Economy / Economy
First look: U.S. economy grew 1.5% in Q2 2026
BEA’s advance estimate is the first reading of the quarter. Later vintages can revise it.
Sources
U.S. BEA, Gross Domestic Product, Second Quarter 2026 (Advance Estimate), released 8:30 a.m. EDT, 07-30-2026. https://www.bea.gov/news/2026/gdp-advance-estimate-2nd-quarter-2026
The advance estimate for the second quarter of 2026 puts real GDP up 1.5% at an annual rate, after 2.1% in the first quarter. BEA will publish later vintages for the same quarter as more source data arrive.
Growth in the advance print slowed from the first-quarter rate. The same release shows real final sales to private domestic purchasers up 3.9% at an annual rate in 2026:Q2. Current-dollar GDP rose 7.9% at an annual rate. Those are different objects from the real 1.5% headline.
The 1.5% figure is real GDP for the United States, second quarter of 2026 compared with the first quarter, at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. BEA released it at 8:30 a.m. EDT on 07-30-2026, as the advance estimate.
The first quarter, in the same release, is 2.1% at an annual rate. That comparison is inside one document. It is not a forecast of the third quarter.
Private demand, measured as real final sales to private domestic purchasers, rose 3.9% at an annual rate in 2026:Q2. Current-dollar GDP — the same output before the price adjustment — rose 7.9% at an annual rate.
The release also reports quarterly price indexes at an annual rate: the gross domestic purchases price index at 5.7%, the PCE price index at 5.1%, and PCE excluding food and energy at 3.4%, all for 2026:Q2. Those are not the June month-over-month or year-ago PCE prints. Different period, different construct.
What “advance” means here
BEA publishes GDP three times for the same quarter. The first is the advance estimate. The second is scheduled for 08-26-2026, at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Until that print, 1.5% is the advance number, not a locked history.
Vintage and the next print
2026:Q2 real GDP 1.5% SAAR (advance) after 2.1% in 2026:Q1. Open the 07-30-2026 BEA GDP release. Confirm vintage = advance. Do not blend in a later estimate. If the 08-26-2026 second estimate prints a different figure, this vintage is stale.
What we do not know
This page does not print a consensus, a forecast, or a market reaction. June monthly PCE is a different period and lives on the June income story.
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Corrections
We do not silently rewrite a published line. A correction is a new labeled piece, not an invisible edit.