List of recessions in the United States

thumb|alt=A crowd of several tens of men tries to enter the building through a narrow door. The men wear top hats. At the foreground, a small boy sells newspapers.|300px|[[Bank run on the Seamen's Savings Bank during the panic of 1857]]

thumb|300px|Total money supply contracted -10.28% in [[October 1929 and continued to contract for the next few years during the Great Depression and Herbert Hoover's presidency]]

thumb|300px|[[United States Treasury security|US Treasury interest rates compared to the Federal Funds Rate. When the shorter term treasuries get pushed above the longer term treasuries, by the Federal Funds Rate, it causes an Inverted yield curve.

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There have been as many as 48 recessions in the United States dating back to the Articles of Confederation, and although economists and historians dispute certain 19th-century recessions, Cycles in the country's agricultural production, industrial production, consumption, business investment, and the health of the banking industry contribute to these declines. U.S. recessions have increasingly affected economies on a worldwide scale, especially as countries' economies become more intertwined.

The unofficial beginning and ending dates of recessions in the United States have been defined by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), an American private nonprofit research organization. The NBER defines a recession as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than two quarters which is 6 months, normally visible in real gross domestic product (GDP), real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales".

In the 19th century, recessions frequently coincided with a financial crisis. Determining the occurrence of pre-20th-century recessions is more difficult due to the dearth of economic statistics, so scholars rely on historical accounts of economic activity, such as contemporary newspapers or business ledgers. Although the NBER does not date recessions before 1857, economists customarily extrapolate dates of U.S. recessions back to 1790 from business annals based on various contemporary descriptions. Their work is aided by historical patterns, in that recessions often follow external shocks to the economic system such as wars and variations in the weather affecting agriculture, as well as banking crises.

Major modern economic statistics, such as unemployment and GDP, were not compiled on a regular and standardized basis until after World War II. The average duration of the 11 recessions between 1945 and 2001 is 10 months, compared to 18 months for recessions between 1919 and 1945, and 22 months for recessions from 1854 to 1919. Because of the great changes in the economy over the centuries, it is difficult to compare the severity of modern recessions to early recessions. Before the COVID-19 recession began in March 2020, no post-World War II era had come anywhere near the depth of the Great Depression, which lasted from 1929 until 1941 (which included a bull market between 1933 and 1937) and was caused by the 1929 crash of the stock market and other factors.

Early recessions and crises (1785–1836)

Attempts have been made to date recessions in America beginning in 1790. These periods of recession were not identified until the 1920s. To construct the dates, researchers studied business annals during the period and constructed time series of the data. The earliest recessions for which there is the most certainty are those that coincide with major financial crises.

Beginning in 1835, an index of business activity by the Cleveland Trust Company provides data for comparison between recessions. Beginning in 1854, the National Bureau of Economic Research dates recession peaks and troughs to the month. However, a standardized index does not exist for the earliest recessions.

In 1791, Congress chartered the First Bank of the United States to handle the country's financial needs. The bank had some functions of a modern central bank, although it was responsible for only 20% of the young country's currency. In 1811 the bank's charter lapsed, but it was replaced by the Second Bank of the United States, which lasted from 1816 to 1836. Thorp's crude annual dates are not directly comparable to the NBER's monthly dates i.e. a two-year recession from the annual dates could be many months shorter or longer than 24.

| Copper Panic of 1789

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=1796 | 1789–1793

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=36 | ~ years

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=72 | ~0 years

| Loss of confidence in copper coins due to debasement and counterfeiting led to commercial freeze up that halted the economy of several northern States and was not alleviated until the introduction of new paper money to restore confidence.

| Panic of 1792

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=1796 | 1792

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=36 | ~ months

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=72 | ~0 years

| Its causes included the extension of credit and excessive speculation. The panic was largely solved by providing banks the necessary funds to make open market purchases.

| Panic of 1796–1797

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=1796 | 1796–1799

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=36 | ~ years

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=72 | ~4 years

| Just as a land speculation bubble was bursting, deflation from the Bank of England (which was facing insolvency due to the cost of British involvement in the French Revolutionary Wars) crossed to North America and disrupted commercial and real estate markets in the United States and the Caribbean, and caused a major financial panic. Prosperity continued in the Southern United States, but economic activity was stagnant in the Northern United States for three years. The young United States engaged in the Quasi-War with France.

| 1812 recession

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=1812 | 1812

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=06 | ~6 months

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=18 | ~18 months

| The United States entered a brief recession at the beginning of 1812. The decline was brief primarily because the United States soon increased production to fight the War of 1812, which began June 18, 1812.

