United States Chicago Fed National Activity Index

Last Release

May 31, 2025

Actual

-0.28

Units In

Points

-0.36

Frequency

Monthly

Next Release

Jul 24, 2025

Time to Release

26 Days 14 Hours

Highest	Lowest	Average	Date Range	Source
6.01 Jun 2020	-17.79 Apr 2020	0 Points	1967-2025	Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) is designed to gauge overall economic activity and related inflationary pressure. The CFNAI is based on a weighted average of 85 existing monthly indicators of national economic activity. It has an average value of zero and a standard deviation of one. Since economic activity tends toward trend growth rate over time, a positive reading corresponds to growth above trend and a negative reading corresponds to growth below trend.

Latest Updates

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) increased to –0.28 in May from a revised –0.36 in April, suggesting that economic activity remained below trend. Although two of the four broad categories of indicators improved, three categories still contributed negatively to the index in May. Production-related indicators contributed –0.11, improving from –0.18 in April. The sales, orders, and inventories category made a neutral contribution, up from –0.14. The personal consumption and housing category contributed –0.12, down from –0.03. Meanwhile, employment-related indicators contributed –0.05, compared with –0.02 in April.