Economic indicators · Census Bureau
Explore monthly retail-trade activity from the Census Economic Indicators Time Series API.
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What retail sales measure
These monthly estimates track sales at U.S. retail and food-service businesses. Values are in current dollars and are adjusted for recurring seasonal, holiday and trading-day patterns. They are not adjusted for inflation, so changes can reflect prices as well as the amount sold.
Retail sales cover an important part of household spending, but they are not a measure of all consumer spending. The chart shows the reporting months returned by this feed; its final month may lag the newest advance release. Estimates can change as Census receives more complete information.
A month-to-month change compares adjacent reporting months. A year-over-year comparison requires the same month of the prior year. A missing value is not zero.