| 1815–1821 depression

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=1815 | 1815–1821

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=72 | ~ years

| style="text-align:center" data-sort-value=36 | ~ years

| Shortly after the war ended on March 23, 1815, the United States entered a period of financial panic as bank notes rapidly depreciated because of inflation following the war. The 1815 panic was followed by several years of mild depression, and then a major financial crisis – the Panic of 1819, which featured widespread foreclosures, bank failures, unemployment, a collapse in real estate prices, and a slump in agriculture and manufacturing. Speculation markets were greatly affected when American banks stopped payment in specie (gold and silver coinage). Over 600 banks failed in this period. In the Southern United States, the cotton market completely collapsed.

| 1845–late 1846 recession

| —

| ~1 year

| ~2 years

| −5.9%

| —

| style="text-align:left" | This recession was mild enough that it may have only been a slowdown in the growth cycle. One theory holds that this would have been a recession, except the United States began to gear up for the Mexican–American War, which began April 25, 1846.

| 1847–1848 recession

| late 1847 – late 1848

| ~1 year

| −19.7%

| —

| style="text-align:left" | The Cleveland Trust Company Index declined 19.7% during 1847 and 1848. It is associated with the Panic of 1847, a financial crisis in Great Britain.

| 1853–1854 recession

| 1853 – December 1854

| ~1 year

| ~5 years

| −18.4%

| —

| style="text-align:left" | Interest rates rose in this period, contributing to a decrease in railroad investment. Security prices fell during this period. With the exception of falling business investment, there is little evidence of contraction in this period.

| 1860–1861 recession

| October 1860 – June 1861

| 8 months

| 1 year 10 months

| −14.5%

| —

| style="text-align:left" | There was a mild recession before the American Civil War, which began on April 12, 1861, although the recession was only limited to some areas. Zarnowitz says the data generally show a contraction occurred in this period, but it was quite mild. The deflation and wage cuts of the era led to labor turmoil, such as the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. In 1879, the United States returned to the gold standard with the Specie Payment Resumption Act. This is the longest period of economic contraction recognized by the NBER, though the Long Depression is sometimes held to be the entire period from October 1873 to December 1896.

| Depression of 1882–1885

| March 1882 – May 1885

| 3 years 2 months

| 3 years

| −32.8%

| −24.6%

| style="text-align:left" | Like the Long Depression that preceded it, the recession of 1882–1885 was more of a price depression than a production depression. From 1879 to 1882, there had been a boom in railroad construction which came to an end, resulting in a decline in both railroad construction and in related industries, particularly iron and steel. A major economic event during the recession was the Panic of 1884.

| 1887–1888 recession

| March 1887 – April 1888

| 1 year 1 month

| 1 year 10 months

| −14.6%

| −8.2%

| style="text-align:left" | Investments in railroads and buildings weakened during this period. This slowdown was so mild that it is not always considered a recession. Contemporary accounts apparently indicate it was considered a slight recession.

| 1890–1891 recession

| July 1890 – May 1891

| 10 months

| 1 year 5 months

| −22.1%

| −11.7%

| style="text-align:left" | Although shorter than the recession in 1887–1888 and still modest, a slowdown in 1890–1891 was somewhat more pronounced than the preceding recession. International monetary disturbances are blamed for this recession, such as the Panic of 1890 in the United Kingdom. Estimates on unemployment vary, it may have peaked anywhere from 8.2 to 18.4%.

| Panic of 1896

| December 1895 – June 1897

| 1 year 6 months

| −25.2%

| −20.8%

| style="text-align:left" | The period of 1893–1897 is seen as a generally depressed cycle that had a short spurt of growth in the middle, following the Panic of 1893. Production shrank and deflation reigned.

| Panic of 1910–1911

| January 1910 – January 1912

| 2 years

| 1 year 7 months

| −14.7%

| −10.6%

| style="text-align:left" | This was a mild but lengthy recession. The national product grew by less than 1%, and commercial activity and industrial activity declined. The period was also marked by deflation.

| Post-World War I recession

| August 1918 – March 1919

| 7 months

| 3 years 8 months

| −24.5%

| −14.1%

| style="text-align:left" | Severe hyperinflation in Europe took place over production in North America. This was a brief but very sharp recession and was caused by the end of wartime production, along with an influx of labor from returning troops. This, in turn, caused high unemployment.

| Depression of 1920–1921

| January 1920 – July 1921

| 1 year 6 months

| 10 months

| −38.1%

| −32.7%

| style="text-align:left" | The 1921 recession began a mere 10 months after the post-World War I recession, as the economy continued working through the shift to a peacetime economy. The recession was short, but extremely painful. The year 1920 was the single most deflationary year in American history; production, however, did not fall as much as might be expected from the deflation. GNP may have declined between 2.5 and 7 percent, even as wholesale prices declined by 36.8%. The economy had a strong recovery following the recession.

| 1923–1924 recession

| May 1923 – June 1924

| 1 year 2 months

| 2 years

| −25.4%

| −22.7%

| style="text-align:left" | From the depression of 1920–1921 until the Great Depression, an era dubbed the Roaring Twenties, the economy was generally expanding. Industrial production declined in 1923–24, but on the whole this was a mild recession.

| 1926–1927 recession

| October 1926 – November 1927

| 1 year 1 month

| 2 years 3 months

| −12.2%

| −10.0%

| style="text-align:left" | This was an unusual and mild recession, thought to be caused largely because Henry Ford closed production in his factories for six months to switch from production of the Model T to the Model A. Charles P. Kindleberger says the period from 1925 to the start of the Great Depression is best thought of as a boom, and this minor recession just proof that the boom "was not general, uninterrupted or extensive".

