Country in North America
United States of America
Motto: "
In God We Trust "
[ 1] Anthem: "
The Star-Spangled Banner "
[ 3] Capital
Washington, D.C.
38°53′N 77°1′W / 38.883°N 77.017°W / 38.883; -77.017 Largest city
New York City
40°43′N 74°0′W / 40.717°N 74.000°W / 40.717; -74.000 Official languages None at the
federal level
[ a]
National language
English
[ b]
Ethnic groups
Religion
Demonym(s)
American
[ c]
[ 8]
Government
Federal presidential republic
Joe Biden
Kamala Harris
Mike Johnson
John Roberts
Legislature
Congress
Senate
House of Representatives July 4, 1776 (1776-07-04 ) March 1, 1781 (1781-03-01 ) September 3, 1783 (1783-09-03 ) June 21, 1788 (1788-06-21 )
• Total area
3,796,742 sq mi (9,833,520 km2 )
[ 10]
[ d] (
3rd ) • Water (%)
7.0
[ 9] (2010) • Land area
3,531,905 sq mi (9,147,590 km2 ) (3rd) • 2023 estimate
334,914,895
[ 11] • 2020 census
331,449,281
[ e]
[ 12] (
3rd )• Density
87/sq mi (33.6/km2 ) (
185th )
GDP (
PPP ) 2024 estimate • Total
$28.781 trillion
[ 13] (
2nd )• Per capita
$85,373
[ 13] (
8th )
GDP (nominal) 2024 estimate • Total
$28.781 trillion
[ 13] (
1st )• Per capita
$85,373
[ 13] (
6th )
Gini (2022) 41.7
[ f]
[ 14] medium inequality
HDI (2022) 0.927
[ 15] very high (
20th )Currency
U.S. dollar (
$ ) (
USD ) Time zone
UTC −4 to −12, +10, +11
UTC −4 to −10
[ g] Date format mm/dd/yyyy
[ h]
Drives on right
[ i] Calling code
+1
ISO 3166 code
US
Internet TLD
.us
[ 16]
The United States of America (USA or U.S.A. ), commonly known as the United States (US or U.S. ) or America , is a country primarily located in
North America . It is a
federal union of 50
states , the federal capital district of
Washington, D.C. , and 326
Indian reservations .
[ j] The 48
contiguous states are bordered by
Canada to the north and
Mexico to the south. The
State of Alaska lies to the northwest, while the
State of Hawaii is an
archipelago in the
Pacific Ocean . The United States also asserts sovereignty over five major
island territories and
various uninhabited islands .
[ k] The country has the world's
third-largest land area ,
[ d] second-largest
exclusive economic zone , and
third-largest population , exceeding 334 million.
[ l]
Paleo-Indians migrated across the
Bering land bridge more than 12,000 years ago, and went on to form
various civilizations and societies .
British colonization led to the first settlement of the
Thirteen Colonies in
Virginia in 1607. Clashes with the
British Crown over taxation and
political representation sparked the
American Revolution , with the
Second Continental Congress formally
declaring independence on July 4, 1776. Following its victory in the 1775–1783
Revolutionary War , the country continued to
expand across North America . As more states
were admitted , a North-South
sectional division over
slavery led to the secession of the
Confederate States of America , which fought the remaining states of
the Union during the 1861–1865
American Civil War . With the Union's victory and preservation,
slavery was abolished nationally . By 1890, the United States had established itself as a
great power . After
Japan 's
attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S.
entered World War II . The
aftermath of the war left the U.S. and the
Soviet Union as the world's two
superpowers and led to the
Cold War , during which both countries engaged in a struggle for
ideological dominance and
international influence . Following the
Soviet Union's collapse and the
end of the Cold War in 1991, the U.S.
emerged as the world's sole superpower , wielding
significant geopolitical influence globally .
The
U.S. national government is a
presidential
constitutional
federal republic and
liberal democracy with
three separate branches :
legislative ,
executive , and
judicial . It has a
bicameral national legislature composed of the
House of Representatives , a
lower house based on population; and the
Senate , an
upper house based on equal representation for each state. Substantial autonomy
is provided by federalism , with
a political culture promoting
liberty ,
equality ,
individualism ,
personal autonomy , and
limited government .
One of the world's
most developed countries , the United States has had the
largest nominal GDP since about 1890 and accounted for 15% of the
global economy in 2023.
[ m] It possesses by far the
largest amount of wealth of any country and has the
highest disposable household income per capita among
OECD countries. The U.S.
ranks among the world's highest in
economic competitiveness ,
productivity ,
innovation , and
higher education . Its
hard power and
cultural influence have a global reach. The U.S. is a founding member of the
World Bank ,
Organization of American States ,
NATO , and
United Nations ,
[ n] as well as a
permanent member of the UN Security Council .
Etymology
The first documented use of the phrase "United States of America" is a letter from January 2, 1776.
Stephen Moylan , a
Continental Army aide to General
George Washington , wrote to
Joseph Reed , Washington's
aide-de-camp , seeking to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the
Revolutionary War effort.
[ 21]
[ 22] The first known public usage is an
anonymous essay published in the
Williamsburg newspaper,
The Virginia Gazette , on April 6, 1776.
[ 23]
[ 24]
[ 21] By June 1776, the "United States of America" appeared in the
Articles of Confederation and the
Declaration of Independence . The
Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
[ 27]
History
Indigenous peoples
Cliff Palace , a settlement of
ancestors of the
Native American
Pueblo peoples in present-day
Montezuma County, Colorado , built between
c. 1200 and 1275
[ 28]
The
first inhabitants of North America migrated from
Siberia across the
Bering land bridge about 12,000 years ago;
[ 29] the
Clovis culture , which appeared around 11,000 BC, is believed to be the first widespread culture in the Americas. Over time, indigenous North American cultures grew increasingly sophisticated, and some, such as the
Mississippian culture , developed
agriculture ,
architecture , and complex societies. In the
post-archaic period , the Mississippian cultures were located in the
midwestern ,
eastern , and
southern regions, and the
Algonquian in the
Great Lakes region and along the
Eastern Seaboard , while the
Hohokam culture and
Ancestral Puebloans inhabited the
southwest .
[ 34]
Native population estimates of what is now the United States before the arrival of European immigrants range from around 500,000 to nearly 10 million.
European settlement (from 1492) and the Thirteen Colonies (1607–1776)
The
1750 colonial possessions of
Britain (in pink and purple),
France (in blue), and
Spain (in orange) in present-day
Canada and the United States
Christopher Columbus began exploring the
Caribbean for Spain in 1492, leading to
Spanish-speaking settlements and missions from Puerto Rico and Florida to
New Mexico and
California .
[ 38]
[ 39]
[ 40]
France established
its own settlements along the
Mississippi River and
Gulf of Mexico .
[ 41]
British colonization of the
East Coast began with the
Virginia Colony (1607) and
Plymouth Colony (1620).
[ 42]
[ 43] The
Mayflower Compact and the
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut established precedents for representative
self-governance and
constitutionalism that would develop throughout the American colonies.
[ 44]
[ 45] While European settlers in what is now the United States experienced conflicts with Native Americans, they also engaged in trade, exchanging European tools for food and animal pelts.
[ 46]
[ o] Relations ranged from close cooperation to warfare and massacres. The colonial authorities often pursued policies that forced Native Americans to adopt European lifestyles, including conversion to Christianity.
[ 50]
[ 51] Along the eastern seaboard, settlers
trafficked African slaves through the
Atlantic slave trade .
[ 52]
The original
Thirteen Colonies
[ p] that would later found the United States were administered by
Great Britain ,
[ 53] and had
local governments with elections open to most white male property owners .
[ 54]
[ 55] The colonial population grew rapidly, eclipsing Native American populations;
[ 56] by the 1770s, the natural increase of the population was such that only a small minority of Americans had been born overseas.
[ 57] The colonies' distance from Britain allowed for the development of self-governance,
[ 58] and the
First Great Awakening , a series of
Christian revivals , fueled colonial interest in
religious liberty .
[ 59]
American Revolution and the early republic (1776–1800)
Declaration of Independence , a portrait by
John Trumbull depicting the
Committee of Five presenting the draft of
the Declaration to the
Continental Congress on June 28, 1776, in
Philadelphia
After winning the
French and Indian War , Britain began to assert greater control over local colonial affairs, resulting in
colonial political resistance ; one of the primary colonial grievances was a denial of their
rights as Englishmen , particularly the right to
representation in the British government that taxed them . In 1774, the
First Continental Congress met in
Philadelphia , and passed the
Continental Association , a colonial boycott of British goods that proved effective. The British attempt to then disarm the colonists resulted in the 1775
Battles of Lexington and Concord , igniting the
American Revolutionary War . At the
Second Continental Congress , the colonies appointed
George Washington commander-in-chief of the
Continental Army , and created
a committee led by
Thomas Jefferson to draft the
Declaration of Independence , which was adopted on July 4, 1776, two days after passing the
Lee Resolution to create an independent nation.
[ 60] The
political values of the American Revolution included
liberty ,
inalienable individual rights ; and the
sovereignty of the people ;
[ 61] supporting
republicanism and rejecting
monarchy ,
aristocracy , and all hereditary political power;
civic virtue ; and vilification of
political corruption .
[ 62] The
Founding Fathers of the United States , who included George Washington,
Benjamin Franklin ,
Alexander Hamilton ,
Thomas Jefferson ,
John Jay ,
James Madison ,
Thomas Paine ,
John Adams and many others, were inspired by
Greco-Roman ,
Renaissance , and
Enlightenment philosophies and ideas.
[ 63]
[ 64]
After the British surrender at the
siege of Yorktown in 1781 American sovereignty was internationally recognized by the
Treaty of Paris (1783), through which the U.S. gained territory stretching west to the Mississippi River, north to present-day Canada, and south to
Spanish Florida .
[ 65] The
Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781 and established a decentralized government that operated until 1789.
[ 60] The
Northwest Ordinance (1787) established the precedent by which the country's territory would expand with the
admission of new states , rather than the expansion of existing states.
[ 66] The
U.S. Constitution was drafted at the 1787
Constitutional Convention to overcome the limitations of the Articles. It went into effect in 1789, creating a
federal republic governed by
three separate branches that together ensured a system of
checks and balances . George Washington
was elected the country's first president under the Constitution, and the
Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791 to allay skeptics' concerns about the power of the more centralized government.
