Factory activity
Capacity utilization, total industry
As of May 2026, capacity utilization, total industry stands at 76.17% % of capacity (Federal Reserve G.17 via FRED), rising over the recent window.
What this measures and why it matters
- Capacity utilization, total industry 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: 76.17% % of capacity for May 2026.
- Prior period: 76.13% (Apr 2026), a rise of 0.04.
- Compared with a year earlier, capacity utilization, total industry is up 0.4%.
- Across the archived window the high was 76.40% in Jul 2025 and the low was 75.31% in Jan 2026.
- The series has moved up for 2 consecutive periods.
- 13 observations have been archived so far, and this page deepens automatically each time Federal Reserve G.17 via FRED publishes a new figure.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
- May 2026: 76.17% % of capacity
- Apr 2026: 76.13% % of capacity
- Mar 2026: 75.54% % of capacity
- Feb 2026: 75.85% % of capacity
- Jan 2026: 75.31% % of capacity
- Dec 2025: 75.64% % of capacity
- Nov 2025: 75.39% % of capacity
- Oct 2025: 75.62% % of capacity
- Sep 2025: 76.05% % of capacity
- Aug 2025: 76.11% % of capacity
- Jul 2025: 76.40% % of capacity
- Jun 2025: 76.18% % of capacity
- May 2025: 75.89% % of capacity
Last reviewed 2026-05-12.