Real gross domestic product

The total output of the U.S. economy, with inflation taken out — the broadest single measure of economic activity.

What it measures

The market value of all final goods and services produced in the United States, valued in chained 2017 dollars so that growth reflects volume rather than prices.

How it is measured

The Bureau of Economic Analysis assembles it quarterly from census surveys, tax records, and trade and industry data, and publishes it at a seasonally adjusted annual rate — a quarter is stated as the pace it implies for a full year.

Reading it over a presidential term

A level that rises with population and productivity, so compare terms by annualized percent change rather than by average level. Quarterly data gives a four-year term about sixteen points.

What it leaves out

GDP counts production that passes through a market. It says nothing about who receives the income, does not count unpaid household or volunteer work, treats spending to repair damage as output, and is revised for years — first the monthly vintages, then annual updates, then comprehensive revisions that can reshape a whole decade.

Chart this series · See it by president · Download the data · The source at FRED