[ 68]
His resignation as commander-in-chief after the Revolution and later refusal to run for a third term established the precedent of
peaceful transfer of power and supremacy of civil authority.
[ 70]
[ 71]
Westward expansion and Civil War (1800–1865)
Historical
territorial expansion of the United States
With over 50,000 estimated
casualties , the three-day
Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest single battle of the Civil War.
The
Louisiana Purchase of 1803 from France nearly doubled the territory of the United States.
[ 72]
[ 73]
Lingering issues with Britain remained , leading to the
War of 1812 , which was fought to a draw.
[ 74]
[ 75]
Spain ceded Florida and its Gulf Coast territory in 1819.
[ 76] In the late 18th century, American settlers began to
expand westward , many with a sense of
manifest destiny .
[ 77] The
Missouri Compromise attempted to balance desires of northern states to prevent expansion of slavery in the country with those of southern states to expand it, admitting
Missouri as a
slave state and
Maine as a free state and declared a policy of prohibiting slavery in the remaining Louisiana Purchase lands north of the
36°30′ parallel .
[ 79] As Americans expanded further into land inhabited by Native Americans, the federal government often applied
policies of
Indian removal or
assimilation .
[ 80]
[ 81] Organized displacements prompted a long series of
American Indian Wars west of the Mississippi.
[ 82]
[ 83] The
Republic of Texas was
annexed in 1845,
[ 84] and the 1846
Oregon Treaty led to U.S. control of the present-day
American Northwest .
[ 85] Victory in the
Mexican–American War resulted in the 1848
Mexican Cession of California, Nevada, Utah, and much of present-day Colorado and the
American Southwest .
[ 77]
[ 86] Political tension over the possible introduction of slavery in these newly acquired territories was temporarily reduced by the
Compromise of 1850 .
[ 87]
During the colonial period,
slavery had been legal in the American colonies , though the practice began to be significantly questioned during the American Revolution. States in
the North enacted
abolition laws , though support for slavery strengthened in
Southern states , as inventions such as the
cotton gin made the institution increasingly profitable for
Southern elites .
[ 91]
[ 92] This
sectional conflict regarding slavery
culminated in the
American Civil War (1861–1865).
[ 94]
[ 95] Eleven slave states
seceded and formed the
Confederate States of America , while the other states remained in
the Union .
[ 96] War broke out in April 1861 after the Confederates
bombarded Fort Sumter .
[ 98] After the January 1863
Emancipation Proclamation , many freed slaves joined the Union Army.
[ 100] The war
began to turn in the Union's favor following the 1863
Siege of Vicksburg and
Battle of Gettysburg , and the Confederacy surrendered in 1865 after the Union's victory in the
Battle of Appomattox Court House .
[ 101] The
Reconstruction era followed the war. After
the assassination of President
Abraham Lincoln ,
Reconstruction Amendments were passed to
protect the rights of African Americans . National infrastructure, including
transcontinental telegraph and
railroads , spurred growth in the
American frontier .
[ 102]
Post–Civil War era (1865–1917)
An
Edison Studios film showing immigrants arriving at
Ellis Island in
New York Harbor , a major point of entry for European
immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
[ 103]
[ 104]
From 1865 through 1917 an unprecedented stream of immigrants arrived in the United States, including 24.4 million from Europe.
[ 105] Most came through the
port of New York City , and New York City and other large cities on the
East Coast became home to large
Jewish ,
Irish , and
Italian populations, while many
Germans and Central Europeans moved to the
Midwest . At the same time, about one million
French Canadians migrated from
Quebec to
New England .
[ 106] During the
Great Migration , millions of African Americans
left the rural South for urban areas in the North.
[ 107]
Alaska was purchased from
Russia in 1867.
[ 108]
The
Compromise of 1877 effectively ended Reconstruction and
white supremacists took local control of Southern politics .
[ 109]
[ 110] African Americans endured a period of heightened, overt racism following Reconstruction, a time often called the
nadir of American race relations .
[ 111]
[ 112] A series of Supreme Court decisions, including
Plessy v. Ferguson , emptied the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments of their force, allowing
Jim Crow laws in the South to remain unchecked,
sundown towns in the Midwest, and
segregation in communities across the country , which would be reinforced by the policy of
redlining later adopted by the federal
Home Owners' Loan Corporation .
[ 113]
An explosion of technological advancement accompanied by the exploitation of cheap immigrant labor
[ 114] led to
rapid economic development during the late 19th and early 20th centuries , allowing the United States to outpace the economies of England, France, and Germany combined.
[ 115]
[ 116] This fostered the amassing of power by
a few prominent industrialists , largely by their formation of
trusts and
monopolies to prevent competition.
[ 117]
Tycoons led the nation's expansion in the
railroad ,
petroleum , and
steel industries. The United States emerged as a pioneer of the
automotive industry .
[ 118] These changes were accompanied by significant increases in
economic inequality ,
slum conditions , and
social unrest , creating the environment for
labor unions to begin to flourish .
[ 119]
[ 120]
[ 121] This period eventually ended with the advent of the
Progressive Era , which was characterized by significant reforms.
[ 122]
[ 123]
Pro-American elements in Hawaii
overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy ; the islands
were annexed in 1898. That same year,
Puerto Rico ,
the Philippines , and
Guam were ceded to the U.S. by Spain after the latter's defeat in the
Spanish–American War . (The Philippines was granted full independence from the U.S. on July 4, 1946, following World War II. Puerto Rico and Guam have remained U.S. territories.)
[ 124]
American Samoa was acquired by the United States in 1900 after the
Second Samoan Civil War .
[ 125] The
U.S. Virgin Islands were purchased from
Denmark in 1917.
[ 126]
Rise as a superpower (1917–1945)
The
Trinity nuclear test in 1945, part of the
Manhattan Project and the first detonation of a
nuclear weapon . The World Wars permanently ended
the country's policy of isolationism and left it as a
superpower .
The United States
entered World War I alongside the
Allies of World War I , helping to turn the tide against the
Central Powers .
[ 127] In 1920,
a constitutional amendment granted nationwide
women's suffrage .
[ 128] During the 1920s and '30s, radio for
mass communication and the invention of early television transformed communications nationwide. The
Wall Street Crash of 1929 triggered the
Great Depression , which President
Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to with the
New Deal , a series of
sweeping programs ,
public work projects , financial reforms, and
regulations .
[ 130]
[ 131]
Initially neutral during
World War II , the U.S. began
supplying war materiel to the
Allies of World War II in March 1941 and
entered the war in December after the
Empire of Japan 's attack on
Pearl Harbor .
[ 132]
[ 133] The U.S.
developed the first nuclear weapons and
used them against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, ending the war.
[ 134]
[ 135] The United States was one of the "
Four Policemen " who met to plan the
post-war world , alongside the
United Kingdom ,
Soviet Union , and
China . The U.S. emerged relatively unscathed from the war, with even greater
economic power and
international political influence .
[ 138]
Cold War (1945–1991)
Mikhail Gorbachev and
Ronald Reagan sign the
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty at the
White House in 1987.
After World War II, the United States entered the Cold War, where geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union led the two countries to
dominate world affairs .
[ 139] The U.S.
engaged in regime change against governments perceived to be aligned with the Soviet Union, and competed in the
Space Race , culminating in the
first crewed Moon landing in 1969.
[ 140]
[ 141]
[ 142]
[ 143] Domestically, the U.S.
experienced economic growth ,
urbanization , and
population growth following World War II . The
civil rights movement emerged, with
Martin Luther King Jr. becoming a prominent leader in the early 1960s.
[ 145] The
Great Society plan of President
Lyndon Johnson 's administration resulted in groundbreaking and broad-reaching laws, policies and a constitutional amendment to counteract some of the worst effects of lingering
institutional racism .
[ 146] The
counterculture movement in the U.S. brought significant social changes, including the liberalization of attitudes toward
recreational drug use and
sexuality . It also encouraged
open defiance of the military draft (leading to the
end of conscription in 1973) and
wide opposition to
U.S. intervention in Vietnam (with the U.S. totally withdrawing in 1975).
[ 147]
[ 148]
[ 149] The societal shift in the roles of women partly resulted in large increases in female labor participation in the 1970s, and by 1985 the majority of women aged 16 and older were employed.
[ 150] The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the
collapse of the Warsaw Pact and the
dissolution of the Soviet Union , which marked the end of the Cold War and
solidified the U.S. as the world's sole superpower .
[ 151]
[ 152]
[ 153]
[ 154]
Contemporary (1991–present)
The
Twin Towers in New York City during the
September 11 attacks in 2001
The
January 6 United States Capitol attack in 2021
The 1990s saw the
longest recorded economic expansion in American history ,
a dramatic decline in crime , and
advances in technology , with the
World Wide Web , the evolution of the
Pentium microprocessor in accordance with
Moore's law , rechargeable
lithium-ion batteries , the first
gene therapy trial, and
cloning all emerging and improved upon throughout the decade. The
Human Genome Project was formally launched in 1990, while
Nasdaq became the first stock market in the United States to trade online in 1998.
[ 155]
In the
Gulf War of 1991,
an American-led international coalition of states expelled an
Iraqi invasion force that had occupied neighboring
Kuwait .
[ 156] The
September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 by the
pan-Islamist militant organization
al-Qaeda led to the
war on terror , and subsequent
military interventions in Afghanistan and
Iraq .
[ 157]
[ 158] The
cultural impact of the attacks was profound and long-lasting.
The
U.S. housing bubble culminated in 2007 with the
Great Recession , the largest economic contraction since the Great Depression.
[ 159] Coming to a head in the 2010s,
political polarization increased as sociopolitical debates on cultural issues dominated politics.
[ 160]
[ 161]
[ 162] This polarization was capitalized upon in the
January 2021 Capitol attack , when a mob of insurrectionists entered the
U.S. Capitol and attempted to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
[ 163]
Geography
A
topographic map of the United States
The United States is the world's
third-largest country by total area behind Russia and Canada.
[ d]
[ 164]
[ 165] The 48
contiguous states and the District of Columbia occupy a combined area of 3,119,885 square miles (8,080,470 km2 ).
[ 166]
[ 167]
[ 10] The
coastal plain of the
Atlantic seaboard gives way to inland forests and rolling hills in the
Piedmont plateau region.
