The following is a cross-post from the U.S. Census Bureau Director's Blog

The U.S. Census Bureau is proud to announce a new collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and their mobile application, FRED – making it easier for data users to access our statistics anytime and on any device. Web applications, which present information in visually appealing and interactive ways, are a great way to serve the needs of many customers. Web and mobile apps not only allow users to find the data they are looking for, but it is presented in a format specifically designed for users to read and understand.

In the spirit of smarter government, we are collaborating with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to ensure data for the Economic Indicators are available via the FRED mobile app. There, an interested person can find and use our data from the Economic Indicators just as they did with the America’s Economy app. And, the data can be linked back to the Census Bureau – either by using the tables we publish or by pulling data from the Census Bureau’s Application Program Interface(API).

FRED provides customers with a wealth of information about topics from the Economic Indicators, such as Advance Monthly Sales for Retail Trade and U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services.

It’s all part of our commitment to open our statistics to the public and to allow users to make informed decisions at home or on the go.

The collaboration doesn’t end there. The Census Bureau and the FRED team are building a future roadmap to add more data to the platform for our data user community.

This collaboration enables Census Bureau customers to quickly find information at the touch of their fingertips, whether it’s to write a business plan, track economic change or even to understand the monthly manufacturing sector. Our customers’ practical needs for our data are huge, and the FRED app allows us to ensure those needs are met, regardless of how vast they may be.