Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

What Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago does

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is a regional Reserve Bank chartered under the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and opened for business in November 1914, serving as the central bank's presence for the Seventh Federal Reserve District (Iowa and most of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin). It conducts four core functions: (1) participating in monetary policy formulation through the Federal Open Market Committee, with Austan D. Goolsbee serving as President and CEO since January 2023; (2) supervising and regulating banking organizations within the district; (3) providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. Treasury, and foreign official institutions; and (4) producing economic research and data products including the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI), National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI), Beige Book contributions, Chicago Fed Survey of Economic Conditions (CFSEC), Labor Market Indicators, and the AgLetter publication. The institution maintains headquarters at 230 S. LaSalle St. in Chicago and a branch office at 1600 E. Warren Ave. in Detroit, with a workforce of 1,001–5,000 employees.

The Chicago Fed's technology stack is built on proprietary econometric methodologies rather than commercial software products. The flagship CFNAI is a weighted average of 85 monthly indicators across production and income, employment, personal consumption and housing, and sales/orders/inventories categories, originally developed by James Stock of Harvard University and Mark Watson of Princeton University and published in the Journal of Monetary Economics in 1999. Complementary indices include the CFNAI Diffusion Index, CFNAI-MA3 moving average, NFCI for financial conditions, and specialty research outputs in insurance, agricultural economics, and community development. The institution distributes content through its website (chicagofed.org), Economic Perspectives journal, Chicago Fed Letter, Working Papers, Chicago Fed Insights, Money Museum, and an active social media and speaker bureau presence.

As a quasi-governmental central bank entity, the Chicago Fed does not operate for profit in the traditional commercial sense. It generates operating income from provision of financial services to depository institutions, securities holdings, and foreign currency operations, with excess earnings remitted to the U.S. Treasury rather than retained. Member commercial banks hold statutory stock in the Reserve Bank and receive a fixed 6% annual dividend. Customer segments are mandate-defined rather than market-defined: depository institutions (primary), the U.S. Treasury and federal agencies, foreign official institutions, and academic researchers and the general public consuming publications and data. Pricing models are not commercially disclosed because services are provided as public functions under federal statutory authority.

Name

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Legal name

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Website

https://chicagofed.org

Company type

Public

Founded year

1914

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is a regional central bank chartered in 1914 that serves the Seventh Federal Reserve District (Iowa and most of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin). It conducts monetary policy via FOMC participation, supervises district banks, provides payment and reserve services to depository institutions, and produces flagship economic indices including the CFNAI and NFCI.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Central Banking

NAICS

Monetary Authorities-Central Bank (52111)

SIC

Functions Related To Depository Banking, Nec (6099)

akta.pro primary industry

Central Bank Reserve Management (FSAAAGAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Public Sector Retail Banks (State-Owned Commercial Banks) (FSABAKAL)

Keywords

• Central banking services
• Monetary policy research
• Banking supervision
• Economic data indicators
• Payment system services

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago is a regional central bank serving the Seventh Federal Reserve District (Iowa, most of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin). It conducts economic research, supervises and regulates banking organizations, contributes to monetary policy through FOMC participation, and provides financial services (payment processing, cash distribution, discount window lending) to depository institutions and the U.S. Treasury.

Product overview

The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago operates as a regional central bank serving the Seventh Federal Reserve District (Iowa, most of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin). The institution's product portfolio is organized around four core functions: (1) economic research and publications including the CFNAI, NFCI, Beige Book, Economic Perspectives journal, Chicago Fed Letter, Working Papers, and Chicago Fed Insights; (2) economic data services providing real-time indicators on labor markets, financial conditions, agricultural conditions, and regional economic activity; (3) banking services including payment processing, cash services, and regulatory supervision for depository institutions; and (4) educational programs including the Money Museum, Fed Challenge competition, and various community development initiatives. The institution does not offer commercial products or APIs but provides public goods in the form of economic research, data, and educational resources.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI): A weighted average of 85 existing monthly indicators of growth in national economic activity
• National Financial Conditions Index (NFCI)
• Money Museum
• Chicago Fed Letter
• Chicago Fed Insights