[ 168]
The
Appalachian Mountains and the
Adirondack massif separate the
East Coast from the
Great Lakes and the grasslands of the
Midwest .
[ 169] The
Mississippi River System , the world's
fourth-longest river system , runs predominantly north–south through the heart of the country. The flat and fertile
prairie of the
Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by
a highland region in the southeast.
[ 169]
The
Grand Canyon in
Arizona
The
Rocky Mountains , west of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the country, peaking at over 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in
Colorado .
[ 170] Farther west are the rocky
Great Basin and
Chihuahua ,
Sonoran , and
Mojave deserts.
[ 171] In the northwest corner of
Arizona , carved by the
Colorado River over millions of years, is the
Grand Canyon , a steep-sided canyon and popular tourist destination known for its overwhelming visual size and intricate, colorful landscape.
The
Sierra Nevada and
Cascade mountain ranges run close to the
Pacific coast . The
lowest and highest points in the contiguous United States are in the State of California,
[ 172] about 84 miles (135 km) apart.
[ 173] At an elevation of 20,310 feet (6,190.5 m), Alaska's
Denali is the highest peak in the country and continent.
[ 174] Active
volcanoes are common throughout Alaska's
Alexander and
Aleutian Islands , and Hawaii consists of volcanic islands. The
supervolcano underlying
Yellowstone National Park in the Rocky Mountains, the
Yellowstone Caldera , is the continent's largest volcanic feature.
[ 175] In 2021, the United States had 8% of global permanent meadows and pastures and 10% of cropland.
[ 176]
Climate
The
Köppen climate types of the United States
With its large size and geographic variety, the United States includes most climate types. East of the
100th meridian , the climate ranges from
humid continental in the north to
humid subtropical in the south.
[ 177] The western Great Plains are
semi-arid . Many mountainous areas of the American West have an
alpine climate . The climate is
arid in the Southwest,
Mediterranean in
coastal California , and
oceanic in coastal
Oregon ,
Washington , and southern
Alaska . Most of Alaska is
subarctic or
polar .
Hawaii , the
southern tip of Florida and U.S. territories in the
Caribbean and
Pacific are
tropical .
[ 178]
States bordering the
Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes
occur in the country , mainly in
Tornado Alley .
[ 179] Overall, the United States receives more high-impact extreme weather incidents than any other country.
[ 180]
[ 181] Extreme weather became more frequent in the U.S. in the 21st century, with three times the number of reported
heat waves as in the 1960s. In the
American Southwest , droughts became more persistent and more severe.
[ 182]
Biodiversity and conservation
The
bald eagle , the
national bird of the United States since 1782
[ 183]
The U.S. is one of 17
megadiverse countries containing large numbers of
endemic species : about 17,000 species of
vascular plants occur in the contiguous United States and Alaska, and over 1,800 species of
flowering plants are found in Hawaii, few of which occur on the mainland.
[ 184] The United States is home to 428
mammal species, 784 birds, 311 reptiles, 295
amphibians ,
[ 185] and around 91,000 insect species.
[ 186]
There are
63 national parks , and
hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and
wilderness areas , managed by the
National Park Service and other agencies.
[ 187] About 28% of the country's land is publicly owned and federally managed,
[ 188] primarily in the
western states .
[ 189]
Most of this land is protected , though some is leased for commercial use, and less than one percent is used for military purposes.
[ 190]
[ 191]
Environmental issues in the United States include debates on
non-renewable resources and
nuclear energy ,
air and water pollution ,
biodiversity , logging and
deforestation ,
[ 192]
[ 193] and
climate change .
[ 194]
[ 195] The
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the federal agency charged with
addressing most environmental-related issues .
[ 196] The
idea of wilderness has shaped the management of public lands since 1964, with the
Wilderness Act .
[ 197] The
Endangered Species Act of 1973 provides a way to protect threatened and endangered species and their habitats. The
United States Fish and Wildlife Service implements and enforces the Act.
[ 198] In 2024, the U.S. ranked 34th among 180 countries in the
Environmental Performance Index .
[ 199] The country joined the
Paris Agreement on climate change in 2016 and has many other environmental commitments.
[ 200]
Government and politics
The
U.S. Capitol Building , the seat of legislative government, is home to both chambers of the
U.S. Congress : the
Senate (in left wing of building) and the
House of Representatives (right wing).
The
White House , the residence and workplace of the U.S. president and the offices of
the presidential staff
The
Supreme Court Building , which houses the
nation's highest court
The United States is a
federal republic of 50
states and
a federal district ,
Washington, D.C. It also asserts sovereignty over five
unincorporated territories and several uninhabited
island possessions .
[ 201] The world's oldest surviving federation,
[ 203] the U.S. has
the world's oldest national constitution still in effect (from March 4, 1789). Its
presidential system of government has been adopted, in whole or in part, by many newly independent nations following
decolonization .
[ 204] It is a liberal
representative democracy "in which
majority rule is tempered by
minority rights protected
by law ."
[ 205] The
Constitution of the United States serves as
the country's supreme legal document , also establishing the structure and responsibilities of the national federal government and its relationship with the individual states.
[ 206]
According to
V-Dem Institute 's 2023 Human Rights Index , the United States ranks among the highest in the world for
human rights .
[ 207]
National government
Composed of three branches, all headquartered in Washington, D.C., the federal government is the national government of the United States. It is regulated by a strong system of
checks and balances .
[ 208]
The
U.S. Congress , a
bicameral legislature , made up of the
Senate and the
House of Representatives , makes
federal law ,
declares war , approves treaties, has the
power of the purse ,
[ 209] and has
the power of impeachment .
[ 210] The Senate has 100 members (2 from each state), elected for a six-year term. The House of Representatives has 435 members, each elected for a two-year term; all representatives serve one
congressional district of equivalent population.
[ 211] The Congress also organizes a collection of
committees , each of which handles a specific task or duty. One of Congress's foremost non-legislative functions is the power to
investigate and oversee the executive branch.
[ 212]
Congressional oversight is usually delegated to committees and is facilitated by Congress's subpoena power.
[ 213] Appointment to a committee enables a member to develop specialized knowledge of the matters under its purview. The various committees monitor ongoing governmental operations, identify issues suitable for legislative review, gather and evaluate information, and recommend courses of action to the U.S. Congress, including but not limited to new legislation. The two major political parties have appointment power in deciding each committee's membership. Committee chairs are assigned to a member of the majority party.
The U.S. president is the
commander-in-chief of the military and chief executive of the federal government, with the ability to veto
legislative bills from the U.S. Congress before they become law. However,
presidential vetoes can be overridden by a two-thirds
supermajority vote in both chambers of Congress. The president appoints the
members of the Cabinet , subject to Senate approval, and names other officials who administer and enforce federal laws through
their respective agencies .
[ 214] The president also has clemency power for federal crimes and
can issue pardons . Finally, the president has the right to issue expansive "
executive orders ", subject to judicial review, in a number of policy areas. Candidates for president campaign with a vice-presidential
running mate . Both candidates are elected together, or defeated together, in a presidential election. Unlike other votes in American politics, this is technically an
indirect election in which the winner will be determined by the
U.S. Electoral College . There, votes are officially cast by individual electors selected by
their state legislature .
[ 215] In practice, however, each of the 50 states chooses a group of presidential electors who are required to confirm the winner of their state's popular vote. This group of electors equals their state's number of U.S. representatives, plus two more electors for the two U.S. senators the state sends to Congress. (The District of Columbia, with no representatives or senators, is allocated three electoral votes.) Both the president and the vice president serve a four-year term, and the president may be
reelected to the office only once , for one additional four-year term.
[ q]
The
U.S. federal judiciary , whose judges are all appointed for life by the president with Senate approval, consists primarily of the
U.S. Supreme Court , the
U.S. courts of appeals , and the
U.S. district courts . The U.S. Supreme Court interprets laws and
overturn those they find unconstitutional .
[ 216] The Supreme Court has nine members led by the
Chief Justice of the United States . The members are appointed by the sitting president when a vacancy becomes available.
[ 217] In a number of ways the federal court system operates differently than state courts. For
civil cases that is apparent in the types of cases that can be heard in the federal system. Their
limited jurisdiction restricts them to cases authorized by the United States Constitution or
federal statutes . In criminal cases, states may only bring criminal prosecutions in state courts, and the federal government may only bring criminal prosecutions in federal court. The first level in the federal courts is
federal district court for any case under "
original jurisdiction ", such as federal statutes, the Constitution, or
treaties . There are twelve
federal circuits that divide the country into different regions for federal appeals courts. After a federal district court has decided a case, it can then be
appealed to a United States court of appeal. The next and highest court in the system is the Supreme Court of the United States. It has the power to decide appeals on all cases brought in federal court or those brought in state court but dealing with federal law. Unlike circuit court appeals, however, the Supreme Court is usually not required to hear the appeal. A "
petition for writ of certiorari " may be submitted to the court, asking it to hear the case. If it is granted, the Supreme Court will take
briefs and conduct
oral arguments . If it is not granted, the opinion of the lower court stands. Certiorari is not often granted, and less than 1% of appeals to the Supreme Court are actually heard by it. Usually, the Court only hears cases when there are conflicting decisions across the nation on a particular issue, or when there is an obvious error in a case.
The three-branch system is known as the
presidential system , in contrast to the
parliamentary system , where the executive is part of the legislative body. Many countries around the world imitated this aspect of the 1789
Constitution of the United States , especially in the Americas.
[ 218]
Political parties
U.S. state governments (governor and legislature) by party control, as of 2024
[update] : Split control
The Constitution is silent on political parties. However, they developed independently in the 18th century with the
Federalist and
Anti-Federalist parties.
[ 219] Since then, the United States has operated as a de facto
two-party system , though the parties in that system have been different at different times.
[ 220] The two main national parties are presently the
Democratic and the
Republican . The former is perceived as
relatively liberal in its
political platform while the latter is perceived as
relatively conservative .
[ 221]
Subdivisions
In the
American federal system , sovereign powers are shared between two levels of elected government: national and state. People in the states are also represented by
local elected governments , which are administrative divisions of the states.
[ 222] States are subdivided into
counties or county equivalents , and
further divided into municipalities . The District of Columbia is a
federal district that contains the capital of the United States, the
city of Washington .
[ 223] The territories and the District of Columbia are administrative divisions of the federal government.
