive updates to reflect best measurement practices. Between 1991 and 2023 there were eight updates, each adjusting reference years for inflation.
• Improve data accuracy and completeness. Data collection is complex. Reporting timely data creates a tradeoff between accuracy and speed. Employment figures undergo two regular types of revisions: twice when additional information from employers becomes available and two additional annual benchmarking revisions to realign those data with state administrative records. These revisions make the data more accurate.

An example of data revisions captured in ALFRED

Our ALFRED graph above shows how a natural disaster resulted in large data revisions. Hurricane Harvey first made landfall on Friday, August 25, 2017, near Rockport, Texas. Hurricane Irma hit the lower Florida Keys on Sunday, September 10. A total of 87 counties, representing 7.7% of national employment, were declared federal disaster areas. Although data collection wasn’t severely disrupted, a steep decline in food services and drinking places and below-trend growth in some industries likely reflected the impact of both hurricanes.

The first release of employment data for September 2017 (blue bar) showed a decrease in employment of 33,000 persons. The second (red bar) and third (green bar) releases showed increases in employment of as many as 38,000 persons. Keeping track of data vintages is important for storytelling and analysis.

To learn more about putting ALFRED to good use, see this essay.

How this graph was created: Search ALFRED for and select “All Employees: Total Nonfarm, Monthly, Seasonally Adjusted.” Click on “Edit Graph” and select the “Edit Bars” tab. For Bar 1, change the “As-of date” to “2017-10-06.” For Bar 2, change the “As-of date” to “2017-11-03.” Adjust the date range to “2017-01-01” to “2017-11-01.” Click “Edit Graph” and change the “Units” to “Change from Year Ago, Thousands of Persons” and click “Copy to all.”

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.