FRED API (St. Louis Fed) — free with API key; covers GDP, inflation, employment, interest rates
Created 2026-06-20
Summary
Claim: FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data, St. Louis Fed) provides free programmatic access to ~800,000+ economic time series — GDP, inflation, employment, interest rates. Free with an API key, no cost.
Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/docs/api/fred/
Confidence: Verified.
Why this matters for Candid: A small financial-consulting firm building a FRED-powered dashboard pays $0 data cost (per apispine.com worked example). For any Candid client whose audience cares about macro indicators (lenders, financial planners, contractors quoting in inflation-sensitive markets), this is the free first input.
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Referenced by (3)
- reference Research brief: live data and data-driven tools for SMBs — when it's an edge, when it's overkill (June 2026) relates-to
- reference Bank of Canada Valet API — free, no key required; ~500,000 daily public requests across ~12,500 series and ~4.5M observations relates-to
- rule R1 — Rent (or use free) for data ABOUT THE OUTSIDE WORLD; you will never out-collect the Census Bureau depends-on