Federal Reserve Economic Data

Residential electricity prices have increased steeply in recent months, and there are noticeable geographical differences in prices.

Our FRED graph above uses data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to show just how high and variable electricity prices are: Between April 2020 and January 2026, country-wide average electricity prices increased by 44.4%. The average price of electricity was highest in the Northeast Census Region, at $0.265 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), and lowest in the South Census Region, at $0.164 per kWh. (For the states in the various Census regions, see this map.)

A Kansas City Fed report by Nida Çakır Melek and Alex Gallin discusses how artificial intelligence is related to the surging demand for electricity and the concentration of those surges in some US states. That analysis can help explain the data patterns in our FRED graph.

The FRED Blog has discussed related topics as well: regional differences in gasoline prices and the recent divergence of electricity and natural gas prices. The BLS data in our FRED graph here confirm the insights from these two posts.

How this graph was created: Search FRED for and select “Average Price: Electricity per Kilowatt-Hour in the Northeast Census Region – Urban.” Click on the “Edit Graph” button and select the “Add Line” tab to search for “Average Price: Electricity per Kilowatt-Hour in the Midwest Census Region – Urban.” Don’t forget to click “Add data series.” Repeat the last two steps to add the other two series: “Average Price: Electricity per Kilowatt-Hour in the South Census Region – Urban” and “Average Price: Electricity per Kilowatt-Hour in the West Census Region – Urban.”

Suggested by Diego Mendez-Carbajo.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently announced that total non-farm payrolls fell by 92,000 jobs this past February. The press release noted a drop in health care jobs in that month as well. But it also reported that the health care sector had added an average of 36,000 jobs per month in the past year.

Comparison with other sectors

In our FRED graph above, we plot the annual percentage changes in total non-farm, health care, government, and manufacturing payrolls. In December 2021, annual increases in health care payrolls slowed to about 0.23 percent. Since then, demand for health care workers has grown, with annual percentage changes outpacing that of total non-farm, manufacturing, and government sectors since December 2022. Despite a cooling labor market overall, annual increases in payrolls are still positive for the health care sector, standing at 2.02% in February, compared with -1% and -0.77% for the government and manufacturing sectors, respectively.

The health care labor market and the recent jobs report

In February, health care worker strikes led to a significant cut in health care employment: -28,000 jobs. But the demand for health care workers is still propped up by an aging population, a trend that isn’t going anywhere. As seen in our FRED graph, the health care industry has become a primary driver of labor market growth. This trend is positive given the slowing labor market and the recent increase in unemployment to 4.4%. But an overreliance on the healthcare sector to boost job growth could become a growing concern.

How this graph was created: Search FRED for and select “All Employees, Health Care.” Click on the “Edit Graph” button and change units to “Percent Change from Year Ago.” Click on the “Edit Graph” button and select the “Add Line” tab to search for and add “All Employees, Total Nonfarm.” Also change these units to “Percent Change from Year Ago.” Repeat for the government and manufacturing series. Click the 5-year option for the date span.

Suggested by Anna Cole and Michael McCracken.

The U.S. military campaign against Iran and its spillover effects in the Middle East have pushed oil prices sharply higher, renewing interest in a longstanding question: What do movements in oil prices mean for the broader cost of living? Data in FRED offer a long historical perspective on how oil prices have co-moved with food prices and consumer inflation, which can help inform that question.

Oil and food prices

Our first FRED graph, above, tracks the Global Food Price Index alongside Brent crude oil prices from 1998 to the present. The two series exhibit a notable degree of co-movement across the full sample. Both surged during the global commodity boom of the mid-2000s, peaked sharply around 2008, collapsed during the global financial crisis, recovered through the early 2010s, and spiked again in 2022.

This co-movement is consistent with the fact that oil is an input at multiple stages of agricultural production and distribution, including farm equipment, fertilizer production, transportation, and refrigeration. To the extent that energy costs are passed through the supply chain, one would expect food prices to respond to oil price movements. At the same time, the relationship is likely not unidirectional. Broad macroeconomic conditions (recessions, recoveries, geopolitical shocks) can drive both series simultaneously, making it difficult to attribute movements in one series solely to movements in the other.

Oil and consumer price inflation

Our second FRED graph, above, takes a longer view, plotting annual percent changes in Brent crude oil prices against global consumer price inflation from the late 1980s to the present. Some co-movement is apparent across multiple episodes: The sharp dislocations of 2008–2009, the oil price decline of 2014–2016, the COVID-related collapse of 2020, and the post-pandemic surge of 2021–2022 all have visible counterparts in world inflation.

Oil price changes may feed into consumer prices through energy and production costs, but the relationship can also run in the other direction: Broad shifts in global demand affect both output and energy consumption, putting simultaneous pressure on oil prices and inflation. Geopolitical disruptions add a third channel, where a common shock moves both series at once with no clear direction of causality.

What the data show

Taken together, these two graphs suggest that large and sustained oil price movements have historically coincided with changes in both food prices and broader consumer inflation. The 2022 episode is a clear example: Brent crude surged above $120 per barrel following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Global Food Price Index reached its highest level in the sample, and world inflation rose sharply. While these historical patterns do not imply a precise causal relationship, they suggest that developments in oil markets are often an important signal for broader price pressures.

How these graphs were created: For the first graph, search FRED for “Global price of Food Index” and select the IMF series. Click “Edit Graph” and then “Add Line,” and then search for “Crude Oil Prices: Brent – Europe.” Place the second series on the right axis under the “Format” tab. Set the start date to 1998-01-01. For the second graph, search FRED for and select “Crude Oil Prices: Brent – Europe” and set units to “Percent Change from Year Ago.” Click “Add Line” and search for “Inflation, consumer prices for the world” (the World Bank series), placing it on the right axis. Set the start date to 1988-01-01.

Suggested by Fernando Leibovici.