Inventories-to-Sales Ratio
The inventories-to-sales ratio measures how many months of sales US businesses hold in stock across manufacturing, wholesale, and retail. A reading of 1.4 means firms are sitting on 1.4 months of sales. It is a clean window into whether the economy is overstocked or running lean.
Latest reading
As of March 2026, Inventories/Sales (Inventories/sales ratio) stands at 1.32 — down from 1.33 the prior reading. A rising ratio often precedes recessions — sales fall while inventories lag, leaving shelves overstocked and production cuts ahead. A falling ratio signals strong demand relative to supply and tends to drive restocking. The series spiked above 1.45 in 2009 and briefly far higher in 2020; the 12-month average smooths the monthly noise. Series history runs from 1993 to present.
Inventories/sales ratio
Next release: Jun 17, 2026
Full history
How to read it
A rising ratio often precedes recessions — sales fall while inventories lag, leaving shelves overstocked and production cuts ahead. A falling ratio signals strong demand relative to supply and tends to drive restocking. The series spiked above 1.45 in 2009 and briefly far higher in 2020; the 12-month average smooths the monthly noise.
Methodology & data
Inventories/Sales is sourced from Census via the Federal Reserve's FRED service (Census Bureau via FRED (ISRATIO), monthly, seasonally adjusted). We pull the complete history, chart it on a monthly 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 2026-06-09. See our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
- Category
- Growth
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Source
- Census
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Frequently asked questions
What is the Inventories-to-Sales Ratio?
The inventories-to-sales ratio measures how many months of sales US businesses hold in stock across manufacturing, wholesale, and retail. A reading of 1.4 means firms are sitting on 1.4 months of sales. It is a clean window into whether the economy is overstocked or running lean.
How do you read Inventories/Sales?
A rising ratio often precedes recessions — sales fall while inventories lag, leaving shelves overstocked and production cuts ahead. A falling ratio signals strong demand relative to supply and tends to drive restocking. The series spiked above 1.45 in 2009 and briefly far higher in 2020; the 12-month average smooths the monthly noise.
Where does the Inventories/Sales data come from?
Census Bureau via FRED (ISRATIO), monthly, seasonally adjusted. 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/inventories-sales-ratio.csv.
How often is Inventories/Sales updated?
Inventories/Sales is a monthly series from Census, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.