Our Data Sources

The American Distress Index draws on 103 indicators from 36 sources — federal agencies, Federal Reserve banks, industry reports, and academic research. Every data point is publicly available and independently verifiable. No proprietary data, no paywalled sources, no models.

Federal Government

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Auto

20 indicators

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics produces the Consumer Price Index, employment situation reports, JOLTS, and wage data.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

Auto

17 indicators

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System publishes bank supervision data, the Survey of Consumer Finances, the Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey...

U.S. Census Bureau

Auto

4 indicators

The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the Household Pulse Survey and Business Trends and Outlook Survey, providing real-time measures of household financial hardsh...

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts

Parsed

4 indicators

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts publishes quarterly bankruptcy filing statistics.

U.S. Department of Labor

Auto

2 indicators

The U.S. Department of Labor publishes initial and continuing unemployment claims — a primary measure of income disruption.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Parsed

2 indicators

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes consumer credit market reports, complaint data, and financial well-being indices used to track household f...

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis

Auto

1 indicator

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis produces national income and product accounts including the personal savings rate and disposable personal income.

U.S. Department of Agriculture

Parsed

1 indicator

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service administers SNAP (food stamps) and publishes participation and benefit data.

U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service

Manual

1 indicator

U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service measured household food insecurity through the annual Current Population Survey Food Security Supp...

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Parsed

1 indicator

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development publishes the Annual Homeless Assessment Report, providing point-in-time counts of homelessness — the most s...

U.S. Energy Information Administration

Parsed

1 indicator

The U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes energy price data and utility disconnection statistics.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Parsed

1 indicator

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services publishes monthly Medicaid and CHIP enrollment data.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Parsed

1 indicator

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation conducts the National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households, measuring financial exclusion as an indicator ...

Federal Reserve System

Industry & Research

ATTOM Data Solutions

Parsed

2 indicators

ATTOM publishes monthly foreclosure filing data including pre-foreclosure notices, scheduled auctions, and bank repossessions.

Vanguard

Parsed

2 indicators

Vanguard's annual How America Saves report and hardship withdrawal data track retirement account stress — a leading indicator that households are depleting l...

Challenger, Gray & Christmas

Parsed

2 indicators

Challenger publishes monthly job cut announcements and tracks layoffs by industry — an early warning indicator for labor market disruption before unemploymen...

CoreLogic / Cotality

Parsed

1 indicator

CoreLogic (now Cotality) publishes monthly mortgage performance data including early-stage delinquency and home price indices.

Mortgage Bankers Association

Parsed

1 indicator

The Mortgage Bankers Association publishes the National Delinquency Survey, the industry's standard quarterly measure of mortgage delinquency by loan type (F...

TransUnion

Parsed

1 indicator

TransUnion publishes quarterly credit industry insights including delinquency rates by loan type from their consumer credit database.

Equifax

Parsed

1 indicator

Equifax publishes monthly consumer credit data and partners with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on the Consumer Credit Panel, providing granular delinq...

The Conference Board

Parsed

1 indicator

The Conference Board publishes the Consumer Confidence Index, measuring household expectations about business conditions, employment, and income — a forward-...

Bank of America Institute

Parsed

1 indicator

The Bank of America Institute publishes anonymized transaction data on consumer spending and savings behavior, providing real-time measures of household fina...

Indeed

Auto

1 indicator

Indeed publishes job posting data and hiring trends that provide real-time measures of labor market demand, complementing official U.S. Bureau of Labor Stati...

Indeed Hiring Lab AI Tracker

Parsed

1 indicator

Indeed Hiring Lab publishes a public tracker of the share of job postings that mention artificial-intelligence terms, with country-level data licensed under ...

Google Trends

Manual

1 indicator

Google Trends data measures search interest in financial distress terms, providing a real-time behavioral signal of household economic anxiety.

Bankrate

Parsed

1 indicator

Bankrate's annual Emergency Savings Report tracks the share of Americans with adequate emergency savings — a direct measure of household financial buffers.

WARNTracker

Manual

1 indicator

WARNTracker aggregates Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act filings from state departments of labor, providing advance notice of mass lay...

Academic & Nonprofit

Derived Indicators

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