Factory activity
Capacity Utilization, Manufacturing
As of Aug 2026, capacity utilization, manufacturing stands at 75.73% of capacity (Federal Reserve G.17 via FRED), rising over the recent window.
What this measures and why it matters
- Capacity Utilization, Manufacturing measures how hard the country's factories are running against their potential. It is a gauge of slack or tightness in the system, useful context for lead-time expectations and for judging pricing power up and down the supply chain.
- The figure comes from Federal Reserve G.17 via FRED and is reported in % of capacity. MFG Calcs archives every published value, so the chart and table below show the full recorded history rather than a single snapshot, and they extend automatically as new data lands.
Current reading and trend
- Latest reading: 75.73% of capacity for Aug 2026.
- Prior period: 76.02% (Jul 2026), a decline of 0.29.
- Compared with a year earlier, capacity utilization, manufacturing is down 0.1%.
- Across the archived window the high was 76.02% in Jul 2026 and the low was 74.63% in Dec 2025.
- The series has moved down for 1 consecutive periods.
- 16 observations have been archived so far, and this page deepens automatically each time Federal Reserve G.17 via FRED publishes a new figure.
Recent observations
- Aug 2026: 75.73% of capacity
- Jul 2026: 76.02% of capacity
- Jun 2026: 75.97% of capacity
- May 2026: 75.83% of capacity
- Apr 2026: 75.80% of capacity
- Mar 2026: 75.28% of capacity
- Feb 2026: 75.07% of capacity
- Jan 2026: 74.64% of capacity
- Dec 2025: 74.63% of capacity
- Nov 2025: 74.82% of capacity
- Oct 2025: 74.97% of capacity
- Sep 2025: 75.69% of capacity
- Aug 2025: 75.80% of capacity
- Jul 2025: 75.87% of capacity
- Jun 2025: 75.57% of capacity
- May 2025: 75.39% of capacity
Last reviewed 2026-09-18.