Federal Reserve Economic Data

The US Census Bureau collects data and reports on the poverty level each year. Their statistical definition of poverty has to do with the affordability of food. As they describe, the Office of Management and Budget’s Directive 14 sets a money income threshold related to the after-tax spending by families on a food plan defined by the Department of Agriculture. At the time of this writing, the poverty income threshold for a family of four is $32,130.

The solid orange line in our FRED graph above shows the number of people, measured in millions, who lived in poverty between 1989 and 2023. In 2023, that number was estimated to be 40,763,043 persons. The dashed lines above and below the solid line show the boundaries (or range) of the 90% confidence interval associated with the poverty estimate.

Why does the Census provide a range for its poverty measure?

The Census Bureau estimates poverty rates using data from several different surveys. The regional sample size of the surveys impacts their reliability: In statistics, data obtained from small samples tend to be less reliable than data obtained from larger samples. The Census estimates take all this into account and include a 90% confidence interval for the reported figures.

What’s a 90% confidence interval?

In short, a confidence interval is the level of certainty about the accuracy of the estimate. The Census Bureau routinely employs a 90% confidence interval for its estimates. As they explain, a 90% confidence interval provides a level of certainty that, if you measure poverty using the same procedure multiple times, the estimated value will be within the range 90 out of 100 times.

How this graph was created: Search FRED for and select “90% Confidence Interval Upper Bound of Estimate of People of All Ages in Poverty for United States.” Click on the “Edit Graph” button and select the “Add Line” tab to search for “Estimate of People of All Ages in Poverty for United States.” Don’t forget to click on “Add data series.” Use the “Add Line” tab again to search for and add “90% Confidence Interval Lower Bound of Estimate of People of All Ages in Poverty for United States.” Lastly, use the “Format” tab to customize the line styles.

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.

On January 23, 2026, the Bureau of Economic Analysis released real GDP data for all US states for the third quarter of 2025. The FRED map above shows the percentage change growth rates from the previous quarter: Light yellow denotes slight growth (below 2%), light green denotes moderate growth (2% to 4%), and dark green denotes robust growth (above 4%).

Highlights

• All 50 state economies plus Washington, DC, grew in the third quarter, with a national average of 4.4% growth annualized.
• The median state grew at 4.5% annualized, slightly above the US average; 23 other states had slower growth than the US average.
• Kansas had the fastest growth, at 6.5% annualized.
• North Dakota had the slowest growth, at 0.4% annualized. But this comes after having the fastest growth during the second quarter.

The St. Louis Fed’s Eighth District includes Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee. All these states except Illinois grew faster than the national average. Growth in Arkansas was the fastest, at 5.8%, while growth in Illinois was only slightly below the US average, at a still-robust rate of 4.3%.

NOTE: These data are subject to future revision by the source. Our ALFRED database records vintages of the data, so users can view the data as they appeared at various points in history. The link takes you to real GDP for Missouri, as of January 23, 2026.

How this map was created: Search FRED for “Real Total Gross Domestic Product for Missouri” and click the first available series. Click the “View Map” button and then the blue “Edit Map” button. Modify the units to “Compounded Annual Rate of Change.” Use “Format” to switch the number of color groups to 3, with the data grouped by “User Defined Method”; then define the scales to be 2, 4, and 10. For values less than 2, choose light yellow to show slight growth; for values less than 4, choose light green to show moderate growth; for values less than 10, choose dark green to show robust growth.

Suggested by John Fuller and Charles Gascon.

On January 7, 2026, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the third quarter data for total nonfarm employees at the state and metro levels in 2025. These numbers are being released a little later than usual due to the government shutdown last fall. At the state level, New York led all states, adding 39,667 jobs in the third quarter. Florida had the largest decline, losing 22,300 jobs. Missouri led the 8th District states with 25,000 jobs added while Illinois was last, losing 2,233 jobs.

The FRED map above shows the change in employment in each state during the third quarter. If you sum up the individual states, you’ll see a net gain of 129,800 jobs. This is different from the reported number for the nation, which was 88,000 at the end of the third quarter. This difference occurs because the state level has different sampling and tends to have a larger margin of error than the national number.

At the metro level, the New York-Newark-Jersey City MSA led the nation with 38,300 jobs added in the third quarter. The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria MSA had the largest decline, losing 12,867 jobs in the third quarter. The St. Louis MSA lost 6,000 jobs. These numbers tend to vary greatly from quarter to quarter, with even greater sampling errors than the errors at the state and national levels. So, be careful not to read too much into these data.

NOTE: These data are subject to future revision by the source, with an annual revision the following March. Our ALFRED database records vintages of the data, so users can view the data as they appeared at various points in history: These links provide employment data for Missouri and St. Louis as of January 7, 2026.

How these maps were created: Search FRED for “total nonfarm employees in Missouri” (or any other state). Click “View Map” and then “Edit Map.” Change the units to “Change, Thousands of Persons” and the frequency to quarterly with aggregation method “End of Period.” Under “Format,” select “User Defined Method” for how to group the data: Switch the number of color groups to 3 and change the colors to red for states that shed jobs (or a value less than or equal to 0), light green for states with modest job growth (or less than 10), and dark green for states with strong growth (or a value large enough to incorporate the rest of the states). For the second map, repeat the process with an MSA—St. Louis, for example.

Suggested by John Fuller and Charles Gascon.