Economic trends affect consumers, businesses, and government agencies alike.
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Economic Indicators

Up-to-date interactive charts covering labor market trends, GDP growth, inflation, and more — each with added context to help make sense of the numbers.

Data Detective Quizzes

Test your knowledge of U.S. economic data programs — methodology, concepts, and the agencies behind the numbers. Five questions per round across seven surveys.

Supply Chain Explorer

Trace the upstream inputs and downstream buyers for sectors spanning the U.S. economy — built using data from BEA's Input-Output Accounts.

Impact Calculator

An interactive economic impact tool that shows how an initial investment or business activity creates ripple effects throughout the economy through supply chains and household spending.
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Ember State Performance Index

A composite index of six indicators measuring each state's economic performance relative to the U.S. average. 100 = U.S. baseline; above 100 indicates stronger performance, below 100 indicates weaker performance.

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  • What it measures: The Ember State Performance Index combines six key indicators into a single score that captures whether a state economy is running faster or slower than the national baseline. A score of 100 indicates that a state's overall economic performance is aligned with the national trend. Scores above 100 reflect stronger relative growth, while scores below 100 reflect weaker growth. Individual indicators may still outperform or underperform the U.S. even when the composite index is near 100.
  • Real GDP Growth
    • Weight: 30%
    • Definition: Percent change in real GDP (chained 2017 dollars). The broadest measure of economic output and the primary driver of the index. Directly comparable across states and to the national accounts.
    • Time Period: Most recent quarter vs. year-ago quarter
    • Source: BEA SQGDP9
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  • Payroll Employment Growth
    • Weight: 25%
    • Definition: Percent change in nonfarm payroll employment (jobs located in the state, not seasonally adjusted). Captures the labor market's absorptive capacity and reflects business investment decisions in real time. A reliable concurrent indicator of consumer spending.
    • Time Period: Most recent month vs. year-ago month
    • Source: BLS State and Area Employment (SAE) / CES
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  • Personal Income Growth
    • Weight: 20%
    • Definition: Real percent change in personal income, deflated by the national PCE price index. Covers wages, salaries, and transfer payments. Note: the national deflator removes aggregate inflation but does not capture state-level price differences.
    • Time Period: Most recent quarter vs. year-ago quarter
    • Source: BEA SQINC1; PCE deflator: BEA NIPA T20304
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  • Population Growth
    • Weight: 15%
    • Definition: Percent change in resident population. Sustained in-migration expands the labor force and drives demand for housing, retail, and services — a medium-term signal of structural economic capacity.
    • Time Period: Most recent quarter vs. year-ago quarter
    • Source: BEA SQINC1 LineCode 2
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  • Residential Building Permits
    • Weight: 5%
    • Definition: Percent change in rolling 12-month total permits issued. A forward-looking indicator of housing construction, developer confidence, and household formation expectations.
    • Time Period: 12-month sum, most recent vs. year-ago
    • Source: Census Bureau BPS via FRED
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  • High-Propensity Business Applications
    • Weight: 5%
    • Definition: Percent change in the rolling 12-month total of high-propensity business applications — applications for an Employer Identification Number (EIN) that the Census Bureau judges likely to become businesses with payroll. A forward-looking signal of entrepreneurship and new business formation.
    • Time Period: 12-month sum, most recent vs. year-ago
    • Source: Census Bureau Business Formation Statistics (BFS) via FRED
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  • Methodology: Each indicator is standardized relative to the U.S. average using z-scores, allowing states to be compared across metrics with different scales and volatility. States performing above the national trend receive positive contributions, while states below trend receive negative contributions. Extreme values are capped to reduce the influence of outliers. The standardized indicators are then combined using the weights above and scaled so that 100 represents the U.S. average.
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