Corporate Profit Margins
This is the BEA's "profit per unit of real gross value added" for nonfinancial corporations — after-tax profit earned on each dollar of output, the cleanest economy-wide read on corporate profit margins. Unlike index-level profits, it controls for the size of the economy, so it answers "how profitable is business right now" rather than "how big are profits."
Latest reading
As of January 2026, Profit Margins (Profit margin) stands at 18.6% — up from 18.1% the prior reading. Margins are deeply mean-reverting over the long run but can stay stretched for years. Readings near record highs (the late-2010s and post-2020 era pushed toward ~18-19%) signal pricing power and lean cost structures; falling margins warn that input costs, wages, or competition are biting before it shows up in headline profits. Watch the 4-quarter average for the trend through the noise. Series history runs from 1947 to present.
Profit margin
Next release: Jul 30, 2026
Full history
Methodology & data
Profit Margins is sourced from BEA via the Federal Reserve's FRED service (BEA via FRED (A466RD3Q052SBEA), quarterly). We pull the complete history, chart it on a quarterly basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.
Every reading is stamped with its release date, last updated 2026-06-29. Maintained and reviewed by Yuriy Matso; see our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Corporate Profit Margins?
This is the BEA's "profit per unit of real gross value added" for nonfinancial corporations — after-tax profit earned on each dollar of output, the cleanest economy-wide read on corporate profit margins. Unlike index-level profits, it controls for the size of the economy, so it answers "how profitable is business right now" rather than "how big are profits."
How do you read Profit Margins?
Margins are deeply mean-reverting over the long run but can stay stretched for years. Readings near record highs (the late-2010s and post-2020 era pushed toward ~18-19%) signal pricing power and lean cost structures; falling margins warn that input costs, wages, or competition are biting before it shows up in headline profits. Watch the 4-quarter average for the trend through the noise.
Where does the Profit Margins data come from?
BEA via FRED (A466RD3Q052SBEA), quarterly. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/corporate-profit-margin.csv.
How often is Profit Margins updated?
Profit Margins is a quarterly series from BEA, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.