US Unemployment vs. Inflation, 1948–2026

About this chart

Each month is one point, with the unemployment rate on the horizontal axis and inflation over the previous twelve months on the vertical. The points are joined in order, so the line is the path the pair has traced over time, and the marker is the latest month drawn. Older stretches of the path are fainter; color and line width follow how far the point sits from the center of the whole series, and the bars on the timeline below repeat that measure month by month, so the timeline shows when. The animation runs the record over thirty-eight seconds, holds on the latest month for two seconds, and loops. The scrubber pauses on any month, and the timeline's measure and the speed can be changed in the controls.

Method

Unemployment is the civilian unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted (FRED series UNRATE, Bureau of Labor Statistics). Inflation is the change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, all items, seasonally adjusted (FRED series CPIAUCSL, Bureau of Labor Statistics), from the same month a year earlier. Each month is one point, unemployment across and inflation up, and the months are joined in order. Line color, line width and the height of the bars on the timeline follow one quantity: the distance of the month's point from a fixed center of 5.6% unemployment and 3.3% inflation, close to the two series' long-run averages, with unemployment differences divided by 3.4 and inflation differences by 4.4 before they are combined. October 2025, for which neither series was published, is omitted. The last month is the latest with both series published.

Data sources

Updated August 2026

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