ABOUT
the rules this site runs on
The Stats shows 24 long-run indicators of American life, reaching back as far as 50 years, every value taken from the agency that publishes it: the Federal Reserve and FRED, BLS, BEA, the Census Bureau, the FBI, CDC/NCHS, and the World Happiness Report. No aggregators, no estimates of our own, no interpolation. Where an agency's coverage starts late or ends early, the series does too, and the row says so. Where a series changes methodology mid-stream — the FBI's move from UCR estimates to CDE reported rates at 2000, the NHIS redesign in 2019 — the seam is disclosed below rather than smoothed over. Dashed lines on the charts mark shared macro events: 1979 Oil shock & inflation peak, 1987 Black Monday crash, 1991 Gulf War recession, 2001 Dot-com bust & 9/11, 2008 Global financial crisis, 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
Economy & Work
| Series | Method & caveats | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Unemployment Rate percent, annual average · 1948–2026 | BLS U-3 unemployment rate, annual average of monthly figures. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/UNRATE |
| Labor Force Participation percent, annual average · 1948–2026 | Share of the civilian population 16+ working or looking for work. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CIVPART |
| Real GDP Growth percent per year · 1930–2025 | BEA real GDP, annual percent change. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A191RL1A225NBEA |
| CPI Inflation percent per year · 1948–2026 | CPI-U year-over-year change; partial years compare matching months. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIAUCSL |
| Real Median Household Income 2024 dollars · 1984–2024 | Census/BLS, inflation-adjusted; published with a one-year lag. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N |
| New Business Applications applications per year · 2005–2025 | Census Business Formation Statistics; tracking began July 2004, so the series starts 2005. Partial years excluded. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BABATOTALSAUS |
Money & Debt
| Series | Method & caveats | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Revolving Consumer Credit billions of dollars, year-end · 1968–2026 | Fed G.19 revolving credit (overwhelmingly credit cards), nominal; current year shows latest month. FRED serves millions; converted to billions. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/REVOLSL |
| Personal Saving Rate percent of disposable income · 1959–2026 | BEA personal saving as share of disposable personal income. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PSAVERT |
| Household Debt Service Ratio percent of disposable income · 2005–2026 | Fed: required debt payments as share of disposable income. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TDSP |
| Federal Debt to GDP percent of GDP · 1966–2026 | Total public debt as percent of GDP, annual average of quarters. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S |
| 30-Year Mortgage Rate percent, annual average · 1971–2026 | Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US |
Cost of Living
| Series | Method & caveats | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Median Home Sale Price dollars, annual average · 1963–2026 | Census/HUD median sales price of houses sold, nominal. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS |
| Regular Gasoline Price dollars per gallon, annual average · 1990–2026 | EIA weekly US regular retail price, nominal. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GASREGW |
| Homeownership Rate percent of households, annual average · 1965–2026 | Census Housing Vacancies and Homeownership survey. | fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RHORUSQ156N |
Crime
| Series | Method & caveats | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Violent Crime Rate offenses per 100,000 people · 1976–2024 | Reported offenses per 100k. 2021 dip partly reflects the NIBRS reporting transition. 1976-1990 from FBI Crime in the United States 1995 Table 1 (UCR national estimates); 1991-1999 from the CIUS 2010 edition Table 1 (later revisions; overlap with the 1995 edition agrees within 0.3). LINEAGE SEAM at 2000: pre-2000 values are UCR estimated rates, 2000+ are FBI CDE reported rates — the two methodologies differ (UCR-estimated 2000 was 506.5 vs CDE-reported 534.4), so the 1999-2000 step is not a like-for-like change. | cde.ucr.cjis.gov/ ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/1995/95sec2.pdf ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/ |
