The US unemployment rate soared to over 24% during the Great Depression

The Great Depression is one of history's most notable periods of deflation

The stock market crash of 1929 helped trigger a period of deflation in the United States by creating a drastic decrease in the total money supply. Because of the United States' central role in the world economy, virtually every single country was impacted by the recession.

The Great Depression was an international depression felt far beyond the US

Many countries suffered through a depression in the 1930s that the First World War, the US stock market crash, and an economic downturn in Germany turned into an international crisis.

The story of the Wall Street Crash of 1929

The 1920s in the US "roared" with rapid economic growth after the conclusion of World War I. But in October 1929, the bubbly stock markets crashed dramatically, plunging the nation into the decadelong Great Depression.

Markets have always recovered and hit new highs following crashes

The crash that preceded the Great Depression was the most severe the US has ever experienced. It was 28 times worse than the downturn that followed the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The UK was already in a depression before the US Great Depression took hold

The US Great Depression was felt globally, but the severity and length of different countries’ economic downturns varied. For instance, Japan was the first country to exit its depression.

Communism grew in appeal during the Great Depression

With at least a quarter of the country out of work, some Americans disenchanted with capitalism began looking at alternatives. Watch this five-minute video to learn about communism's growing allure during the Great Depression.

The US has been through 34 recessions since 1854

From 1855 to 2020, the average US recession lasted for an average of 17 months. But in the 20th and 21st centuries, the average recession length has shortened, decreasing to 14 months.

US homeownership rates declined from the start of the Great Recession through 2016

In 2004, the US homeownership rate was 69%. When the bubble popped in 2007, due to a variety of factors (including the prevalence of subprime mortgages) the Great Recession began. Foreclosures increased, as did the ratio of renters to homeowners. In 2016, the homeownership rate was at roughly 63.4%.

Stand-up became more popular during the Great Depression

The stock market crash of 1929 caused vaudeville theaters to shutter. Audiences were looking for lighthearted distractions from the country’s financial problems, though, and stand-up became more popular, albeit in very different venues.

US depression rates at historic high among adults

More than 18% of US adults reported that they currently have or are being treated for depression in both 2024 and 2025. In the 2025 survey, more than 11,000 adults were surveyed. The numbers have ticked upward since 2015—by about 8 percentage points—with most of the increase occurring from the 2020 pandemic onward.

What was it like to live through the Great Depression?

Hear the personal accounts of four people who lived through the Great Depression, as told by NPR's Throughline. Listen to this 47-minute podcast episode to get a bit more insight into the countrywide economic crisis and what it meant it for everyday people.

An estimated 91% of all Americans had used a coupon at least once as of 2022

Coupon use accelerated during the Great Depression, when the US unemployment rate reached nearly 25 percent. While coupons were invented in the late 1800s, they became more popular during the Depression as a way to stretch household budgets during the era’s economic hardships. Companies soon began distributing coupons via newspapers and women’s magazines.

In the 1970s, the US experienced a period of stagflation

It was characterized by high inflation, slow economic growth, and high unemployment. The crisis was triggered by a combination of factors, including loose monetary policy that spurred excess demand and spiraling oil prices caused by an OPEC embargo in 1973.

Tariffs once fueled the US economy

US tariffs peaked in 1930 with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which slashed global trade by 65%. Once a key revenue source, tariffs gave way to income taxes in 1913, leading to decades of lower trade barriers. Today, US tariffs remain among the lowest worldwide.

The Social Security System was created to protect Americans from economic disasters like the Great Depression

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal created new government agencies and programs in the wake of the Great Depression.

The Sahm rule attempts to predict recessions based on unemployment trends

The US is in a recession when the average US unemployment rate over three months rises by half a percentage point from a 12-month low, according to the Sahm rule.

The US youth unemployment rate jumped from 6.6% in 2023 to 10.4% in 2025

Specifically, the "youth unemployment rate" here refers to those aged 16 to 24. Whether the culprit is AI, more people getting college degrees or something else, experts argue this could have a negative impact on the economy going forward.

One signal that a recession has become a depression? When GDP declines more than 10%

There’s no single definition for recessions or depressions, but both are marked by sustained periods of declining economic activity. Depressions are more severe than recessions.

The highest inflation in US history was estimated at 30% in 1778

This was just after the Revolutionary War. Both World Wars also brought double-digit inflation. It's worth noting that exact inflation rates in early America are difficult to calculate precisely.

The US national debt is over $31T

The US national debt is at its highest level ever. Learn how the national debt grew to that level and what it means for US economic growth with charts and simple explanations.

The term ‘Black Friday’ originally referred to a 1869 US gold market crash

After financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk attempted to corner the US gold market, the market crashed on September 24, 1869, bankrupting thousands of investors and sending stock prices plummeting by 18%. That day became known as “Black Friday” long before the unofficial retail holiday emerged.

The US federal government employs roughly 3 million people

Tracking began in 1939, when the federal workforce consisted of about 1 million people. The total peaked in 1990 at 3.4 million, and hit a recent low in 2014 at 2.7 million.

During COVID-19, the Fed made drastic moves in attempts to shore up the US economy called quantitative easing

The Fed took an aggressive approach to help the US economy during COVID-19 beyond standard monetary levers, including broad purchases of mortgage-backed securities, Treasury securities, and more.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

More than 650 companies went public in the US in 1996

As the dot-com bubble reached its peak, most dot-com companies went public with little proof of being profitable and were often overvalued. In 1999, the Nasdaq's price-to-earnings ratio (a tool used to determine a stock's value that divides its price by earnings) hit 90.2, signaling that many companies were operating at a net loss. Startups promised investors that more time and money would help scale their businesses and become profitable.

The attacks prompted a quick jump in American public support for war

In a Gallup poll taken days after the attack, an extraordinary 97% of Americans approved Congress declaring war on Japan—reflecting overwhelming national unity in the wake of the strike.

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

The United States has had a tumultuous relationship with Cuba since its 1959 revolution, highlighted by a nuclear crisis and a decades-long trade embargo.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

About 12.5% of US adults experience a phobia in their lifetime, a diagnosis that hinges on the intense fear interfering with daily life and persisting for at least six months.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Watch contemporary footage covering the US-backed Shah of Iran fleeing the country in the face of the 1979 Iranian Revolution

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

In its famous catalog, Sears sold $600 DIY house kits from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in an estimated 100,000 'Sears and Roebuck homes.'

The word 'jazz' evolved from 'jasm,' 19th-century American slang for 'energy'

Dorothy's famous entrance into Oz in 'The Wizard of Oz' relied on analog tricks, including a body double and sepia-toned paint, as much as it did on technology

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight