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Contents
(Top)
Etymology

History

Geography

Government and politics

Economy

Demographics
Culture and society

See also

Notes

References

External links

United States

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Coordinates: 40°N 100°W

Extended-protected article
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"America" redirects here. For the landmass comprising North and South America, see
Americas. For other uses, see America (disambiguation).
Several terms redirect here. For other uses, see US (disambiguation), USA
(disambiguation), United States (disambiguation), and The United States of America
(disambiguation).
United States of America

Flag

Coat of arms
Motto: "In God We Trust"[1]
Other traditional mottos:[2]
Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner"[3]
Duration: 1 minute and 29 seconds.1:29
Orthographic map of the U.S. in North America
Show globe (states and D.C. only)
Show the U.S. and its territories
Show territories with their exclusive economic zone
Show all
Capital Washington, D.C.
38°53′N 77°1′W
Largest city New York City
40°43′N 74°0′W
Official languages None at the federal level[a]
National language English[b]
Ethnic groups (2020)[4][5][6]

By race:

61.6% White
12.4% Black
6% Asian
1.1% Native American
0.2% Pacific Islander
10.2% two or more races
8.4% other

By origin:

81.3% non-Hispanic or Latino

18.7% Hispanic or Latino

Religion (2023)[7]

67% Christianity
33% Protestantism
22% Catholicism
1% Mormonism
11% other Christian
22% unaffiliated
2% Judaism
6% other religion
3% unanswered

Demonym(s) American[c][8]
Government Federal presidential republic
• President
Joe Biden
• Vice President
Kamala Harris
• House Speaker
Mike Johnson
• Chief Justice
John Roberts
Legislature Congress
• Upper house
Senate
• Lower house
House of Representatives
Independence from Great Britain
• Declaration
July 4, 1776
• Confederation
March 1, 1781
• Recognized
 September 3, 1783
• Constitution
June 21, 1788
Area
• 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)
Population
• 2023 estimate
Neutral increase 334,914,895[11]
• 2020 census
Neutral increase 331,449,281[e][12] (3rd)
• Density
87/sq mi (33.6/km2) (185th)
GDP (PPP) 2024 estimate
• Total
Increase $29.168 trillion[13] (2nd)
• Per capita
Increase $86,601[13] (8th)
GDP (nominal) 2024 estimate
• Total
Increase $29.168 trillion[13] (1st)
• Per capita
Increase $86,601[13] (6th)
Gini (2022) Negative increase 41.7[f][14]
medium inequality
HDI (2022) Increase 0.927[15]
very high (20th)
Currency U.S. dollar ($) (USD)
Time zone UTC−4 to −12, +10, +11
• Summer (DST)
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), commonly known as the United States (U.S.) or
America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal union of
50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous states
border Canada to the north and Mexico to the south, with the states of Alaska to
the northwest and the archipelagic Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The United States
also asserts sovereignty over five major island territories and various uninhabited
islands.[j] The country has the world's third-largest land area,[d] largest
exclusive economic zone, and third-largest population, exceeding 334 million.[k]
Its three largest metropolitan areas are New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and
its three most populous states are California, Texas, and Florida.

Paleo-Indians migrated across the Bering land bridge more than 12,000 years ago,
and formed 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 westward across North America, resulting in the dispossession
of native inhabitants. As more states were admitted, a North–South division over
slavery led to the secession of the Confederate States of America, which fought
states remaining in the Union in the 1861–1865 American Civil War. With the victory
and preservation of the United States, slavery was abolished nationally. By 1900,
the country had established itself as a great power, a status solidified after its
involvement in World War I. After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941,
the U.S. entered World War II. Its aftermath left the U.S. and the Soviet Union as
the world's two superpowers and led to the Cold War, during which both countries
struggled 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. Federalism provides substantial
autonomy to the 50 states, while the country's political culture promotes 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 over 15% of the global economy in
2023.[l] 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, human rights, 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 the United Nations,[m] as well as a
permanent member of the UN Security Council.
Etymology
Further information: Names of the United States, Demonyms for the United States,
and United Colonies

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.[20][21] The first known public usage is
an anonymous essay published in the Williamsburg newspaper, The Virginia Gazette,
on April 6, 1776.[20][22][23] By June 1776, the "United States of America" appeared
in the Articles of Confederation[24][25] and the Declaration of Independence.[24]
The Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4,
1776.[26]

The term "United States" and the initialism "U.S.", used as nouns or as adjectives
in English, are common short names for the country. The initialism "USA", a noun,
is also common.[27] "United States" and "U.S." are the established terms throughout
the U.S. federal government, with prescribed rules.[n] In English, the term
"America" rarely refers to topics unrelated to the United States, despite the usage
of "the Americas" as the totality of North and South America.[29] "The States" is
an established colloquial shortening of the name, used particularly from abroad;
[30] "stateside" is the corresponding adjective or adverb.[31]
History
Main article: History of the United States
For a topical guide, see Outline of the history of the United States.
Indigenous peoples
Main article: History of Native Americans in the United States
Further information: Native Americans in the United States and Pre-Columbian era
Cliff Palace, a settlement of ancestors of the Native American Pueblo peoples in
present-day Montezuma County, Colorado, built between c. 1200 and 1275[32]

