US Census Bureau: Economic Indicators

Select an indicator

New Residential Construction Privately-owned housing starts in December 2020 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,669,000. This is 5.8 percent (+/- 11.0%)* above the revised November 2020 estimate of 1,578,000. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 1995 - present Historic Time Series - 1959 - present Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: January 21, 2021 Next Release: February 18, 2021	December 2020 +5.8* % change	November 2020 (r) +3.1* % change
Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales U.S. total business end-of-month inventories for November 2020 were $1,959.9 billion, up 0.5 percent (+/- 0.1 percent) from last month. U.S. total business sales were $1,480.8 billion, down 0.1 percent (+/- 0.2 percent)* from last month. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 1996 - present Historic Time Series - Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: January 15, 2021 Next Release: February 17, 2021	November 2020 +0.5 % change in Inventories	October 2020 (r) +0.8 % change in Inventories
Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services U.S. retail and food services sales for December 2020 were $540.9 billion, a decrease of 0.7 percent (+/-0.5%) from the previous month. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 1953 - present Historic Time Series - 1992 - present Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: January 15, 2021 Next Release: February 17, 2021	December 2020 -0.7 % change	November 2020 (r) -1.4 % change
Business Formation Statistics Total U.S. Business Applications were 1,115,984 in the fourth quarter of 2020, down 28.5% from third quarter 2020. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 2019 - present Historic Time Series - 2004 - present Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: January 14, 2021 Next Release: February 10, 2021	4th Qtr 2020 -28.5° % change	3rd Qtr 2020 (r) +74.7° % change
Monthly Wholesale Trade November 2020 sales of merchant wholesalers were $496.7 billion, up 0.2 percent (+/- 0.4 percent)* from last month. End-of-month inventories were $649.8 billion, virtually unchanged (+/- 0.2 percent)* from last month. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 1990 - present Historic Time Series - 1992 - present, adjusted 1992 - present, not adjusted Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: January 8, 2021 Next Release: February 10, 2021	November 2020 0.0* % change in Inventories	October 2020 (r) +1.3 % change in Inventories
U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services The nation's international trade deficit in goods and services increased to $68.1 billion in November from $63.1 billion in October (revised), as imports increased more than exports. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 1991 - present Historic Time Series - US Trade Data (various) Country&Product Data (various) Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: January 7, 2021 Next Release: February 5, 2021	November 2020 68.1° $ billion	October 2020 (r) 63.1° $ billion
Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders New orders for manufactured goods in November increased $5.0 billion or 1.0 percent to $487.2 billion. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 1992 - present Historic Time Series - 1992 - present (NAICS) 1958 - 2001 (SIC) Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: January 6, 2021 Next Release: February 4, 2021	November 2020 +1.0° % change	October 2020 (r) +1.3° % change
Construction Spending Total construction activity for November 2020 ($1,459.4 billion) was 0.9 percent (+/-0.8 percent) above the revised October 2020 ($1,446.9 billion). Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 2003 - present Historic Time Series - 1993 - present (new format) 1964 - 2001 (legacy format) Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: January 4, 2021 Next Release: February 1, 2021	November 2020 +0.9 % change	October 2020 (r) +1.6* % change
Advance Monthly Wholesale Inventories November end-of-month inventories were $649.0 billion, down 0.1 percent (+/- 0.2 percent)* from last month. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 2016 - present Historic Time Series - Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: December 30, 2020 Next Release: January 28, 2021	November 2020 -0.1* % change in Inventories	October 2020 (r) +1.2 % change in Inventories
Advance U.S. International Trade in Goods The advance international trade deficit in goods increased to $84.8 billion in November from $80.4 billion in October as imports increased more than exports. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 2016 - present Historic Time Series - Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: December 30, 2020 Next Release: January 28, 2021	November 2020 84.8° $ billion	October 2020 80.4° $ billion
Advance Monthly Retail Inventories November 2020 end-of-month inventories were $616.9 billion, up 0.7 percent (+/- 0.4%) from last month. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 2016 - present Historic Time Series - Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: December 30, 2020 Next Release: January 28, 2021	November 2020 +0.7 % change in Inventories	October 2020 (r) +0.9 % change in Inventories