[ 224]
Federally recognized tribes govern 326
Indian reservations .
[ 225]
Foreign relations
The
United Nations headquarters has been situated along the
East River in
Midtown Manhattan since 1952; in 1945, the United States was a
founding member of the UN .
The United States has an established structure of foreign relations, and it has the world's
second-largest diplomatic corps as of 2024
[update] . It is a
permanent member of the United Nations Security Council ,
[ 226] and home to the
United Nations headquarters .
[ 227] The United States is a member of the
G7 ,
[ 228]
G20 ,
[ 229] and
OECD intergovernmental organizations.
[ 230] Almost all countries have
embassies and many have
consulates (official representatives) in the country. Likewise, nearly all countries host formal
diplomatic missions with the United States, except
Iran ,
[ 231]
North Korea ,
[ 232] and
Bhutan .
[ 233] Though
Taiwan does not have formal diplomatic relations with the U.S., it maintains close unofficial relations.
[ 234] The United States regularly
supplies Taiwan with military equipment to deter potential Chinese aggression.
[ 235] Its geopolitical attention also turned to the
Indo-Pacific when the United States joined the
Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Australia, India, and Japan.
[ 236]
The United States has a "
Special Relationship "
with the United Kingdom
[ 237] and strong ties
with Canada ,
[ 238]
Australia ,
[ 239]
New Zealand ,
[ 240]
the Philippines ,
[ 241]
Japan ,
[ 242]
South Korea ,
[ 243]
Israel ,
[ 244] and several
European Union countries (
France ,
Italy ,
Germany ,
Spain , and
Poland ).
[ 245] The U.S. works closely with its
NATO allies on military and
national security issues, and with countries in the Americas through the
Organization of American States and the
United States–Mexico–Canada Free Trade Agreement . In South America,
Colombia is traditionally considered to be the closest ally of the United States.
[ 246] The U.S. exercises full international defense authority and responsibility for
Micronesia , the
Marshall Islands , and
Palau through the
Compact of Free Association .
[ 247] It has increasingly conducted strategic cooperation
with India ,
[ 248] but
its ties with China have steadily deteriorated.
[ 249]
[ 250] Since 2014, the U.S. has
become a key ally of Ukraine ;
[ 251] it has also provided the country with significant military equipment and other support in response to
Russia's 2022 invasion .
[ 252]
Military
The Pentagon , the headquarters of the
U.S. Department of Defense in
Arlington County, Virginia , is one of the world's largest office buildings with over 6.5 million square feet (600,000 m2 ) of
floor space .
The president is the
commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces and appoints its leaders, the
secretary of defense and the
Joint Chiefs of Staff . The
Department of Defense , which is headquartered at
the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., administers five of the six service branches, which are made up of the
U.S. Army ,
Marine Corps ,
Navy ,
Air Force , and
Space Force .
[ 253] The
Coast Guard is administered by the
Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and can be transferred to the
Department of the Navy in wartime.
[ 254]
The United States
spent $916 billion on its military in 2023, which is by far the
largest amount of any country , making up 37% of global military spending and accounting for 3.4% of the country's GDP.
[ 255]
[ 256] The U.S.
has 42% of the world's nuclear weapons —the second-largest share after Russia.
[ 257]
The United States has the
third-largest combined armed forces in the world, behind the
Chinese People's Liberation Army and
Indian Armed Forces .
[ 258] The military operates about 800 bases and facilities abroad,
[ 259] and maintains
deployments greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries.
[ 260]
Law enforcement and criminal justice
J. Edgar Hoover Building , the headquarters of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in
Washington, D.C.
There are about 18,000 U.S. police agencies from local to national level in the United States.
[ 261] Law in the United States is mainly enforced by local police departments and
sheriff departments in their municipal or county jurisdictions.
The state police departments
have authority in their respective state , and
federal agencies such as the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the
U.S. Marshals Service have national jurisdiction and specialized duties, such as protecting
civil rights ,
national security and enforcing
U.S. federal courts ' rulings and federal laws.
[ 262]
State courts conduct most civil and criminal trials,
[ 263] and federal courts handle designated crimes and
appeals of state court decisions .
[ 264]
There is no unified "criminal justice system" in the United States. The
American prison system is actually one of significant heterogeneity, with thousands of systems operating across federal, state, local, and Native American tribal levels. In 2023, "these systems [held] almost 2 million people in 1,566 state prisons, 98 federal prisons, 3,116 local jails, 1,323 juvenile correctional facilities, 181 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian country jails, as well as in military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and prisons in the U.S. territories."
[ 265] Despite disparate systems of confinement, four main institutions dominate: federal prisons, state prisons, local jails, and juvenile correctional facilities.
[ 266] Federal prisons are run by the
U.S. Bureau of Prisons and hold people who have been convicted of federal crimes, including pretrial detainees.
[ 266]
State prisons , run by the official department of correction of each state, hold sentenced people serving prison time (usually longer than one year) for felony offenses.
[ 266] Local jails are county or municipal facilities that incarcerate defendants prior to trial; they also hold those serving short sentences (typically under a year).
[ 266]
Juvenile correctional facilities are operated by local or state governments and serve as longer-term placements for any minor adjudicated as delinquent and ordered by a judge to be confined.
[ 267]
As of January 2023, the United States has the
sixth-highest per capita incarceration rate in the world—531 people per 100,000 inhabitants—and the largest prison and jail population in the world, with
almost 2 million people incarcerated .
[ 268]
[ 269]
[ 270] An analysis of the
World Health Organization Mortality Database from 2010 showed U.S. homicide rates "were 7 times higher than in other high-income countries, driven by
a gun homicide rate that was 25 times higher".
[ 271]
Economy
The
U.S. dollar , the most-used currency
in international transactions and the world's foremost
reserve currency
[ 272]
The U.S. has been the world's
largest economy nominally since about 1890 .
[ 273] The 2023 nominal U.S.
gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $27 trillion was the highest in the world, constituting over 25% of the global economy or 15% at
purchasing power parity (PPP).
[ 274]
[ 13] From 1983 to 2008, U.S. real compounded annual GDP growth was 3.3%, compared to a 2.3% weighted average for the rest of the
Group of Seven .
[ 275] The country ranks
first in the world by nominal GDP ,
[ 276]
second when adjusted for purchasing power parities (PPP),
[ 13] and
ninth by PPP-adjusted GDP per capita .
[ 13] It possesses the
highest disposable household income per capita among
OECD countries.
[ 277] As of February 2024, the total
federal government debt was $34.4 trillion.
[ 278]
Microsoft campus , the headquarters of
Microsoft , the world's
biggest company by market capitalization
[ 279]
Of the world's
500 largest companies by revenue ,
136 are headquartered in the U.S. as of 2023
[ 280] —the highest number of any country.
[ 281] The
U.S. dollar is the currency most used
in international transactions and is the world's foremost
reserve currency , backed by the country's dominant economy,
its military , the
petrodollar system, and its linked
eurodollar and large
U.S. treasuries market .
[ 272]
Several countries use it as their official currency , and in others it is the
de facto currency .
[ 282]
[ 283] It has
free trade agreements with
several countries , including the
USMCA .
[ 284] The U.S. ranked second in the
Global Competitiveness Report in 2019, after Singapore.
[ 285] Although the United States has reached a
post-industrial level of development
[ 286] and is often described as having a
service economy ,
[ 286]
[ 287] it
remains a major industrial power .
[ 288] As of 2021
[update] , the U.S. is the
second-largest manufacturing country after China.
[ 289]
The
New York Stock Exchange on
Wall Street , the world's
largest stock exchange by market capitalization
[ 290]
New York City is the world's principal
financial center
[ 291]
[ 292] and the epicenter of the world's
largest metropolitan economy .
[ 293] The
New York Stock Exchange and
Nasdaq , both located in New York City, are the world's two
largest stock exchanges by
market capitalization and
trade volume .
[ 294]
[ 295] The United States is at or near the forefront of
technological advancement and
innovation
[ 296] in many economic fields, especially in
artificial intelligence ; computers;
pharmaceuticals ; and medical,
aerospace and
military equipment .
[ 297] The country's economy is fueled by abundant
natural resources , a well-developed
infrastructure , and
high productivity .
[ 298] The
largest U.S. trading partners are the
European Union , Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, India, and Taiwan.
[ 299] The United States is the world's
largest importer and the
second-largest exporter .
[ r] It is by far the world's
largest exporter of services .
[ 302]
Americans have the highest average
household and
employee income among
OECD member states,
[ 303] and the fourth-highest
median household income ,
[ 304] up from sixth-highest in 2013.
[ 305] With personal
consumption expenditures of over $18.5 trillion in 2023,
[ 306] the U.S. has a heavily
consumer-driven economy and is by far the world's
largest consumer market .
[ 307]
Wealth in the United States is
highly concentrated ; the richest 10% of the adult population own 72% of the country's household wealth, while the bottom 50% own just 2%.
[ 308]
Income inequality in the U.S. remains at record highs,
[ 309] with the top fifth of earners taking home more than half of all income
[ 310] and giving the U.S. one of the widest income distributions among OECD members.
[ 311]
[ 312] The U.S.
ranks first in the number of dollar billionaires and
millionaires , with 735 billionaires and nearly 22 million millionaires as of 2023.
[ 313] There were about 582,500 sheltered and unsheltered
homeless persons in the U.S. in 2022, with 60% staying in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program.
[ 314] In 2022, 6.4 million children experienced food insecurity.
[ 315]
Feeding America estimates that around one in five, or approximately 13 million,
children experience hunger in the U.S. and do not know where they will get their next meal or when.
[ 316] As of 2022,
[update] 37.9 million people, or 11.5% of the U.S. population, were
living in poverty .
[ 317]
The United States has a smaller
welfare state and redistributes less income through government action than most other
high-income countries .
[ 318]
[ 319] It is the only
advanced economy that does not
guarantee its workers paid vacation nationally
[ 320] and is one of a few countries in the world without federal
paid family leave as a legal right.
[ 321] The United States has a higher percentage of low-income
workers than almost any other developed country, largely because of a weak
collective bargaining system and lack of government support for at-risk workers.
[ 322]
Science, technology, spaceflight and energy
The United States
has been a leader in technological innovation since the late 19th century and scientific research since the mid-20th century.
