FRED Economic Data Scraper (US Macro Time Series)

Here is one real result, with every field the actor returns:

{
  "seriesId": "UNRATE",
  "title": "Unemployment Rate",
  "units": "Percent,Seasonally Adjusted",
  "frequency": "Monthly",
  "seasonalAdjustment": "Seasonally Adjusted",
  "lastUpdated": "Aug 7, 2026 8:31 AM CDT",
  "notes": "View data of the unemployment rate, or the number of people 16 and over actively searching for a job as a percentage of the total labor force. ...",
  "observationStart": "1948-01-01",
  "observationEnd": "2026-07-01",
  "observationCount": 943,
  "latestValue": 4.1,
  "latestDate": "2026-07-01",
  "previousValue": 4.2,
  "previousDate": "2026-06-01",
  "changeFromPrevious": -0.1,
  "pctChangeYoY": -4.65,
  "recentObservations": [
    { "date": "2026-04-01", "value": 4.3 },
    { "date": "2026-05-01", "value": 4.3 },
    { "date": "2026-06-01", "value": 4.2 },
    { "date": "2026-07-01", "value": 4.1 }
  ],
  "observations": "[ 943 dated points, oldest 1948-01-01 ... included only with the Full history add-on ]",
  "fredUrl": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE",
  "matchedQuery": "seriesIds",
  "aiTrend": "falling",
  "aiPlainEnglish": "The unemployment rate is decreasing.",
  "aiNotableChange": "The unemployment rate dropped from 4.4% to 4.1% over the last five months.",
  "aiDirection": "down",
  "source": "FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)",
  "observedAt": "2026-08-20T05:40:32.776Z",
  "error": null
}

The most complete FRED time-series scraper available. It returns every core field FRED exposes for a series (title, units, frequency, seasonal adjustment, last updated, notes and the full observation history), plus derived fields you would otherwise compute yourself (latest value and date, change from the previous point, year-over-year percent change and the recent observation window), and it takes either explicit series IDs or a plain keyword search so you can pull unemployment, CPI, GDP, the Fed Funds rate, Treasury yields, M2 and thousands of other US macro series in one run.

Input · Output · Pricing · Examples

Table of contents

• What it does
• Quickstart
• Input reference
• Output reference
• Example output record
• Run via API and CLI
• Fetch results
• Billing and limits
• FAQ and troubleshooting
• More scrapers at scrapers.lat

What it does

Give it a list of FRED series IDs (for example UNRATE, CPIAUCSL, GDP, FEDFUNDS, DGS10, M2SL) and/or a keyword search, and it returns one clean record per series. Each record carries the series metadata, the latest value and date, the change from the previous point, the year-over-year percent change, and the most recent observation points. Two opt-in add-ons extend a record: the full historical observation array, and an AI-written plain-English read of where the series is heading.

• Resolve series by ID or by keyword search (one keyword can return several matching series).
• Latest value, previous value, change and year-over-year percent change computed for you.
• Configurable window of recent observation points inside each record.
• Optional full history (every point back to the series start) as an add-on.
• Optional AI economic summary (trend, notable recent change, direction) as an add-on.
• Set an observation start and end date to trim the range.

Quickstart

Real input example:

{
  "seriesIds": ["UNRATE", "CPIAUCSL", "FEDFUNDS"],
  "searchQuery": "10 year treasury yield",
  "recentObservations": 12,
  "includeFullHistory": false,
  "includeAiSummary": false,
  "maxResults": 10
}

Provide at least one of seriesIds or searchQuery. Both can be combined in a single run.

Input reference

Name	Type	Required	Description	Example
seriesIds	array of strings	one of these two	FRED series IDs to fetch, one record each.	["UNRATE","CPIAUCSL","GDP"]
searchQuery	string	one of these two	Keyword resolved to matching FRED series.	"inflation"
observationStart	string	no	Earliest observation date (YYYY-MM-DD). Empty means full history.	"2015-01-01"
observationEnd	string	no	Latest observation date (YYYY-MM-DD). Empty means most recent.	"2024-12-31"
recentObservations	integer	no	How many latest points (date + value) to include per record. Default 12.	12
includeFullHistory	boolean	no	Add-on. Attach the full observation array per series. Default false.	true
includeAiSummary	boolean	no	Add-on. Add an AI plain-English read per series. Default false.	true
maxResults	integer	no	Max series per run. Free plans are capped at 10.	10