Until the start of the COVID-19 recession in 2020, no post-World War II era came anywhere near the depth of the Great Depression. In the Great Depression, GDP fell by 27% (the deepest after demobilization is the recession beginning in December 2007, during which GDP had fallen 5.1% by the second quarter of 2009) and the unemployment rate reached 24.9% (the highest since was the 10.8% rate reached during the 1981–1982 recession).

Many factors that may have contributed to this moderation including the establishment of deposit insurance in the form of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1933 and increased regulation of the banking sector. Other changes include the use of fiscal policy in the form of automatic stabilizers to alleviate cyclical volatility. The creation of the Federal Reserve System in 1913 has been disputed as a source of stability with it and its policies having mixed successes. Since the early 1980s the sources of the Great Moderation has been attributed to numerous causes including public policy, industry practices, technology, and even good luck.

{| class="wikitable sortable sticky-header static-row-numbers sort-under" style="width:100%; text-align:center"

! style="max-width:4em;vertical-align:bottom" class=unsortable | Name

! style="max-width:4em;vertical-align:bottom" data-sort-type=date | Period Range

! style="max-width:4em;vertical-align:bottom" | Duration

! style="max-width:4em;vertical-align:bottom" | Time since previous recession

! style="max-width:4em;vertical-align:bottom" | Peak unemployment

! style="max-width:4em;vertical-align:bottom" | GDP decline (peak to trough)

! style="vertical-align:bottom" class=unsortable | Characteristics

| style="text-align:left" | Great Depression

| data-sort-value="August 1929" | August 1929 – March 1933

| data-sort-value="43" | 3 years 7 months

| data-sort-value="21" | 1 year 9 months

| data-sort-value="24.9" | 21.3% (1932)– 24.9% (1933)

| data-sort-value="26.7" | −26.7%

| style="text-align:left" | A banking panic leading to the Wall Street crash of 1929 and a collapse in the money supply took place in the United States that was exacerbated by international commitment to the gold standard. Extensive new tariffs and other factors contributed to an extremely deep depression. GDP, industrial production, employment, and prices fell substantially. A small economic expansion within the depression began in 1933, with gold inflow expanding the money supply and improving expectations; the expansion would end in 1937. The ultimate recovery, which would occur with the start of World War II in 1940, was credited to monetary policy and monetary expansion.

| style="text-align:left" | Recession of 1937–1938

| data-sort-value="May 1937" | May 1937 – June 1938

| data-sort-value="13" | 1 year 1 month

| data-sort-value="50" | 4 years 2 months

| data-sort-value="19.0" | 17.8%

| data-sort-value="18.2" | −18.2%

| style="text-align:left" | The Recession of 1937 is only considered minor when compared to the Great Depression, but is otherwise among the worst recessions of the 20th century. Three explanations are offered as causes for the recession: the tight fiscal policy resulting from an attempt to balance the budget after New Deal spending; the tight monetary policy of the Federal Reserve; and the declining profits of businesses leading to a reduction in business investment.

| style="text-align:left" | Recession of 1945

| data-sort-value="February 1945" | February 1945 – October 1945

| data-sort-value="8" | 8 months

| data-sort-value="80" | 6 years 8 months

| data-sort-value="5.2" | 5.2%

| style="text-align:left" | Recession of 1949

| data-sort-value="November 1948" | November 1948 – October 1949

| data-sort-value="11" | 11 months

| data-sort-value="37" | 3 years 1 month

| data-sort-value="7.9" | 7.9% (October 1949)

| data-sort-value="1.7" | −1.7%

| style="text-align:left" | The 1948 recession was a brief economic downturn; forecasters of the time expected much worse, perhaps influenced by the poor economy in their recent lifetimes. The recession also followed a period of monetary tightening.

| style="text-align:left" | Recession of 1958

| data-sort-value="August 1957" | August 1957 – April 1958

| data-sort-value="8" | 8 months

| data-sort-value="39" | 3 years 3 months

| data-sort-value="7.5" | 7.5% (July 1958)

| data-sort-value="3.7" | −3.7%

| style="text-align:left" | Monetary policy was tightened during the two years preceding 1957, followed by an easing of policy at the end of 1957. The budget balance resulted in a change in budget surplus of 0.8% of GDP in 1957 to a budget deficit of 0.6% of GDP in 1958, and then to 2.6% of GDP in 1959.

