When Was the Last Recession in the US?
The last US recession ran from February 2020 to April 2020, according to the NBER business cycle dates. It lasted 2 months, the shortest on record. The one before it was the Great Recession, December 2007 to June 2009 (18 months). As of 20 October 2026, NBER has not dated any recession since.
The Six Most Recent US Recessions
Source: NBER US Business Cycle Expansions and Contractions, and Business Cycle Dating Committee announcements. "Expansion before" is NBER's trough-to-peak length of the expansion that preceded each recession.
Who Decides When a Recession Happened
In the US, recession dates come from the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee, a private group of academic economists. It defines a recession as a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy and lasting more than a few months, and it dates the month of the peak (when the recession starts) and the trough (when it ends). It does not use the popular two-quarters-of-negative-GDP rule, which is why the 2020 recession, two months long, still counts.
The committee always dates turning points after the fact. For the February 2020 peak it took about four months, which is fast by its standards; the April 2020 trough was announced 15 months later, on 19 July 2021. For the five recessions before 2020 the peak was announced 5 to 12 months after it occurred. That lag is the reason real-time indicators such as the Sahm rule and initial jobless claims exist: they flag a downturn while it is happening.
The 2020 Recession in Brief
The COVID recession was the shortest and one of the sharpest in the record. Pandemic shutdowns pushed the unemployment rate from 3.5% in February 2020 to 14.8% in April 2020, and nonfarm payrolls fell by about 21.9 million in those two months (BLS data via FRED, current revised series). Activity began recovering in May 2020, which is why NBER placed the trough in April. The full story is on the COVID recession 2020 page.
How Long Ago Was It, and Is the Next One Due?
Measured from the April 2020 trough, the expansion was 78 months old in October 2026, already longer than the post-1945 average of 64.2 months. Only five expansions in NBER's record have lasted longer: 128 months (June 2009 to February 2020), 120 months (March 1991 to March 2001), 106 months (February 1961 to December 1969), 92 months (November 1982 to July 1990) and 80 months (June 1938 to February 1945). Expansions do not die of old age, so length alone says little about timing. For the present risk, see the current recession probability page, which tracks the Sahm rule (0.00 in September 2026), jobless claims and the New York Fed yield-curve model (12.8% in its October 2026 release). For every NBER date back to 1854, see the complete list of US recessions.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was the last recession in the US?
The last US recession ran from February 2020 to April 2020, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), whose Business Cycle Dating Committee is the recognised arbiter of US recession dates. It lasted two months, the shortest US recession in NBER's records, which go back to 1854. As of 20 October 2026, NBER has not identified any peak since, so on the official chronology the US has been in an expansion since April 2020.
How long did the last recession last?
Two months, from the February 2020 business-cycle peak to the April 2020 trough. It was short but severe: the unemployment rate jumped from 3.5% in February 2020 to 14.8% in April 2020, and nonfarm payrolls fell by about 21.9 million over those two months (BLS data via FRED, current revised series).
When was the Great Recession?
The Great Recession ran from December 2007 to June 2009, 18 months, making it the longest US recession since the Second World War. NBER announced the December 2007 peak on 1 December 2008, almost a year after the downturn began, and the June 2009 trough on 20 September 2010. Unemployment, 5.0% at the peak, kept rising after the recession formally ended and reached 10.0% in October 2009.
When did NBER announce the last recession?
NBER announced the February 2020 peak on 8 June 2020, about four months after it happened, which is unusually fast. It announced the April 2020 trough on 19 July 2021, about 15 months after the fact. Both lags are normal for NBER, which waits for revised data before dating turning points. For the five recessions before 2020, peak announcements came 5 to 12 months after the peak and trough announcements 8 to 21 months after the trough.
How long has it been since the last recession?
The April 2020 trough was 78 months before October 2026, so the current expansion is about six and a half years old, assuming no recession has begun that NBER has yet to date. That is longer than the post-1945 average expansion of 64.2 months. Only five expansions in NBER's record have run longer: 128 months (2009-2020), 120 months (1991-2001), 106 months (1961-1969), 92 months (1982-1990) and 80 months (1938-1945).
Are we in a recession now?
As of 20 October 2026, NBER has not declared one, and the real-time indicators do not point to one: the Sahm rule reads 0.00 against its 0.50 trigger, initial jobless claims average 198,500, and the New York Fed's yield-curve model puts the chance of a recession within 12 months at 12.8%. The live picture is tracked on the current recession probability page.