- Free allowance
- Version 1.0, no registration: 25 queries a day, 25 series a query, 10 years a query, 50 requests per 10 seconds; Version 2.0 with a free registration key: 500 queries a day, 50 series, 20 years
- Verdict
- ★ qualifiesusable as stated; the read path was probed
- Cost
- free tier
- Identity
- emailno card, no phone
- Binding limit
- request-rate25 queries per day unregistered, 500 registered; 50 requests per 10 seconds on both versions
- Evidence
- documented8 sources; a first-party page was read and the sentence quoted
- Freshness
- stale on 2026-12-04checked 2026-11-03 (live); stale on 2026-12-04
| Free tier | Version 1.0, no registration: 25 queries a day, 25 series a query, 10 years a query, 50 requests per 10 seconds; Version 2.0 with a free registration key: 500 queries a day, 50 series, 20 years unit requests; metered on request-count; Version 2.0 also returns net and percent changes, annual averages and series descriptions, and the key must be renewed at least once a year. A keyless v1 time-series call answered HTTP 200. The www.bls.gov pages answered HTTP 403 to an automated page fetch with no declared agent. |
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| Price | none stated |
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| Limits | - request-rate (binding) 25 queries per day unregistered, 500 registered source
- request-rate (binding) 50 requests per 10 seconds on both versions source
- per-object-cap 25 series and 10 years per query unregistered; 50 series and 20 years registered source
Bulk path: flat files under download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/, one directory per survey, with no key. |
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| Binding | request-rate 25 queries a day unregistered, 500 registered, is met long before the 50 per 10 seconds rate. |
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| Identity | email Version 1.0 needs nothing. A Version 2.0 key needs an email address and an organization name and a CAPTCHA on the registration page, with the key emailed back. |
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| Egress | not metered in bytes; the daily query count bounds a caller |
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| Per-object cap | 25 series per query unregistered, 50 registered |
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| Interface | rest GET or POST https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v1/timeseries/data/SERIESID with no key; v2 adds the registrationkey with the same signatures |
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| Tooling | curl or any HTTP client; sample code is published for several languages |
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| Composes with | US labour and price series for free; they pair with FRED and Fiscal Data when a model mixes macro sources. |
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| Reliability | Too many requests answer HTTP 429; the key expires unless renewed once a year. |
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| Notes | Keyless v1 at 25 queries a day; a free emailed key raises it to 500. Bulk path: flat files. Storage terms: unverified. |
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| Evidence note | documented Limits are read from the vendor FAQ and a keyless v1 call answered 200; the v2 key was not exercised. |
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| Parsed numbers | - has-free-tier 1
- request-rate 50 requests
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