Real gross domestic product under Barack Obama

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

Over 2009-01-20 to 2017-01-19, measured in Billions of Chained 2017 Dollars:

Term average
17,803.03 Billions of Chained 2017 Dollars
At the start
16,269.15 Billions of Chained 2017 Dollars
At the end
19,398.34 Billions of Chained 2017 Dollars
Change
+3,129.2 Billions of Chained 2017 Dollars
Low
16,269.15 Billions of Chained 2017 Dollars (2009-04-01)
High
19,398.34 Billions of Chained 2017 Dollars (2017-01-01)
Coverage
100% (32 observations)

Reading this series 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.

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.

These are the observed values over the window above, and nothing more. This site does not say which direction is better, and none of this is a claim that Barack Obama caused the number to move.

What Real gross domestic product measures · Barack Obama: the whole record · Chart it · Compare with another president · The source at FRED