Products and services

• Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI)

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Milken InstituteminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026The Chicago Fed participates in the Milken Institute Global Conference, where President Goolsbee delivered remarks on productivity growth and inflation dynamics.
• Harvard University and Princeton UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1999The CFNAI methodology was originally developed by James Stock of Harvard University and Mark Watson of Princeton University. Their research, published in the Journal of Monetary Economics in 1999, provided the foundation for the Chicago Fed National Activity Index. Subsequent research by former Chicago Fed President Charles Evans validated the CFNAI's utility as a gauge of the business cycle.
• Federal Reserve Bank of ClevelandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint collaboration between Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack on monetary policy assessment, including joint podcast interviews and coordinated public communications on the economic outlook.
• Community Depository Institution Advisory CouncilminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCouncil comprising senior officers at community depository institutions (under $10 billion in assets) that provides input on regional banking conditions and local economic dynamics to the Chicago Fed President and senior officials. Members serve staggered terms up to three years and meet twice annually.
• Academic Advisory CouncilminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory council providing academic expertise and research perspectives to inform Chicago Fed's research activities and policy formulation.
• Financial Stability Advisory CouncilminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAdvisory council providing expertise on financial stability risks and systemic concerns to the Chicago Fed's leadership.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: The Board of Governors is the central, system-wide authority overseeing all 12 Reserve Banks including the Chicago Fed. It sets regulation, supervises system-wide policy, and is a peer in monetary policy, supervision, and research, though at a broader national scope.
• European Central Bank: The ECB is the central bank for the euro area and a global monetary authority peer. While regionally distinct, it performs the same core functions—monetary policy, banking supervision, payments, and economic research—as the Chicago Fed within the Federal Reserve System.

Direct peers

• Federal Reserve Bank of New York: The New York Fed is the System's most operationally important Reserve Bank—permanent FOMC voting member, operator of the open market desk, and primary interface with markets. It is the closest functional peer to the Chicago Fed in monetary policy, research, and market operations.
• Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco: The San Francisco Fed is a large regional Reserve Bank with significant research output, an FOMC voting seat, and a broad district spanning the West Coast. Its mix of monetary policy research, bank supervision, and cash services is structurally analogous to the Chicago Fed.
• Federal Reserve Bank of Boston: The Boston Fed is a smaller regional Reserve Bank with a strong research tradition and FOMC participation. Its payment systems research (e.g., FedNow) provides a directly comparable function to the Chicago Fed's payments policy role.
• Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta: The Atlanta Fed operates GDPNow and Wage Growth Tracker—flagship real-time macro indicators analogous to the CFNAI—and serves a Southeastern district with comparable banking supervision, payments, and research functions.
• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: The St. Louis Fed is widely recognized for its FRED data platform and large research/economics department, making it the most data-publishing peer alongside the Chicago Fed's CFNAI/NFCI franchise.
• Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City: The Kansas City Fed oversees an agriculture-heavy district comparable to parts of the Seventh District, hosts the Jackson Hole symposium, and produces the Ag survey—making it a natural peer for agricultural and regional research, with overlapping FOMC participation.
• Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland: The Cleveland Fed is another mid-sized regional Reserve Bank with a strong research tradition (e.g., inflation expectations), an FOMC voting seat, and a similar mix of banking supervision, payments, and research functions. The two banks have publicly collaborated on monetary policy communications.
• Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas: The Dallas Fed is an energy-economy-specialist Reserve Bank with strong regional research (energy, Texas economy) and FOMC participation. Its mix of banking, payments, and macro research is directly comparable to the Chicago Fed.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/chicagofed
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@chicagofed
• Facebookfacebook.com/12
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/federal-reserve-bank-of-chicago
• Instagraminstagram.com/chicagofed

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago