In 1998, he won a
Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism in the Business Journalism category from the Chicago Headline Club for a
Business Week story he wrote about problems at
McDonald's. Leonhardt has been writing about economics for the
Times since 2000. In 2004, he founded an analytical sports column, "Keeping Score," which ran on Sundays. He was one of the writers who produced the paper's 2005 series on
social class in the United States. His economics column, "Economic Scene," appeared on Wednesdays from 2006 until 2011. In 2003, he was part of a team of
Times reporters whose coverage of corporate scandals was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He won the
Gerald Loeb Award for magazine writing in 2009 for a
New York Times Magazine article, "Obamanomics." He was a winner of the
Society of American Business Editors and Writers "Best in Business Journalism Contest" for his
The New York Times column in 2009 and 2007. In 2010, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for his economic columns. In 2011, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. On July 22, 2011, Leonhardt was appointed chief of the Washington bureau of the
Times. He began that editorial role on September 6, 2011. After this announcement, he published what he referred to as his final Economic Scene column, "Lessons from the Malaise," on July 26, 2011. However, after he began his editing assignment, Leonhardt continued publishing economic news analyses. On November 20, 2013, it was announced that Leonhardt would step down as Washington Bureau Chief to become Managing Editor of a new
Times "venture," later given the name "The Upshot," "which will be at the nexus of data and news and will produce clear analytical reporting and writing on opinion polls, economic indicators, politics, policy, education, and sports". The Upshot was created to fill the void of Nate Silver's departure from
The New York Times. In early 2016, it was announced that Leonhardt would be the head of an internal strategy group at the
Times. In announcing the group, Dean Baquet, Executive Editor of the
Times, wrote, "We need to develop a strategic plan for what The New York Times should be, and determine how to apply our timeless values to a new age." On January 17, 2017, Baquet released a report from the 2020 group with its recommendations. "The members of the 2020 group have emerged from this process both optimistic and anxious. We are optimistic, deeply so, because The Times is better positioned than any other media organization to deliver the coverage that millions of people are seeking," the report read. "But we must not fall prey to wishful thinking and believe that such an outcome is inevitable. It is not. We also face real challenges — journalism challenges and business challenges." Leonhardt launched the
NYTimes morning newsletter,
The Morning, in May 2020.
Matthew Yglesias, of
Slate, wrote in a review of ''Here's the Deal'': "if you're not a member of Congress and just want to understand the budgetary landscape on the merits, this is a great place to start."
Ezra Klein, of
The Washington Post, called the book "one of the calmest, clearest looks you'll find at the deficit — both what it is and how to fix it." He was interviewed on
The Colbert Report on January 6, 2009, about the
gold standard. He was interviewed again on
The Colbert Report on February 14, 2013, to speak about his new e-book. In 2023, Leonhardt published
Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream, which argued that since the mid-1970s, the American economic system had failed and that, unlike in previous generations, many 21st-century Americans could not expect to be economically better off than their parents. ==Awards==