National and industry statistics for the previous five years will be updated Sept. 26 as part of BEA’s regular annual updates to gross domestic product and related estimates. Updates to state and local statistics will begin Sept. 27.
Annual updates enable the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to refine our estimates by incorporating more complete source data as they become available. That includes survey and tax data that are released annually, as well as more detailed data from the federal budget, federal agencies, and BEA’s own international transactions surveys. BEA also introduces improvements to its methodologies during annual updates. Adjustments typically go back at least five years.
With these annual updates, BEA can meet the demand for timely early estimates while continuing to sharpen the picture of the economy over time. A more extensive comprehensive update takes place approximately every five years, most recently in 2023. Last year’s comprehensive update completed BEA’s years long plan to synchronize the timing of updates of national, industry, and state GDP statistics.
National and industry statistics
The Sept. 26 update will cover annual and quarterly statistics from 2019 through the first quarter of 2024. It impacts gross domestic product, GDP by industry, gross domestic income, and related statistics, such as consumer spending, personal income, and business investment.
- Updated source data: U.S. Census Bureau annual surveys, federal budget data, Internal Revenue Service data for companies, U.S. Department of Agriculture farm income statistics, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics surveys, and the annual update of BEA’s international transactions accounts.
- Methodology improvements: Modification of trade in services for Puerto Rico’s GDP estimate; change in data used to aggregate investment in new structures by state and local governments; and reclassification of government financial assistance to multiemployer pension plans under the American Rescue Plan Act.
- Timing: 8:30 a.m. EDT, alongside release of the third estimate of GDP for the second quarter of 2024 and GDP by industry estimates for the second quarter.
State and local statistics
The Sept. 27 update will cover annual and quarterly GDP and personal income statistics for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, from 2019 through the first quarter of 2024.
- Timing: 10 a.m. EDT, alongside the release of preliminary estimates for the second quarter of 2024.
Updates of other annual statistics for 2019-2022, plus new 2023 data, will follow:
- Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) by state, Oct. 3
- Personal income by county and metropolitan area, Nov. 14
- GDP by county and metropolitan area, Dec. 4
- Real PCE and real personal income by state, Dec. 12
For more detail, see the information on the 2024 annual updates on bea.gov.