diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 40081dcee..57f52f546 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ the unreleased changes. This file should only be changed while tagging a new ver
 - Unreleased CHANGELOG entries should now be entered in `CHANGELOG-unreleased.md` instead of `CHANGELOG.md`. Updated documentation accordingly.
 - Changed tests to remove `unittest` and use pure pytest format
 - Changed deprecated `sampler.chain` usage
+- Download data automatically in the profiling script `high_level_benchmark.py` instead of silently giving wrong results.
 ### Added
 - `SpindownBase` as the abstract base class for `Spindown` and `PeriodSpindown` in the `How_to_build_a_timing_model_component.py` example.
 - `SolarWindDispersionBase` as the abstract base class for solar wind dispersion components.
diff --git a/profiling/.gitignore b/profiling/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f07669415
--- /dev/null
+++ b/profiling/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+J0740+6620.cfr+19.tim
+bench_*_summary
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/profiling/high_level_benchmark.py b/profiling/high_level_benchmark.py
index 9049b7926..d9c8ad5d2 100644
--- a/profiling/high_level_benchmark.py
+++ b/profiling/high_level_benchmark.py
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 import sys
 import os
 import platform
+import urllib.request
 from prfparser import parse_file
 
 
@@ -67,11 +68,19 @@ def get_results(script, outfile):
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
         description="High-level summary of python file timing."
     )
+
+    if not os.path.isfile("J0740+6620.cfr+19.tim"):
+        print("Downloading data file J0740+6620.cfr+19.tim ...")
+        urllib.request.urlretrieve(
+            "https://data.nanograv.org/static/data/J0740+6620.cfr+19.tim",
+            "J0740+6620.cfr+19.tim",
+        )
+
+    script1 = "bench_load_TOAs.py"
     script2 = "bench_chisq_grid.py"
     script3 = "bench_chisq_grid_WLSFitter.py"
     script4 = "bench_MCMC.py"
 
-    script1 = "bench_load_TOAs.py"
     # time scripts
     output1 = bench_file(script1)
     output2 = bench_file(script2)