Tapestry is a comprehensive system of social accounts and regional economic data covering the United States at the county level, developed by Philip Watson and Greg Alward. The project constructs detailed, internally consistent social accounting matrices (SAMs) for the nation, all 50 states, and every U.S. county, together with county-to-county commodity trade flows, port-level international trade, and detailed employment and wage data — all built on a common framework of 488 industries and commodities.
These accounts give researchers, extension professionals, and policy analysts a consistent, replicable foundation for studying regional economies: measuring economic contributions and impacts, tracing interregional trade and supply linkages, comparing income and its distribution across regions, and tracking how county economies change over time. The tools on this site let users build custom single- and multi-region SAM models, download commodity trade flows, and query county-level employment data directly.
Tapestry was initially funded in part by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture (award no. 2019-67023-29636), among many other sources of support.
Our data hub allows users to filter and download annual employment, wage, and establishment count data, commodity trade flows, and social accounting matrices (SAMs). Consider registering for an account to explore our data access tool!
Visit our GitHub repository to access code used for data processing and generation.