| style="text-align:left" | Recession of 1960–1961

| data-sort-value="April 1960" | April 1960 – February 1961

| data-sort-value="10" | 10 months

| data-sort-value="24" | 2 years

| data-sort-value="7.1" | 7.1% (May 1961)

| data-sort-value="1.6" | −1.6%

| style="text-align:left" | Another primarily monetary recession occurred after the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in 1959. The government switched from deficit (or 2.6% in 1959) to surplus (of 0.1% in 1960). When the economy emerged from this short recession, it began the second-longest period of growth in NBER history.

| style="text-align:left" | 1980 recession

| data-sort-value="January 1980" | January 1980 – July 1980

| data-sort-value="6" | 6 months

| data-sort-value="58" | 4 years 10 months

| data-sort-value="7.8" | 7.8% (July 1980)

| data-sort-value="2.2" | −2.2%

| style="text-align:left" | The NBER considers a very short recession to have occurred in 1980, followed by a short period of growth and then a deep recession. Unemployment remained relatively elevated in between recessions. The recession began as the Federal Reserve, under Paul Volcker, raised interest rates dramatically to fight the inflation of the 1970s. The early 1980s are sometimes referred to as a "double-dip" or "W-shaped" recession.

| style="text-align:left" | 1981–1982 recession

| data-sort-value="July 1981" | July 1981 – November 1982

| data-sort-value="16" | 1 year 4 months

| data-sort-value="12" | 1 year

| data-sort-value="10.8" | 10.8% (November 1982)

| data-sort-value="2.7" | −2.7%

| style="text-align:left" | The Iranian Revolution sharply increased the price of oil around the world in 1979, causing the 1979 energy crisis. This was caused by the new regime in power in Iran, which exported oil at inconsistent intervals and at a lower volume, forcing prices up. Tight monetary policy in the United States to control inflation led to another recession. The changes were made largely because of inflation carried over from the previous decade because of the 1973 oil crisis and the 1979 energy crisis.

| style="text-align:left" | Early 1990s recession

| data-sort-value="July 1990" | July 1990 – March 1991

| data-sort-value="8" | 8 months

| data-sort-value="92" | 7 years 8 months

| data-sort-value="7.8" | 7.8% (June 1992)

| data-sort-value="1.4" | −1.4%

| style="text-align:left" | After the lengthy peacetime expansion of the 1980s, inflation began to increase and the Federal Reserve responded by raising interest rates from 1986 to 1989. This weakened but did not stop growth, but some combination of the subsequent 1990 oil price shock, the debt accumulation of the 1980s, and growing consumer pessimism combined with the weakened economy to produce a brief recession.

| style="text-align:left" | Early 2000s recession

| data-sort-value="March 2001" | March 2001 – November 2001

| data-sort-value="8" | 8 months

| data-sort-value="120" | 10 years

| data-sort-value="6.3" | 6.3% (June 2003)

| data-sort-value="0.3" | −0.3%

| style="text-align:left" | The 1990s were the longest period of economic growth in American history up to that point. The collapse of the speculative dot-com bubble, a fall in business outlays and investments, and the September 11th attacks, brought the decade of growth to an end. Despite these major shocks, the recession was brief and shallow.

| style="text-align:left" | Great Recession

| data-sort-value="December 2007" | December 2007 – June 2009

| data-sort-value="18" | 1 year 6 months

| data-sort-value="73" | 6 years 1 month

| data-sort-value="10.0" | 10.0% (October 2009)

| data-sort-value="5.1" | −5.1%

| style="text-align:left" | The subprime mortgage crisis led to the collapse of the United States housing bubble. Falling housing-related assets contributed to the 2008 financial crisis, even as oil and food prices soared. The crisis led to the failure or collapse of many of the United States' largest financial institutions: Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, and AIG, as well as a crisis in the automobile industry. The government responded with an unprecedented $700 billion bank bailout and $787 billion fiscal stimulus package. The National Bureau of Economic Research declared the end of this recession over a year after the end date. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow) finally reached its lowest point on March 9, 2009.

| style="text-align:left" | COVID-19 recession

| data-sort-value="February 2020" | February 2020 – April 2020

| data-sort-value="2" | 2 months

| data-sort-value="128" | 10 years 8 months

| data-sort-value="14.7" | 14.7% (April 2020)

| data-sort-value="19.2" | −19.2%

| style="text-align:left" | The economic effects of the pandemic were severe after the first quarter of 2020.  More than 24 million people lost jobs in the United States in just three weeks in April. The economic impact of the virus is still being determined, but the recession was the shortest on record.