Economic Data I Care About
Economic Indicators
GDP Growth
Unemployment
Deficit
S&P 500 Growth
Inflation
Homicide Rate
SS / Medicare Insolvency Horizon
Home Price ÷ Income
Political Overlay
None
President's Party
Congressional Control
Key Events
Events
Democrat<br>Republican<br>Split (chambers differ)
Data Sources
GDP Year-over-Year Growth
Nominal GDP year-over-year percentage change, derived from annual GDP in current dollars. Bureau of Economic Analysis via Federal Reserve Economic Data.
FRED — GDP Series
Unemployment Rate
Civilian unemployment rate, annual average. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
FRED — UNRATE Series
BLS — Current Population Survey
Federal Deficit / Surplus
Federal surplus or deficit as a percentage of GDP. Congressional Budget Office and U.S. Treasury.
FRED — Deficit as % GDP
CBO — Budget Data
S&P 500 Year-over-Year Growth
Year-over-year percentage change in the S&P 500 composite index, derived from year-end closing values.
FRED — S&P 500
Yahoo Finance — ^GSPC
Inflation (CPI-U)
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), all items, annual average year-over-year percentage change. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
FRED — CPIAUCSL
BLS — Consumer Price Index
Homicide Rate
U.S. murders and non-negligent manslaughters per 100,000 population. FBI Uniform Crime Reports for the historical series; recent years from FBI preliminary data and CDC/NCHS. 2024–2025 are estimates.
FBI — Uniform Crime Reports
CDC — National Vital Statistics
SS / Medicare Insolvency Horizon
Years remaining until the earlier of Social Security combined OASDI trust fund depletion or Medicare HI trust fund depletion, as projected by each year's Trustees Report. Pre-1975 entries are blank — Social Security operated effectively pay-as-you-go and depletion was not projected as a year. Approximate.
SSA — Trustees Reports
CMS — Medicare Trustees Reports
Home Price ÷ Income
Median U.S. home sale price divided by median U.S. household income, by year. Home price from Census/HUD historical median sales price of new homes (HSN1F) and NAR median existing-home price; income from Census Bureau median household income. Some inter-decade values are interpolated between published anchors.
FRED — Median Sales Price (MSPUS)
FRED — Median Household Income
Presidential Terms
Party affiliation and term dates for U.S. presidents.
White House — Presidents
Congressional Control
Party control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives by Congress.
House.gov — Party Divisions
Senate.gov — Party Division
Disclaimer: Data values are approximate annual figures compiled from the public sources listed above. They are intended for general illustration and may differ slightly from official releases due to revisions, seasonal adjustments, or rounding. Always verify using the linked references for precise figures. The 2025 values are estimates based on the most recent available data.