[ 323] Methods for producing
interchangeable parts and the establishment of a
machine tool industry enabled
the large-scale manufacturing of U.S. consumer products in the late 19th century.
[ 324] By the early 20th century, factory
electrification , the introduction of the
assembly line , and other
labor-saving techniques created the system of
mass production .
[ 325] The United States is widely considered to be the leading country in the development of
artificial intelligence technology.
[ 326]
[ 327]
[ 328] In 2022, the United States was the country with the
second-highest number of published scientific papers .
[ 329] As of 2021, the U.S. ranked second by the number of
patent applications , and third by trademark and industrial design applications.
[ 330] In 2023, the United States ranked third in the
Global Innovation Index .
[ 331] The U.S. has the
highest total research and development expenditure of any country
[ 332] and ranks ninth as a percentage of GDP.
[ 333] In 2023, the United States was ranked as the second most technologically advanced country in the world by
Global Finance .
[ 334]
U.S. astronaut
Buzz Aldrin saluting the
American flag on the
Moon during the 1969
Apollo 11 mission; the United States is the only country that has
landed crews on the lunar surface .
The United States has maintained a space program since the late 1950s, beginning with the establishment of the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958.
[ 335]
[ 336] NASA's
Apollo program (1961–1972) achieved the first crewed
Moon landing with the 1969
Apollo 11 mission; it remains one of the program's most significant milestones.
[ 337]
[ 338] Other major endeavors by NASA include the
Space Shuttle program (1981–2011),
[ 339] the
Voyager program (1972–present), the
Hubble and
James Webb
space telescopes (launched in 1990 and 2021, respectively),
[ 340]
[ 341] and the multi-mission
Mars Exploration Program (
Spirit and Opportunity ,
Curiosity , and
Perseverance ).
[ 342] NASA is one of five agencies collaborating on the
International Space Station (ISS);
[ 343] U.S. contributions to the ISS include several modules, including
Destiny (2001),
Harmony (2007), and
Tranquility (2010), as well as ongoing logistical and operational support.
[ 344] The United States
private sector dominates the global
commercial spaceflight industry .
[ 345] Prominent American spaceflight contractors include
Blue Origin ,
Boeing ,
Sierra Space , and
SpaceX . NASA programs such as the
Commerical Crew Program ,
Commercial Resupply Services ,
Commercial Lunar Payload Services , and
NextSTEP have facilitated growing private-sector involvement in American spaceflight.
[ 346]
As of 2023
[update] , the United States receives approximately 84% of its energy from fossil fuel and the largest source of the country's energy came from
petroleum (38%), followed by
natural gas (36%),
renewable sources (9%),
coal (9%), and
nuclear power (9%).
[ 347]
[ 348] The United States constitutes less than 4% of the
world's population , but consumes around 16% of the world's energy.
[ 349] The U.S. ranks as the
second-highest emitter of greenhouse gases .
[ 350]
Transportation
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport , serving the
Atlanta metropolitan area , is the world's
busiest airport by passenger traffic with over 75 million passengers in 2021.
[ 351]
The overwhelming majority of roads in the United States are owned and maintained by state and local governments. Roads maintained only by the U.S. federal government are generally found on
federal lands (such as
national parks ) or at federal facilities (like military bases). The
Interstate Highway System , with its large, open
freeways linking the states, is partly funded by the federal government but owned and maintained by the state government hosting its section of the interstate. Some states fund and build their own large expressways—often called "
parkways " or "
turnpikes "—that generally use tolls to pay for construction and maintenance. Likewise, some privately owned roads may use tolls for this purpose.
Passenger and freight rail systems, bus systems, water ferries, and dams may be under either public or private ownership and operation. U.S. civilian airlines are all privately owned. Most U.S. airports are owned and operated by local government authorities, and there are also some private airports. The
Transportation Security Administration has provided security at most major airports since 2001.
The
U.S. Department of Transportation and its divisions provide regulation, supervision, and funding for all aspects of transportation except for customs, immigration, and security. (The latter remain the responsibility of the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security .) Each U.S. state has
its own department of transportation , which builds and maintains state highways. Depending upon the state, this department might also directly operate or supervise other modes of transportation.
Aviation law is almost entirely the jurisdiction of the
U.S. federal government . Vehicle traffic laws, however, are enacted and enforced by state and local authorities, with the exception of roads located on federal property (national parks, military bases) or in the
unorganized U.S. territories . The
United States Coast Guard is the primary enforcer of law and security on U.S. waterways, inland as well as coastal, but economic jurisdiction over coastal
tidelands is shared between state and federal governments. The
country's inland waterways are the world's
fifth-longest , totaling 41,009 km (25,482 mi).
[ 352]
Of the
world's 50 busiest container ports , four are located in the United States. The busiest in the U.S. is the
Port of Los Angeles .
[ 353]
Personal transportation in the United States is
dominated by automobiles ,
[ 354]
[ 355] which operate on a network of 4 million miles (6.4 million kilometers) of public roads, making it the
longest in the world.
[ 356]
[ 357] The
country's rail transport network , also the
longest in the world at 182,412.3 mi (293,564.2 km),
[ 358] handles mostly
freight .
[ 359]
[ 360]
Interchange between
Interstate 10 and
Interstate 45 in
Houston, Texas
Privately owned railroads and trains were the dominant
mode of transportation in the U.S. until the mid-twentieth century. The introduction of jet airplanes and airports serving the same major city routes accelerated a decline in demand for intercity rail passenger service by the 1960s. The completion of the Interstate Highway System also hastened the sharp curtailment of passenger service by the railroads. These significant developments led to the creation of the National Railroad Passenger Corporation, now called
Amtrak , by the
U.S. federal government in 1971. Amtrak helps to maintain limited intercity rail passenger service in most parts of the country. It serves most major U.S. cities, but outside the
Northeast ,
California , and
Illinois it typically runs only a few trains per day. More frequent Amtrak service is available in regional corridors between certain major cities, particularly the
Northeast Corridor between
Washington, D.C. ,
Philadelphia ,
New York City and
Boston ; between New York City and
Albany ; in metropolitan
Chicago ; and in parts of California and the
Pacific Northwest . Amtrak does not serve several major U.S. destinations, including
Las Vegas and
Phoenix, Arizona .
The
Oldsmobile Curved Dash and the
Ford Model T , both American cars, are considered the first mass-produced
[ 361] and mass-affordable
[ 362] cars, respectively. As of 2023, the United States is the
second-largest manufacturer of motor vehicles
[ 363] and is home to
Tesla , the world's most valuable car company.
[ 364] American automotive company
General Motors held the title of the world's best-selling automaker from 1931 to 2008.
[ 365] The
American automotive industry is the world's second-largest automobile market by sales, having been overtaken by China in 2010,
[ 366] and the U.S. has the
highest vehicle ownership per capita in the world,
[ 367] with 910 vehicles per 1000 people.
[ 368] By value, the U.S. was the world's largest importer and third-largest exporter of cars in 2022.
[ 369]
The
American civil airline industry is entirely privately owned and has been largely
deregulated since 1978 , while
most major airports are publicly owned.
[ 370] The three largest airlines in the world by passengers carried are U.S.-based;
American Airlines is number one after its 2013 acquisition by
US Airways .
[ 371] Of the world's
50 busiest passenger airports , 16 are in the United States, including the top five and the busiest,
Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport .
[ 372]
[ 373] As of 2022
[update] , there are 19,969 airports in the U.S., of which 5,193 are designated as "public use", including for
general aviation and other activities.
[ 374]
Demographics
Population
The
U.S. Census Bureau reported 331,449,281 residents as of April 1, 2020,
[ s]
[ 377] making the United States the
third-most-populous country in the world, after China and India.
[ 378] According to the Bureau's
U.S. Population Clock , on July 1, 2024, the U.S. population had a net gain of one person every 16 seconds, or about 5400 people per day.
[ 379] In 2023, 51% of Americans age 15 and over were married, 6% were
widowed , 10% were divorced, and 34% had never been married.
[ 380] In 2023, the
total fertility rate for the U.S. stood at 1.6 children per woman,
[ 381] and, at 23%, it had the world's highest rate of children living in
single-parent households in 2019.
[ 382]
The United States has a diverse population; 37
ancestry groups have more than one million members.
[ 383]
White Americans with ancestry from Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa form the largest
racial and
ethnic group at 57.8% of the United States population.
[ 384]
[ 385]
Hispanic and Latino Americans form the second-largest group and are 18.7% of the United States population.
African Americans constitute the country's third-largest ancestry group and are 12.1% of the total U.S. population.
[ 383] Asian Americans are the country's fourth-largest group, composing 5.9% of the United States population. The country's 3.7 million Native Americans account for about 1%,
[ 383] and some 574 native tribes are recognized by the federal government.
[ 386] In 2022, the
median age of the United States population was 38.9 years.
[ 387]
Language
Most spoken languages in the U.S.
While many languages are spoken in the United States,
English is by far the most commonly spoken and written.
[ 388] Although there is no
official language at the federal level, some laws, such as
U.S. naturalization requirements , standardize English, and most states have declared it the official language.
[ 389] Three states and four U.S. territories have recognized local or indigenous languages in addition to English, including Hawaii (
Hawaiian ),
[ 390] Alaska (
twenty Native languages ),
[ t]
[ 391] South Dakota (
Sioux ),
[ 392] American Samoa (
Samoan ), Puerto Rico (
Spanish ), Guam (
Chamorro ), and the Northern Mariana Islands (
Carolinian and Chamorro). In total, 169 Native American languages are spoken in the United States.
[ 393] In Puerto Rico, Spanish is more widely spoken than English.
[ 394]
According to the
American Community Survey in 2010, some 229 million people out of the total U.S. population of 308 million spoke only English at home. About 37 million spoke Spanish at home, making it the second most commonly used language. Other languages spoken at home by one million people or more include
Chinese (2.8 million),
Tagalog (1.6 million),
Vietnamese (1.4 million),
French (1.3 million),
Korean (1.1 million), and
German (1 million).
[ 395]
Immigration
The
Mexico–United States border wall between
San Diego (left) and
Tijuana (right)
America's immigrant population of nearly 51 million is by far the world's
largest in absolute terms .
[ 396]
[ 397] In 2022, there were 87.7 million immigrants and
U.S.-born children of immigrants in the United States, accounting for nearly 27% of the overall U.S. population.