| Property Crime Rate offenses per 100,000 people · 1976–2024 | Reported offenses per 100k. 2021 dip partly reflects the NIBRS reporting transition. Same sourcing and lineage seam as the violent-crime series: 1976-1990 CIUS 1995 Table 1, 1991-1999 CIUS 2010 Table 1 (UCR estimates); 2000+ are CDE reported rates. | cde.ucr.cjis.gov/ ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/1995/95sec2.pdf ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2010/crime-in-the-u.s.-2010/tables/ |
Health
| Series | Method & caveats | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Life Expectancy at Birth years at birth, both sexes · 1970–2024 | 1970-1999 annual from US Life Tables 2021 (NVSR 72-12) Table 19; CDC/NCHS. 2000-2018 from Health, United States 2019 Table 4 (curated revised trend; the Socrata dataset is defective at 2003-2004 and was corrected against Table 4); 2011 from NVSR 63-3; 2019-2024 from Data Briefs 395/456/548. 2024 final = 79.0. Table 19 independently confirms 2000-2003 including the 77.2 correction. | cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr72/nvsr72-12.pdf |
| Suicide Rate age-adjusted deaths per 100,000 · 2000–2024 | CDC/NCHS NVSS mortality files (ICD-10 U03, X60-X84, Y87.0), age-adjusted to the 2000 standard population. 2000-2001 from Data Brief 433, 2002-2022 from Data Brief 509, 2023 from Data Brief 541; all overlapping years identical across briefs. 2023 latest final. 2024 final (13.7) from Data Brief 548. | cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db433-tables.pdf |
| Drug Overdose Deaths age-adjusted deaths per 100,000 · 2000–2024 | CDC/NCHS NVSS mortality files (ICD-10 X40-X44, X60-X64, X85, Y10-Y14), age-adjusted. 2000-2002 from Data Brief 428, 2003-2023 from Data Brief 522; the 2003-2020 overlap is identical across briefs. 2023 latest final. 2024 final (23.1) from Data Brief 549 — a 26% single-year drop. | cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db428-tables.pdf |
| Adult Smoking Rate percent of adults, current cigarette smokers (crude) · 2000–2024 | NHIS crude prevalence, adults 18+. 2000-2018 from the annual MMWR smoking-prevalence series; 2019-2024 from the NCHS Data Query System (NHIS Adult Summary Health Statistics). NHIS was redesigned in 2019, so the two legs are not strictly comparable across that boundary. | data.cdc.gov/resource/gj3i-hsbz.json |
Family & Society
| Series | Method & caveats | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Marriage Rate marriages per 1,000 population · 1970–2023 | CDC/NCHS NVSS national table, per 1,000 total US population. 2023 latest; table titled Provisional; 2013-14 exclude Georgia, 2006 excludes Louisiana. 1970-1999 from NCHS Health E-Stat 'Marriage Rates in the United States, 1900-2018' (Curtin & Sutton 2020); its 2000-2018 overlap matches the NVSS table exactly. | cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/marriage-divorce.htm cdc.gov/nchs/data/hestat/marriage_rate_2018/marriage_rate_2018.p |
| Divorce Rate divorces per 1,000 population (reporting states) · 1970–2023 | CDC/NCHS NVSS. Rate is per 1,000 population of reporting areas only — California among others excluded most years (2017-2023 exclude CA, HI, IN, MN, NM). 2023 latest. 1970-1990 final rates from NCHS Advance Report of Final Divorce Statistics 1989-90 (MVSR 43-9S Table 1, all states); 1991-1996 NCHS provisional annual rates (MVSR annual summaries; NCHS ceased final divorce statistics in 1996); 1997-1999 rates exclude CA, CO, IN, LA (46 reporting states + DC) — the same reporting-states lineage the 2000+ series continues. | cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/marriage-divorce.htm stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/112483/cdc_112483_DS1.pdf cdc.gov/nchs/data/mvsr/mv41_12.pdf cdc.gov/nchs/data/mvsr/mv44_12.pdf cdc.gov/nchs/data/mvsr/mv46_12.pdf cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr48/nvs48_19.pdf |
| Total Fertility Rate births per woman (total fertility rate) · 1970–2024 | NCHS TFR (stored per 1,000 women; 2,100 = replacement). 2010-2024 from Births: Final Data for 2024 (NVSR 75-2); 2000-2009 from Births: Final Data for 2015 revised rates; splice verified identical on 2010-2015 overlap. 2024 is final. 1970-1999 from Births: Final Data for 2015 (NVSR 66-1) Table 4, the census-revised TFR series spanning 1970-2015; its 2000 value matches the shipped series exactly, so the splice is a single lineage. | cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr75/nvsr75-02.pdf cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr66/nvsr66_01.pdf |
| Happiness Cantril ladder score (0-10) · 2006–2025 | World Happiness Report / Gallup World Poll, US single-year national average life evaluation by data year (not the 3-year ranking average). Series begins 2006; 2025 published in WHR 2026. 3-year means reproduce the published Figure 2.1 values exactly. | data.worldhappiness.report/country/USA |
Corrections. Every number on this site traces to a linked primary document. If one is wrong, the fix is a data change, not a debate.