# FRED API: Search economic series

> Searches FRED economic series by topic, ordered by popularity, and returns each series' coverage dates, units, frequency and last update. FRED does not publish a popularity score on these pages, so it is null.

Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by FRED.

- Page: https://fous.com/methods/fred.stlouisfed.org/search-indicators
- Method: `fred.stlouisfed.org/search_indicators`, version 1
- Website: fred.stlouisfed.org
- Returns: title, frequency, units, seasonal adjustment, date range, last updated date, FRED link, series ID
- Effect: read (it gets data and changes nothing)
- Sign-in: none needed
- Cost: 1 credit per completed run (1¢ with pay as you go); failed runs are free
- Verified: Nov 2, 2026

## Inputs

| Field | Type | Required | In the run below | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `query` | string | yes | `"home prices in Texas"` | Economic topic to search, for example home prices in Texas. |
| `max_results` | integer | no | `5` | Most popular matching series to return (up to 100). Default 20. |

## Output

From a run on Oct 23, 2026, shortened. Its input:

```json
{
  "query": "home prices in Texas",
  "max_results": 5
}
```

Its output:

```json
{
  "series": [
    {
      "title": "All-Transactions House Price Index for Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX (MSA)",
      "units": "Index 1995:Q1=100",
      "frequency": "Quarterly",
      "last_date": "2026-04-01",
      "first_date": "1977-04-01",
      "fred_page_link": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ATNHPIUS12420Q",
      "fred_series_id": "ATNHPIUS12420Q",
      "popularity_score": null,
      "last_updated_date": "2026-08-25",
      "seasonally_adjusted": false
    },
    {
      "title": "S&P Cotality Case-Shiller TX-Dallas Home Price Index",
      "units": "Index Jan 2000=100",
      "frequency": "Monthly",
      "last_date": "2026-07-01",
      "first_date": "2000-01-01",
      "fred_page_link": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DAXRNSA",
      "fred_series_id": "DAXRNSA",
      "popularity_score": null,
      "last_updated_date": "2026-10-01",
      "seasonally_adjusted": false
    },
    {
      "title": "All-Transactions House Price Index for Texas",
      "units": "Index 1980:Q1=100",
      "frequency": "Quarterly",
      "last_date": "2026-04-01",
      "first_date": "1975-01-01",
      "fred_page_link": "https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/TXSTHPI",
      "fred_series_id": "TXSTHPI",
      "popularity_score": null,
      "last_updated_date": "2026-08-25",
      "seasonally_adjusted": false
    }
  ]
}
```

## Run it

From code, with a Fous API key in `FOUS_API_KEY`; the answer's `data` holds the output:

```bash
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"method":"fred.stlouisfed.org/search_indicators","input":{"query":"home prices in Texas","max_results":5}}'
```

From an AI agent connected to the Fous MCP server: its `run` with the same method and input. To connect one, give it `set up https://fous.com/SKILL.md`.

## Ask your agent

- Find the most popular FRED series on unemployment rate by state, showing frequency and last updated date
- I need economic time series on mortgage rates with their date ranges and units
- Look up top series for consumer price index inflation, sorted by popularity, up to 15 results
- Which economic data series track housing starts and building permits? Show series IDs and seasonal adjustment
- Search stlouisfed.org for series about industrial production, returning the 10 most popular with coverage dates

## Input schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "query"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "query": {
      "type": "string",
      "minLength": 1,
      "description": "Economic topic to search, for example home prices in Texas."
    },
    "max_results": {
      "type": "integer",
      "default": 20,
      "maximum": 100,
      "minimum": 1,
      "description": "Most popular matching series to return (up to 100)."
    }
  }
}
```

## Output schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "series"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "series": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "required": [
          "title",
          "frequency",
          "units",
          "seasonally_adjusted",
          "first_date",
          "last_date",
          "last_updated_date",
          "fred_page_link",
          "fred_series_id",
          "popularity_score"
        ],
        "properties": {
          "title": {
            "type": "string",
            "description": "Series title."
          },
          "units": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Units in words."
          },
          "frequency": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "How often the series is reported."
          },
          "last_date": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "format": "date",
            "description": "Last date covered."
          },
          "first_date": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "format": "date",
            "description": "First date covered."
          },
          "fred_page_link": {
            "type": "string",
            "description": "FRED page for this series."
          },
          "fred_series_id": {
            "type": "string",
            "description": "FRED series identifier."
          },
          "popularity_score": {
            "type": [
              "integer",
              "null"
            ],
            "maximum": 100,
            "minimum": 0,
            "description": "Null: FRED's public pages do not expose a popularity score."
          },
          "last_updated_date": {
            "type": [
              "string",
              "null"
            ],
            "format": "date",
            "description": "Date the series was last updated."
          },
          "seasonally_adjusted": {
            "type": [
              "boolean",
              "null"
            ],
            "description": "Whether the series is seasonally adjusted."
          }
        }
      },
      "description": "Matching FRED series, most popular first."
    }
  }
}
```

## See more

- [FRED API: Get economic indicator](https://fous.com/methods/fred.stlouisfed.org/get-economic-indicator.md): Gets a public FRED economic series by plain name or series ID, with its observations, latest value and source details.
- [Freddie Mac API: Get mortgage rates](https://fous.com/methods/freddiemac.com/get-mortgage-rates.md): Returns Freddie Mac's U.S. 30-year and 15-year fixed mortgage rates for the latest survey or a chosen date, with weekly and year-ago changes, and optionally a weekly history for a date range.
- [Britannica API: Search articles](https://fous.com/methods/britannica.com/search-articles.md): Searches Britannica for encyclopedia articles and returns their titles, short descriptions, article links and images when shown. Excludes other search formats such as videos, questions and stories.
- [Kaggle API: Search datasets](https://fous.com/methods/kaggle.com/search-datasets.md): Finds public Kaggle datasets on a topic, with size, file formats, usability, popularity and license. Lists at most 100 results in Kaggle's order; files are not downloaded.
- [USDA API: Search foods](https://fous.com/methods/fdc.nal.usda.gov/search-foods.md): Searches USDA FoodData Central foods and branded products by food or brand name, ranked by relevance. Calories and serving sizes are null when not supplied.
- [Hugging Face API: Search datasets](https://fous.com/methods/huggingface.co/search-datasets.md): Finds public Hugging Face datasets by name or topic, ordered by downloads, likes, trending score or last update.
- [Polymarket API: Search markets](https://fous.com/methods/polymarket.com/search-markets.md): Finds Polymarket prediction markets about a topic, ranked by total trading volume, with outcome chances and market details.
- [BLS API: Get unemployment rate](https://fous.com/methods/bls.gov/get-unemployment-rate.md): Gets the latest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate and labor-force counts for the United States or a state, with up to 24 months of history.
- [All FRED methods](https://fous.com/methods/stlouisfed.org.md)