[ 398] In 2017, out of the U.S. foreign-born population, some 45% (20.7 million) were naturalized citizens, 27% (12.3 million) were lawful permanent residents, 6% (2.2 million) were temporary lawful residents, and 23% (10.5 million) were unauthorized immigrants.
[ 399] In 2019, the top countries of origin for immigrants were Mexico (24% of immigrants), India (6%), China (5%), the Philippines (4.5%), and El Salvador (3%).
[ 400] In fiscal year 2022, over one million immigrants (most of whom entered through
family reunification ) were granted
legal residence .
[ 401] The United States led the world in
refugee resettlement for decades, admitting more refugees than the rest of the world combined.
[ 402]
Religion
Religious affiliation in the U.S., according to a 2023
Gallup poll:
[ 7]
Other religion (6%)
Unanswered (3%)
The
First Amendment guarantees the
free exercise of religion in the country and forbids Congress from passing laws respecting
its establishment .
[ 403]
[ 404] Religious practice is widespread, among the
most diverse in the world,
[ 405] and profoundly vibrant.
[ 406] The country has the world's
largest Christian population .
[ 407] Other notable faiths include
Judaism ,
Buddhism ,
Hinduism ,
Islam , many
New Age movements, and
Native American religions .
[ 408] Religious practice varies significantly by region.
[ 409] "
Ceremonial deism " is common in American culture.
[ 410]
The overwhelming majority of
Americans believe in a
higher power or spiritual force, engage in
spiritual practices such as prayer, and consider themselves religious or
spiritual .
[ 411]
[ 412] In the "
Bible Belt ", located within the Southern United States,
evangelical Protestantism plays a significant role culturally, whereas
New England and the Western United States
tend to be more secular .
[ 409]
Mormonism —a
Restorationist movement, whose members migrated westward from Missouri and Illinois under the leadership of
Brigham Young in 1847 after the assassination of
Joseph Smith —remains the predominant religion in Utah to this day.
[ 414]
Urbanization
About 82% of Americans live in
urban areas , including suburbs;
[ 164] about half of those reside in cities with populations over 50,000.
[ 415] In 2022, 333
incorporated municipalities had populations over 100,000, nine cities had more than one million residents, and four cities—
New York City ,
Los Angeles ,
Chicago , and
Houston —had populations exceeding two million.
[ 416] Many U.S. metropolitan populations are growing rapidly, particularly in the South and West.
[ 417]
Largest metropolitan areas in the United States
Rank
Name
Region
Pop.
Rank
Name
Region
Pop.
New York
Los Angeles
1
New York
Northeast
19,498,249
11
Boston
Northeast
4,919,179
Chicago
Dallas–Fort Worth
2
Los Angeles
West
12,799,100
12
Riverside–San Bernardino
West
4,688,053
3
Chicago
Midwest
9,262,825
13
San Francisco
West
4,566,961
4
Dallas–Fort Worth
South
8,100,037
14
Detroit
Midwest
4,342,304
5
Houston
South
7,510,253
15
Seattle
West
4,044,837
6
Atlanta
South
6,307,261
16
Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Midwest
3,712,020
7
Washington, D.C.
South
6,304,975
17
Tampa–St. Petersburg
South
3,342,963
8
Philadelphia
Northeast
6,246,160
18
San Diego
West
3,269,973
9
Miami
South
6,183,199
19
Denver
West
3,005,131
10
Phoenix
West
5,070,110
20
Baltimore
South
2,834,316
Health
Texas Medical Center in
Houston is the largest medical complex in the world.
[ 419]
[ 420] As of 2018
[update] , it employed 120,000 people and treated 10 million patients annually.
[ 421]
According to the
Centers for Disease Control (CDC), average American life expectancy at birth was 77.5 years in 2022 (74.8 years for men and 80.2 years for women). This was a gain of 1.1 years from 76.4 years in 2021, but the CDC noted that the new average "didn't fully offset the loss of 2.4 years between 2019 and 2021". The
health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and higher overall mortality due to opioid overdoses and
suicides were held mostly responsible for the previous drop in life expectancy.
[ 422] The same report stated that the 2022 gains in average U.S. life expectancy were especially significant for men, Hispanics, and American Indian–Alaskan Native people (AIAN). Starting in 1998, the life expectancy in the U.S. fell
behind that of other wealthy industrialized countries , and Americans' "health disadvantage" gap has been increasing ever since.
[ 423] The U.S. has one of the
highest suicide rates among
high-income countries .
[ 424]
Approximately one-third of the U.S. adult population is obese and another third is overweight.
[ 425] The U.S. healthcare system far
outspends that of any other country , measured both in per capita spending and as a percentage of GDP, but attains worse healthcare outcomes when compared to peer countries for reasons that are debated.
[ 426] The United States is the only developed country
without a system of universal healthcare , and
a significant proportion of the population that does not carry health insurance .
[ 427] Government-funded healthcare coverage for the poor (
Medicaid ) and for those age 65 and older (
Medicare ) is available to Americans who meet the programs' income or age qualifications. In 2010, former President Obama passed the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act .
[ u]
[ 428]
Abortion in the United States is not federally protected, and is illegal or restricted in 18 states.
[ 429]
Education
77% of American college students attend public institutions
[ 430] such as the
University of Virginia , founded by
Thomas Jefferson in 1819.
American primary and secondary education (known in the U.S. as
K-12 , "kindergarten through 12th grade") is decentralized. It is operated by state, territorial, and sometimes municipal governments and regulated by the
U.S. Department of Education . In general, children are required to attend school or
an approved homeschool from the age of five or six (
kindergarten or
first grade ) until they are 18 years old. This often brings students through the
12th grade , the final year of a U.S. high school, but some states and territories allow them to leave school earlier, at age 16 or 17.
[ 431] The U.S. spends more on education per student than any country in the world,
[ 432] an average of $18,614 per year per public elementary and secondary school student in 2020–2021.
[ 433] Among Americans age 25 and older, 92.2% graduated from high school, 62.7% attended some college, 37.7% earned a
bachelor's degree , and 14.2% earned a graduate degree.
[ 434] The
U.S. literacy rate is near-universal.
[ 164]
[ 435] The country has the
most Nobel Prize winners of any country , with
411 (having won 413 awards).
[ 436]
[ 437]
U.S. tertiary or higher education has earned a global reputation. Many of the world's top universities, as listed by various ranking organizations, are in the United States, including 19 of the top 25.
[ 438]
[ 439] American higher education is dominated by
state university systems , although
the country's many private universities and colleges enroll about 20% of all American students. Local
community colleges generally offer coursework and degree programs covering the first two years of college study. They often have more open admission policies, shorter academic programs, and lower tuition.
[ 440]
As for
public expenditures on higher education, the U.S. spends more per student than the
OECD average, and Americans spend more than all nations in combined public and private spending.
[ 441] Colleges and universities directly funded by the federal government do not charge tuition and are limited to military personnel and government employees, including: the
U.S. service academies , the
Naval Postgraduate School , and
military staff colleges . Despite some student
loan forgiveness programs in place,
[ 442]
student loan debt increased by 102% between 2010 and 2020,
[ 443] and exceeded $1.7 trillion as of 2022.
[ 444]
Culture and society
The
Statue of Liberty (Liberty Enlightening the World ) on
Liberty Island in
New York Harbor was an 1866 gift from France that has become an iconic symbol of the
American Dream .
[ 445]
Americans have traditionally
been characterized by a unifying political belief in an "
American Creed " emphasizing
consent of the governed ,
liberty ,
equality under the law ,
democracy ,
social equality ,
property rights , and a preference for
limited government .
[ 446]
[ 447] Culturally, the country has been described as having the values of
individualism and
personal autonomy ,
[ 448]
[ 449] as well as having a strong
work ethic ,
[ 450]
competitiveness ,
[ 451] and voluntary
altruism towards others.
[ 452]
[ 453]
[ 454] According to a 2016 study by the
Charities Aid Foundation , Americans donated 1.44% of total GDP to charity—the
highest rate in the world by a large margin.
[ 455] The United States is home to a
wide variety of ethnic groups, traditions, and values .
[ 456]
[ 457] It has acquired
significant cultural and economic
soft power .
[ 458]
[ 459]
Nearly all present Americans or their ancestors came from
Europe, Africa, or Asia (the "
Old World ") within the past five centuries.
[ 460]
Mainstream American culture is a
Western culture largely derived from the
traditions of European immigrants with influences from many other sources, such as
traditions brought by slaves from Africa .
[ 461] More recent immigration from
Asia and especially
Latin America has added to a cultural mix that has been described as a homogenizing
melting pot , and a heterogeneous
salad bowl , with immigrants contributing to, and often
assimilating into, mainstream American culture. The
American Dream , or the perception that Americans enjoy high
social mobility , plays a key role in attracting immigrants.
[ 462]
[ 463] Whether this perception is accurate has been a topic of debate.
[ 464]
[ 465]
[ 466] While mainstream culture holds that the United States is a
classless society ,
[ 467] scholars identify significant differences between
the country's social classes , affecting
socialization , language, and values.
[ 468]
[ 469] Americans tend to greatly value
socioeconomic achievement, but
being ordinary or average is promoted by some as a noble condition as well.
[ 470]
The United States is considered to have the
strongest protections of free speech of any country under the
First Amendment ,
[ 471] which protects
flag desecration ,
hate speech ,
blasphemy , and
lese-majesty as forms of protected expression.
[ 472]
[ 473]
[ 474] A 2016
Pew Research Center poll found that Americans were the most supportive of free expression of any polity measured.
[ 475] They are the "most supportive of
freedom of the press and the
right to use the Internet without government censorship."
[ 476] The U.S. is a
socially progressive country
[ 477] with
permissive attitudes surrounding
human sexuality .
[ 478]
LGBT rights in the United States are advanced by global standards.
[ 478]
[ 479]
[ 480]
Literature
Mark Twain , who
William Faulkner called "the father of American literature"
[ 481]
Colonial American authors were influenced by
John Locke and various other
Enlightenment philosophers.
The American Revolutionary Period (1765–1783) is notable for the political writings of
Benjamin Franklin ,
Alexander Hamilton ,
Thomas Paine , and
Thomas Jefferson . Shortly before and after the
Revolutionary War , the newspaper rose to prominence, filling a demand for anti-British national literature.