Output reference

Name	Type	Description
seriesId	string	FRED series ID.
title	string	Series title.
units	string	Units of measure.
frequency	string	Observation frequency (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Annual).
seasonalAdjustment	string	Seasonal adjustment status.
lastUpdated	string	When FRED last updated the series.
notes	string	Series notes / description.
observationStart	string	First observation date in the returned range.
observationEnd	string	Last observation date in the returned range.
observationCount	integer	Number of observations in the range.
latestValue	number	Most recent non-missing value.
latestDate	string	Date of the most recent value.
previousValue	number	Prior non-missing value.
previousDate	string	Date of the prior value.
changeFromPrevious	number	Latest minus previous value.
pctChangeYoY	number	Year-over-year percent change.
recentObservations	array	Latest observation points, each {date, value}.
observations	array	Full history array (populated only with the Full history add-on).
fredUrl	string	FRED series page URL.
matchedQuery	string	Which input produced this series.
aiTrend	string	AI trend label (AI add-on).
aiPlainEnglish	string	AI one-sentence summary (AI add-on).
aiNotableChange	string	AI notable recent change (AI add-on).
aiDirection	string	AI direction up / down / stable (AI add-on).
source	string	Data source.
observedAt	string	When the record was scraped.
error	string	Error message for a skipped or unknown series, otherwise null.

Example output record

{
  "seriesId": "CPIAUCSL",
  "title": "Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average",
  "units": "Index 1982-1984=100,Seasonally Adjusted",
  "frequency": "Monthly",
  "seasonalAdjustment": "Seasonally Adjusted",
  "lastUpdated": "Aug 12, 2026 9:10 AM CDT",
  "observationStart": "1947-01-01",
  "observationEnd": "2026-07-01",
  "observationCount": 955,
  "latestValue": 332.813,
  "latestDate": "2026-07-01",
  "pctChangeYoY": 3.3,
  "recentObservations": [
    { "date": "2026-06-01", "value": 331.9 },
    { "date": "2026-07-01", "value": 332.813 }
  ],
  "matchedQuery": "seriesIds",
  "source": "FRED (Federal Reserve Economic Data)",
  "error": null
}

Run via API and CLI

Start a run with the Apify API:

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/scrapers_lat~fred-economic-data-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"seriesIds":["UNRATE","CPIAUCSL","FEDFUNDS"],"recentObservations":12}'

Or with the Apify CLI:

apify call scrapers_lat/fred-economic-data-scraper \
  --input '{"seriesIds":["UNRATE","DGS10"],"includeFullHistory":true}'

Fetch results

$curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/DATASET_ID/items?token=YOUR_TOKEN&clean=true"

Add &format=csv or &format=xlsx to download as CSV or Excel.

Billing and limits

• Pay per result. The primary result event is charged once per series record returned.
• A one-time actor-start event is charged when a run begins.
• Add-ons are opt-in and charged only when they genuinely return data: full_history per series with a non-empty history, ai_econ_summary per series with a usable AI read.
• Add-ons are disabled for free Apify plans, and free plans are capped at 10 series per run.
• No charge on failure: an unknown or unavailable series is written as an error row and is never billed.
• A spend cap is honored. Once your configured maximum charge is reached, the actor stops emitting and charging further results.

FAQ and troubleshooting

Do I need a FRED account or API key? No. Just provide series IDs or a keyword.

How do I find series IDs? Use the searchQuery field with a plain keyword, or take the ID from a FRED series page (for example UNRATE, CPIAUCSL, GDP, FEDFUNDS, DGS10, M2SL).

Why is a value null? FRED marks missing observations with a placeholder; those points are returned with a null value, and latestValue uses the most recent real number.

How far back does history go? To each series start (unemployment goes back to 1948, CPI to 1947, 10-year Treasury to 1962). Use observationStart and observationEnd to trim the range.

Can one keyword return several series? Yes. A search resolves to the top matching series IDs, up to maxResults.

More scrapers at scrapers.lat

Building macro and finance datasets? Pair this with our World Bank, IMF, OECD, ECB, US Treasury and BLS scrapers for a complete cross-source economic dataset. Browse the full catalog at scrapers.lat.

This is an independent scraper and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis or FRED.