Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Public Data API

Base URL

https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2

Version 1 (no key): https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v1

Authentication

API key optional but strongly recommended. Register at https://data.bls.gov/registrationEngine/

• V1 (no key): Limited to 25 requests/day, 10-year date range, 25 series per query.
• V2 (with key): 500 requests/day, 20-year date range, 50 series per query, plus catalog data and calculations.

Key Endpoints

1. Get Series Data (POST -- primary method)

POST /timeseries/data/

Content-Type: application/json

Request body:

{
  "seriesid": ["CUUR0000SA0", "LNS14000000"],
  "startyear": "2020",
  "endyear": "2024",
  "registrationkey": "YOUR_KEY",
  "catalog": true,
  "calculations": true,
  "annualaverage": true,
  "aspects": true
}

2. Get Single Series Data (GET -- convenience)

GET /timeseries/data/{seriesID}

Example:

https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2/timeseries/data/CUUR0000SA0?registrationkey=YOUR_KEY&startyear=2022&endyear=2024

3. Latest Data (GET -- no date range)

GET /timeseries/data/{seriesID}

Without startyear/endyear, returns the most recent 3 years.

Example:

https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v2/timeseries/data/LNS14000000?registrationkey=YOUR_KEY

Common Series IDs

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

CPI series ID structure: CU + U/S (unadj/adj) + R/S (revision) + area code + item code

Employment / Unemployment (Current Population Survey)

Employment (Current Employment Statistics / Nonfarm Payrolls)

Producer Price Index (PPI)

Employment Cost Index (ECI)

Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (OEWS)

OEWS series IDs are complex. Use the BLS Series ID finder: https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/srgate

Series ID Structure

BLS series IDs encode survey, seasonal adjustment, area, industry, and item information. Key survey prefixes:

Response Format

Standard response

{
  "status": "REQUEST_SUCCEEDED",
  "responseTime": 85,
  "message": [],
  "Results": {
    "series": [
      {
        "seriesID": "CUUR0000SA0",
        "catalog": {
          "series_title": "All items in U.S. city average, all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted",
          "series_id": "CUUR0000SA0",
          "seasonality": "Not Seasonally Adjusted",
          "survey_name": "Consumer Price Index - All Urban Consumers",
          "survey_abbreviation": "CU",
          "measure_data_type": "All items",
          "area": "U.S. city average",
          "item": "All items"
        },
        "data": [
          {
            "year": "2024",
            "period": "M01",
            "periodName": "January",
            "latest": "true",
            "value": "308.417",
            "footnotes": [{}],
            "calculations": {
              "net_changes": {
                "1": "0.5",
                "3": "1.2",
                "6": "2.1",
                "12": "3.1"
              },
              "pct_changes": {
                "1": "0.2",
                "3": "0.4",
                "6": "0.7",
                "12": "3.1"
              }
            }
          },
          {
            "year": "2023",
            "period": "M12",
            "periodName": "December",
            "value": "306.746",
            "footnotes": [{}]
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
}

Key fields in data objects

• year: 4-digit year string
• period: M01-M12 (monthly), Q01-Q05 (quarterly), A01 (annual), S01-S03 (semi-annual)
• periodName: Human-readable period name
• value: String (convert to float for calculations)
• latest: "true" on the most recent observation only
• calculations: Only present when calculations: true in request (V2). Contains net_changes and pct_changes over 1, 3, 6, 12 month spans.
• footnotes: Array of footnote objects

Error response

{
  "status": "REQUEST_NOT_PROCESSED",
  "responseTime": 10,
  "message": ["No data available for the given series and date range."],
  "Results": {
    "series": []
  }
}

Rate Limits

Notes

• BLS strongly prefers POST requests for data retrieval. The GET endpoint is a convenience wrapper.
• Period M13 represents the annual average (only present when annualaverage: true).
• All value fields are strings. Missing data is typically omitted (the observation simply won't appear).
• For CPI percent change (inflation rate), you can either calculate from raw index values or use the V2 calculations feature which provides pre-computed 12-month percent changes.
• The BLS website has a Series ID finder tool for constructing IDs: https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/srgate
• Bulk data is available for download at https://download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/ organized by survey prefix.