[ 485] An early novel is
William Hill Brown 's
The Power of Sympathy , published in 1791. Writer and critic
John Neal in the early- to mid-nineteenth century helped advance America toward a unique literature and culture by criticizing predecessors such as
Washington Irving for imitating their British counterparts, and by influencing writers such as
Edgar Allan Poe ,
[ 486] who took American poetry and short fiction in new directions.
Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Margaret Fuller pioneered the influential
Transcendentalism movement;
[ 487]
[ 488]
Henry David Thoreau , author of
Walden , was influenced by this movement. The conflict surrounding
abolitionism inspired writers, like
Harriet Beecher Stowe , and authors of slave narratives, such as
Frederick Douglass .
Nathaniel Hawthorne 's
The Scarlet Letter (1850) explored the dark side of American history, as did
Herman Melville 's
Moby-Dick (1851). Major American poets of the nineteenth century
American Renaissance include
Walt Whitman , Melville, and
Emily Dickinson .
Mark Twain was the first major American writer to be born in the West.
Henry James achieved international recognition with novels like
The Portrait of a Lady (1881). As literacy rates rose, periodicals published more stories centered around industrial workers, women, and the rural poor.
Naturalism ,
regionalism , and
realism were the major literary movements of the period.
While
modernism generally took on an international character, modernist authors working within the United States more often rooted their work in specific regions, peoples, and cultures. Following the Great Migration to northern cities, African-American and black
West Indian authors of the
Harlem Renaissance developed an independent tradition of literature that rebuked a history of inequality and celebrated black culture. An important cultural export during the
Jazz Age , these writings were a key influence on
Négritude , a philosophy emerging in the 1930s among francophone writers of the
African diaspora .
[ 496]
[ 497] In the 1950s, an ideal of homogeneity led many authors to attempt to write the
Great American Novel , while the
Beat Generation rejected this conformity, using styles that elevated the impact of the
spoken word over mechanics to describe drug use, sexuality, and the failings of society.
[ 500] Contemporary literature is more pluralistic than in previous eras, with the closest thing to a unifying feature being a trend toward self-conscious
experiments with language . As of 2024 there have been 12 American laureates for the Nobel Prize in literature.
[ 502]
Comcast Center in
Philadelphia , headquarters of
Comcast , the world's largest telecommunications and media conglomerate
Media is
broadly uncensored , with the
First Amendment providing significant protections, as reiterated in
New York Times Co. v. United States .
[ 471] The four major broadcasters in the U.S. are the
National Broadcasting Company (NBC),
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS),
American Broadcasting Company (ABC), and
Fox Broadcasting Company (FOX). The four major broadcast television networks are all commercial entities.
Cable television offers hundreds of channels catering to a variety of niches.
[ 503] As of 2021
[update] , about 83% of Americans over age 12 listen to
broadcast radio , while about 40% listen to
podcasts .
[ 504] As of 2020
[update] , there were 15,460 licensed full-power radio stations in the U.S. according to the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
[ 505] Much of the public radio broadcasting is supplied by
NPR , incorporated in February 1970 under the
Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 .
[ 506]
U.S. newspapers with a global reach and reputation include
The Wall Street Journal ,
The New York Times ,
The Washington Post , and
USA Today .
[ 507] About 800 publications are produced in Spanish.
[ 508]
[ 509] With few exceptions, newspapers are privately owned, either by large chains such as
Gannett or
McClatchy , which own dozens or even hundreds of newspapers; by small chains that own a handful of papers; or, in an increasingly rare situation, by individuals or families. Major cities often have
alternative newspapers to complement the mainstream daily papers, such as
The Village Voice in New York City and
LA Weekly in Los Angeles. The five most popular websites used in the U.S. are
Google ,
YouTube ,
Amazon ,
Yahoo! , and
Facebook —all of them American-owned.
[ 510]
As of 2022
[update] , the video game market of the United States is the world's
largest by revenue .
[ 511] There are 444 publishers, developers, and hardware companies in California alone.
[ 512]
Theater
Broadway theaters in
Theater District, Manhattan
The United States is well known for its theater. Mainstream theater in the United States derives from the old European theatrical tradition and has been heavily influenced by the
British theater .
[ 513] By the middle of the 19th century America had created new distinct dramatic forms in the
Tom Shows , the
showboat theater and the
minstrel show .
[ 514] The central
hub of the American theater scene is Manhattan , with its divisions of
Broadway ,
off-Broadway , and
off-off-Broadway .
[ 515]
Many movie and television
stars have gotten their big break working in New York productions. Outside New York City, many cities have professional
regional or resident theater companies that produce their own seasons. The biggest-budget theatrical productions are musicals. U.S. theater has an active
community theater culture.
[ 516]
The
Tony Awards recognizes excellence in live Broadway theater and are presented at an annual ceremony in
Manhattan . The awards are given for Broadway productions and performances. One is also given for
regional theater . Several discretionary non-competitive awards are given as well, including a
Special Tony Award , the
Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre , and the
Isabelle Stevenson Award .
[ 517]
Visual arts
American Gothic (1930) by
Grant Wood is one of the most famous
American paintings and is widely
parodied .
[ 518]
Folk art in
colonial America grew out of artisanal craftsmanship in communities that allowed commonly trained people to individually express themselves, distinct from the
high art tradition that dominated Europe, which was less accessible and generally less relevant to American settlers.
[ 519] The movements in art and craftsmanship in colonial America generally lagged behind that of Western Europe, with the prevailing mediaeval style of
woodwork and primitive
sculpture becoming integral to early American folk art, despite the emergence of
renaissance styles in the late 16th and early 17th centuries in England. This would have been early enough to have a considerable impact on American folk art styles if it were not for the already adopted forms. As styles slowly changed, there was a tendency for rural artisans to continue the preexisting style longer than their urban counterparts, and far longer than those from Western Europe.
[ 471]
The
Hudson River School was a mid-19th-century movement in the visual arts tradition of European
naturalism . The 1913
Armory Show in New York City, an exhibition of European
modernist art , shocked the public and transformed the U.S. art scene.
[ 520]
Georgia O'Keeffe ,
Marsden Hartley , and others experimented with new and individualistic styles, which would become known as
American modernism . Major artistic movements such as the
abstract expressionism of
Jackson Pollock and
Willem de Kooning and the
pop art of
Andy Warhol and
Roy Lichtenstein developed largely in the United States. Major photographers include
Alfred Stieglitz ,
Edward Steichen ,
Dorothea Lange ,
Edward Weston ,
James Van Der Zee ,
Ansel Adams , and
Gordon Parks .
[ 521]
The tide of
modernism and then
postmodernism has brought global fame to American architects, including
Frank Lloyd Wright ,
Philip Johnson , and
Frank Gehry .
[ 522] The
Metropolitan Museum of Art in
Manhattan is the largest
art museum in the United States.
[ 523]
Music
American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as traditional music, traditional
folk music , contemporary folk music, or roots music. Many traditional songs have been sung within the same family or folk group for generations, and sometimes trace back to such origins as the
British Isles ,
mainland Europe , or
Africa .
[ 524] The rhythmic and lyrical styles of African-American music in particular have influenced American music.
[ 525]
Banjos were brought to America through the slave trade.
Minstrel shows incorporating the instrument into their acts led to its increased popularity and widespread production in the 19th century.
[ 526] The
electric guitar , first invented in the 1930s, and mass-produced by the 1940s, had an enormous influence on popular music, in particular due to the development of
rock and roll .
[ 528]
The
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in
Nashville, Tennessee
Elements from folk idioms such as the
blues and
old-time music were adopted and transformed into
popular genres with global audiences.
Jazz grew from blues and
ragtime in the early 20th century, developing from the innovations and recordings of composers such as
W.C. Handy and
Jelly Roll Morton .
Louis Armstrong and
Duke Ellington increased its popularity early in the 20th century.
[ 529]
Country music developed in the 1920s,
[ 530] rock and roll in the 1930s,
[ 528] and
bluegrass
[ 531] and
rhythm and blues in the 1940s.
[ 532] In the 1960s,
Bob Dylan emerged from the
folk revival to become one of the country's most celebrated songwriters.
[ 533] The musical forms of
punk and
hip hop both originated in the United States in the 1970s.
[ 534]
The United States has the world's
largest music market with a total retail value of $15.9 billion in 2022.
[ 535] Most of the world's
major record companies are based in the U.S.; they are represented by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
[ 536] Mid-20th-century American
pop stars , such as
Frank Sinatra
[ 537] and
Elvis Presley ,
[ 538] became
global celebrities and
best-selling music artists ,
[ 529] as have artists of the late 20th century, such as
Michael Jackson ,
[ 539]
Madonna ,
[ 540]
Whitney Houston ,
[ 541] and
Prince ,
[ 542] and the early 21st century, such as
Taylor Swift and
Beyoncé .
[ 543]
Fashion
Haute couture
fashion models on the
catwalk during
New York Fashion Week
The United States is the world's largest
apparel market by revenue.
[ 544] Apart from professional
business attire , American fashion is eclectic and predominantly informal. Americans' diverse cultural roots are reflected in their clothing; however,
sneakers ,
jeans , T-shirts, and
baseball caps are emblematic of American styles.
[ 545] New York, with
its fashion week , is considered to be one of the "Big Four" global
fashion capitals , along with
Paris ,
Milan , and
London . A study demonstrated that general proximity to
Manhattan's Garment District has been synonymous with American fashion since its inception in the early 20th century.
[ 546]
The headquarters of many
designer labels reside in
Manhattan . Labels cater to
niche markets , such as pre teens. There has been a trend in the United States fashion towards
sustainable clothing .
[ 547] New York Fashion Week is one of the most influential fashion weeks in the world, and occurs twice a year;
[ 548] while the annual
Met Gala in Manhattan is commonly known as the fashion world's "biggest night".
[ 549]
[ 550]
Cinema
The iconic
Hollywood Sign , in the
Hollywood Hills , often regarded as the symbol of the
American film industry
The U.S. film industry has
a worldwide influence and following.
Hollywood , a district in northern Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city, is also metonymous for the American filmmaking industry.
[ 551]
[ 552]
[ 553] The
major film studios of the United States are the primary source of the
most commercially successful and most ticket-selling movies in the world.
