Historical reference
U.S. recession history
A complete month-by-month reference of U.S. recessions, showing when each downturn began, when it ended, how long it lasted, and how much time passed before the next one began.
Use this page to compare recessions across eras, spot unusually long or short downturns, and see how modern recessions fit into the broader historical record. Dates are shown at the month level and follow the NBER-based chronology used throughout Last Recession.
Chronology
Full recession table
Use the date columns for chronology and the summary column for a quick plain-English reminder of what defined each downturn.
How to read it
This is a historical reference page, not a forecast. The summaries are intentionally brief: they are there to help you place each recession before digging into the linked source material.
| Recession start | Recession end | Duration (months) | Gap since prior recession | Summary |
|---|