New Residential Sales Sales of new single-family houses in November 2020 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 841,000. This is 11.0 percent (+/- 9.5%) below the revised October 2020 estimate of 945,000. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 1995 - present Historic Time Series - 1963 - present Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: December 23, 2020 Next Release: January 28, 2021	November 2020 -11.0 % change	October 2020 (r) -2.1* % change
Advance Report on Durable Goods Manufacturers' Shipments, Inventories, and Orders New orders for manufactured durable goods in November increased $2.2 billion or 0.9 percent to $244.2 billion. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 1992 - present Historic Time Series - 1992 - present (NAICS) 1958 - 2001 (SIC) Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: December 23, 2020 Next Release: January 27, 2021	November 2020 +0.9° % change	October 2020 (r) +1.8° % change
Quarterly Services Survey The estimate of U.S. selected services total revenue for the third quarter of 2020, adjusted for seasonal variation but not for price changes, was $3,929.9 billion, an increase of 7.8 percent (+/- 0.4 percent) from the second quarter of 2020 and down 3.9 percent (+/- 0.2 percent) from the third quarter of 2019. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 2004 - present Historic Time Series - 2004 - present Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: December 10, 2020 Next Release: February 19, 2021	3rd Qtr 2020 +7.8 % change	2nd Qtr 2020 (r) -9.2 % change
Quarterly Financial Report - Retail Trade Seasonally adjusted after-tax profits for retail corporations with assets of $50 million and over were $43.5 billion for the third quarter 2020 (the 3 months ending October 31, 2020), up $4.7 (+/- 0.2) billion from second quarter 2020 (the 3 months ending July 31, 2020). Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 1993 - present Historic Time Series - Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: December 8, 2020 Next Release: March 22, 2021	3rd Qtr 2020 +4.7 $ billion	2nd Qtr 2020 (r) +24.0 $ billion
Quarterly Financial Report - Manufacturing, Mining, Wholesale Trade, and Selected Service Industries Manufacturing corporations' seasonally adjusted after-tax profits were $148.4 billion for the third quarter of 2020, up $100.3 (+/- 0.8) billion from second quarter of 2020. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 1993 - present Historic Time Series - Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: December 8, 2020 Next Release: March 22, 2021	3rd Qtr 2020 +100.3 $ billion	2nd Qtr 2020 (r) -65.1 $ billion
Rental Vacancy Rate The rental vacancy rate in the third quarter 2020, 6.4 percent, was lower than the rate in the third quarter 2019. The rental vacancy rate in the South was lower than the third quarter 2019 rate. The rental vacancy rates in the Northeast, Midwest, and West were not statistically different from the third quarter 2019 rates. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 1994 - present Historic Time Series - 1956 - present Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: October 27, 2020 Next Release: February 2, 2021	3rd Qtr 2020 +6.4 percent	3rd Qtr 2019 +6.8 percent
Homeownership Rate The homeownership rate in the third quarter 2020, 67.4 percent, was higher than the rate in the third quarter 2019. The homeownership rates in the Midwest, South, and West were higher than the third quarter 2019 rates. The homeownership rate in the Northeast was not statistically different from the third quarter 2019 rate. Current Press Release -	Archived Releases - 1994 - present Historic Time Series - 1956 - present Time Series/Trend Charts	Released: October 27, 2020 Next Release: February 2, 2021	3rd Qtr 2020 +67.4 percent	3rd Qtr 2019 +64.8 percent

(*) The 90% confidence interval includes zero. The Census Bureau does not have sufficient statistical evidence to conclude that the actual change is different from zero.

(°) Statistical significance is not applicable or not measurable for these surveys. The Manufacturers’ Shipments, Inventories and Orders estimates are not based on a probability sample, so we can neither measure the sampling error of these estimates nor compute confidence intervals.

(r) Revised.

All estimates are seasonally adjusted except for the Rental Vacancy Rate and Home Ownership Rate. None of the estimates are adjusted for price changes.

[PDF] or denotes a file in Adobe's Portable Document Format. To view the file, you will need the Adobe® Reader® available free from Adobe. [Excel] or indicate a document is in the Microsoft® Excel® Spreadsheet Format (XLS). To view the file, you will need the Microsoft® Excel® Viewer available for free from Microsoft®. This symbol indicates a link to a non-government web site. Our linking to these sites does not constitute an endorsement of any products, services or the information found on them. Once you link to another site you are subject to the policies of the new site.