[ 554]
[ 555] Since the early 20th century, the U.S. film industry has largely been based in and around Hollywood, although in the 21st century an increasing number of films are not made there, and film companies have been subject to the forces of globalization.
[ 556] The
Academy Awards , popularly known as the Oscars, have been held annually by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1929,
[ 557] and the
Golden Globe Awards have been held annually since January 1944.
[ 558]
The industry peaked in what is commonly referred to as the "
Golden Age of Hollywood ", from the early sound period until the early 1960s,
[ 559] with screen actors such as
John Wayne and
Marilyn Monroe becoming iconic figures.
[ 560]
[ 561] In the 1970s, "
New Hollywood ", or the "Hollywood Renaissance",
[ 562] was defined by grittier films influenced by French and Italian realist pictures of the
post-war period .
[ 563] The 21st century was marked by the rise of American streaming platforms, which came to rival traditional cinema.
[ 564]
[ 565]
Cuisine
A
Thanksgiving dinner with
roast turkey ,
mashed potatoes ,
pickles ,
corn ,
candied yams ,
cranberry jelly ,
shrimps ,
stuffing ,
green peas ,
deviled eggs ,
green salad , and
apple sauce
Early settlers were introduced by Native Americans to foods such as
turkey ,
sweet potatoes ,
corn ,
squash , and
maple syrup . Of the most enduring and pervasive examples are variations of the native dish called
succotash . Early settlers and later immigrants combined these with foods they were familiar with, such as
wheat flour ,
[ 566] beef, and milk, to create a distinctive American cuisine.
[ 567]
[ 568]
New World crops , especially
pumpkin , corn,
potatoes , and turkey as the main course are part of a shared national menu on
Thanksgiving , when many Americans prepare or purchase traditional dishes to celebrate the occasion.
[ 569]
Characteristic American dishes such as
apple pie ,
fried chicken ,
doughnuts ,
french fries ,
macaroni and cheese ,
ice cream ,
pizza ,
hamburgers , and
hot dogs derive from the recipes of various immigrant groups.
[ 570]
[ 571]
[ 572]
[ 573]
Mexican dishes such as
burritos and
tacos preexisted the United States in areas later annexed from Mexico, and
adaptations of Chinese cuisine as well as
pasta dishes freely adapted from Italian sources are all widely consumed.
[ 574] American
chefs have had a significant impact on society both domestically and internationally. In 1946, the
Culinary Institute of America was founded by
Katharine Angell and
Frances Roth . This would become the United States' most prestigious culinary school, where many of the most talented American chefs would study prior to successful careers.
[ 575]
[ 576]
The
United States restaurant industry was projected at $899 billion in sales for 2020,
[ 577]
[ 578] and employed more than 15 million people, representing 10% of the nation's workforce directly.
[ 577] It is the country's second-largest private employer and the third-largest employer overall.
[ 579]
[ 580] The United States is home to over 220
Michelin Star -rated restaurants, 70 of which are in New York City alone.
[ 581]
Wine has been produced in what is now the United States since the 1500s, with the
first widespread production beginning in what is now New Mexico in 1628.
[ 582]
[ 583]
[ 584] In the modern U.S., wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with
California producing 84 percent of all U.S. wine . With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2 ) under vine, the United States is the
fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after
Italy ,
Spain , and
France .
[ 585]
[ 586]
The American
fast-food industry developed alongside the nation's
car culture .
[ 587] American restaurants developed the
drive-in format in the 1920s, which they began to replace with the
drive-through format by the 1940s.
[ 588]
[ 589] American
fast-food restaurant chains, such as
McDonald's ,
[ 590]
[ 591]
Kentucky Fried Chicken , and
many others , have numerous outlets around the world.
[ 592]
Sports
American football is the most popular sport in the United States; in this September 2022
National Football League game, the
Jacksonville Jaguars play the
Washington Commanders at
FedExField .
The most popular spectator sports in the U.S. are
American football ,
basketball ,
baseball ,
soccer , and
ice hockey .
[ 593] While most major U.S. sports such as baseball and American football have evolved out of European practices, basketball,
volleyball ,
skateboarding , and
snowboarding are American inventions, many of which have become popular worldwide.
[ 594]
Lacrosse and
surfing arose from Native American and Native Hawaiian activities that predate European contact.
[ 595] The market for professional sports in the United States was approximately $69 billion in July 2013, roughly 50% larger than that of all of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa combined.
[ 596]
American football is by several measures the most popular spectator sport in the United States;
[ 597] the
National Football League has the highest average attendance of any sports league in the world, and the
Super Bowl is watched by tens of millions globally.
[ 598] However, baseball has been regarded as the U.S. "
national sport " since the late 19th century. After American football, the next four most popular professional team sports are basketball, baseball, soccer, and ice hockey. Their premier leagues are, respectively, the
National Basketball Association ,
Major League Baseball ,
Major League Soccer , and the
National Hockey League . The most-watched
individual sports in the U.S. are
golf and
auto racing , particularly
NASCAR and
IndyCar .
[ 599]
[ 600]
On the
collegiate level , earnings for the member institutions exceed $1 billion annually,
[ 601] and
college football and
basketball attract large audiences, as the
NCAA March Madness tournament and the
College Football Playoff are some of the most watched national sporting events.
[ 602] In the U.S., the intercollegiate sports level serves as a feeder system for professional sports. This differs greatly from practices in nearly all other countries, where publicly and privately funded sports organizations serve this function.
[ 603]
Eight
Olympic Games have taken place in the United States. The
1904 Summer Olympics in
St. Louis, Missouri , were the first-ever Olympic Games held outside of Europe.
[ 604] The Olympic Games will be held in the U.S. for a ninth time when Los Angeles hosts the
2028 Summer Olympics .
U.S. athletes have won a total of 2,968 medals (1,179 gold) at the Olympic Games, the most of any country.
[ 605]
[ 606]
[ 607]
In international professional competition, the
U.S. men's national soccer team has qualified for
eleven World Cups , while the
women's national team has
won the
FIFA Women's World Cup and
Olympic soccer tournament four times each.
[ 608] The United States hosted the
1994 FIFA World Cup and will co-host, along with Canada and Mexico, the
2026 FIFA World Cup .
[ 609] The
1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was also hosted by the United States.
Its final match was watched by 90,185, setting the world record for most-attended women's sporting event at the time.
[ 610]
See also
Notes
^ Twenty-eight of the 50 states recognize only English as an official language. The
State of Hawaii recognizes both
Hawaiian and English as official languages, the
State of Alaska officially recognizes 20
Alaska Native languages alongside English, and the
State of South Dakota recognizes English and
all Sioux dialects as official languages. Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have no official language.
^ English is the
de facto language. For more information, see
Languages of the United States .
^ The historical and informal demonym
Yankee has been applied to Americans, New Englanders, or northeasterners since the 18th century.
^
a
b
c At 3,531,900 sq mi (9,147,590 km2 ), the United States is the third-largest country in the world by land area, behind
Russia and
China . By total area (land and water), it is the third-largest, behind Russia and
Canada , if its coastal and territorial water areas are included. However, if only its internal waters are included (bays, sounds, rivers, lakes, and the
Great Lakes ), the U.S. is the fourth-largest, after Russia, Canada, and China.
Coastal/territorial waters included: 3,796,742 sq mi (9,833,517 km2 )
[ 19]
Only internal waters included: 3,696,100 sq mi (9,572,900 km2 )
[ 20]
^ Excludes
Puerto Rico and the other
unincorporated islands because they are counted separately in
U.S. census statistics
^ After adjustment for taxes and transfers
^ See
Time in the United States for details about laws governing time zones in the United States.
^ See
Date and time notation in the United States .
^ The
U.S. Virgin Islands use left-hand traffic.
^ Federally recognized Native American tribes are treated as "domestic dependent nations" with
tribal sovereignty rights .
[ 17]
^ The five major territories outside the union of states are
American Samoa ,
Guam , the
Northern Mariana Islands ,
Puerto Rico , and the
U.S. Virgin Islands . The seven undisputed island areas without permanent populations are
Baker Island ,
Howland Island ,
Jarvis Island ,
Johnston Atoll ,
Kingman Reef ,
Midway Atoll , and
Palmyra Atoll . U.S. sovereignty over the unpopulated
Bajo Nuevo Bank ,
Navassa Island ,
Serranilla Bank , and
Wake Island is disputed.
[ 18]
^ The
U.S. Census Bureau 's 2023 estimate was 334,914,895 residents. All official population figures are for the 50 states and the District of Columbia; they exclude the five major U.S. territories and outlying islands. The Census Bureau also provides a continuously updated but unofficial population clock in addition to
its decennial census and
annual population estimates :
www.census.gov/popclock
^ Based on
purchasing power
^ Including agencies such as the
International Monetary Fund and the
World Health Organization
^ From the late 15th century, the
Columbian exchange had been catastrophic for native populations throughout the Americas. It is estimated
that up to 95 percent of the indigenous populations , especially in the Caribbean,
perished from infectious diseases during the years following European colonization ;
[ 47] remaining populations were often displaced by European expansion.
[ 49]
^
New Hampshire ,
Massachusetts ,
Connecticut ,
Rhode Island ,
New York ,
New Jersey ,
Pennsylvania ,
Delaware ,
Maryland ,
Virginia ,
North Carolina ,
South Carolina , and
Georgia
^ Per the
U.S. Constitution, Amendment Twenty-three , proposed by the U.S. Congress on June 16, 1960, and ratified by the States on March 29, 1961
^ A country's total exports are usually understood to be goods and services. Based on this, the U.S. is the world's second-largest exporter, after China.
[ 300] However, if primary income is included, the U.S. is the world's largest exporter.
[ 301]
^ This figure, like most official data for the United States as a whole, excludes the five unincorporated territories (
Puerto Rico ,
Guam , the
U.S. Virgin Islands ,
American Samoa , and the
Northern Mariana Islands ) and minor island possessions.
^
Inupiaq ,
Siberian Yupik ,
Central Alaskan Yup'ik ,
Alutiiq ,
Unanga (Aleut),
Denaʼina ,
Deg Xinag ,
Holikachuk ,
Koyukon ,
Upper Kuskokwim ,
Gwichʼin ,
Tanana ,
Upper Tanana ,
Tanacross ,
Hän ,
Ahtna ,
Eyak ,
Tlingit ,
Haida , and
Tsimshian
^ Also known less formally as Obamacare
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