How is the U.S. doing?
Official government numbers, all in one place. Start with a question, or build your own chart: pick any numbers, put them side by side, and see whether they move together or apart.
Start with a question
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Pick one or more numbers on the left, or start with a question above.
More ready-made charts
Click any one. It loads into the builder, where you can add or remove numbers and change the time period.
How to read this
- Different kinds of numbers on one chart. Gas is in dollars, jobs are people, a rate is a percent. When they differ, the main chart puts every number on one scale that starts at 100 at the beginning of your period, so you can see which moved more. The separate charts below show each real value on its own axis.
- “Move together” is not “cause.” Two numbers can rise and fall together by coincidence, or because something else drives both. The match scores describe what happened; they say nothing about why.
- Presidential terms are shaded for reference only, back to 1945: red for Republican presidents and blue for Democratic ones, with a thin line at each inauguration day. The shading says nothing about who is responsible for what; monthly numbers are shown on their own dates, not assigned to anyone.
- Reported, not corrected. Crime rates are what police agencies reported, and not every agency reports every year. Border numbers count encounters, not total crossings. Each number has a plain-words note under the chart.