James Melton is a research associate on the Regional and Community Analysis team of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. Melton assists the Richmond Fed's regional economists on various research initiatives, policy and outreach work, with a primary focus on the CFO Survey and regional business surveys. He also helps write and contribute data analysis to Bank publications, such as Regional Matters. His research interests include labor economics, education, applied econometrics, housing availability, poverty and energy sustainability.

Prior to joining the Richmond Fed, Melton worked at the Virginia Economic Development Partnership as a regional talent solutions and business outreach intern to identify unique regional pain points for conducting business in Virginia. He also worked for the Town of Vienna, conducting business surveys as well as gathering and cleaning data for economic snapshots.

Melton graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a bachelor's degree in economics. While at VCU, he worked for the ONEVCU Sustainability Team as a financial analyst, creating the school’s first carbon emissions calculator as well as researching carbon credit markets and forecasting energy savings.