The first inhabitants of North America migrated from Siberia across the Bering land
bridge about 12,000 years ago;[33][34] the Clovis culture, which appeared around
11,000 BC, is believed to be the first widespread culture in the Americas.[35][36]
Over time, indigenous North American cultures grew increasingly sophisticated, and
some, such as the Mississippian culture, developed agriculture, architecture, and
complex societies.[37] 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.[38] Native population estimates of
what is now the United States before the arrival of European immigrants range from
around 500,000[39][40] to nearly 10 million.[40][41]
European settlement and conflict (1607–1765)
Main articles: Colonial history of the United States and Colonial American military
history
See also: European colonization of the Americas
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.[42][43][44] France established its own settlements along the
Great Lakes, Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico.[45] British colonization of the
East Coast began with the Virginia Colony (1607) and Plymouth Colony (1620).[46]
[47] The Mayflower Compact and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut established
precedents for representative self-governance and constitutionalism that would
develop throughout the American colonies.[48][49] 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.[50][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.[54][55] Along the eastern
seaboard, settlers trafficked African slaves through the Atlantic slave trade.[56]

The original Thirteen Colonies[p] that would later found the United States were
administered as possessions of Great Britain,[57] and had local governments with
elections open to most white male property owners.[58][59] The colonial population
grew rapidly, eclipsing Native American populations;[60] by the 1770s, the natural
increase of the population was such that only a small minority of Americans had
been born overseas.[61] The colonies' distance from Britain allowed for the
development of self-governance,[62] and the First Great Awakening, a series of
Christian revivals, fueled colonial interest in religious liberty.[63]

For a century, the American colonists had been providing their own troops and
materiel in conflicts with indigenous peoples allied with Britain's colonial
rivals, especially France, and the Americans had begun to develop a sense of self-
defense and self-reliance separate from Britain. The French and Indian War (1754–
1763) took on new significance for all North American colonists after Parliament
under William Pitt the Elder concluded that major military resources needed to be
devoted to North America to win the war against France. For the first time, the
continent became one of the main theaters of what could be termed a "world war".
The British colonies' position as an integral part of the British Empire became
more apparent during the war, with British military and civilian officials becoming
a more significant presence in American life.

The war increased a sense of American identity as well. Men who otherwise never
left their own colony now traveled across the continent to fight alongside men from
decidedly different backgrounds but who were no less "American". British officers
trained American officers for battle, most notably George Washington; these
officers would lend their skills and expertise to the colonists' cause during the
American Revolutionary War to come. In addition, colonial legislatures and
officials found it necessary to cooperate intensively in pursuit of a coordinated,
continent-wide military effort.[64] Finally, deteriorating relations between the
British military establishment and the colonists, relations that were already less
than positive, set the stage for further distrust and dislike of British troops.
American Revolution and the early republic (1765–1800)
Main articles: American Revolution and American Revolutionary War
Further information: History of the United States (1776–1789) and History of the
United States (1789–1815)
See caption
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

Following their victory in 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. To demonstrate their dissatisfaction and resolve, the First Continental
Congress met in 1774 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 that named Thomas Jefferson to draft the Declaration of Independence.
Two days after passing the Lee Resolution to create an independent nation the
Declaration was adopted on July 4, 1776.[65] The political values of the American
Revolution included liberty, inalienable individual rights; and the sovereignty of
the people;[66] supporting republicanism and rejecting monarchy, aristocracy, and
all hereditary political power; civic virtue; and vilification of political
corruption.[67] The Founding Fathers of the United States, who included Washington,
Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James
Madison, Thomas Paine, and many others, were inspired by Greco-Roman, Renaissance,
and Enlightenment philosophies and ideas.[68][69]

The Articles of Confederation were ratified in 1781 and established a decentralized

government that operated until 1789.[65] 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.
[70] 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.[71] 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.[72] 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.[73][74] His resignation as commander-in-chief after the
Revolutionary War and his later refusal to run for a third term as the country's
first president established a precedent for the supremacy of civil authority in the
United States and the peaceful transfer of power, respectively.[75][76]
Westward expansion and Civil War (1800–1865)
Further information: History of the United States (1815–1849) and History of the
United States (1849–1865)
Historical territorial expansion of the United States
Division of the states during the American Civil War:
 Union states
Border states
Confederate states
Territories

The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 from France nearly doubled the territory of the
United States.[77][78] Lingering issues with Britain remained, leading to the War
of 1812, which was fought to a draw.[79][80] Spain ceded Florida and its Gulf Coast
territory in 1819.[81] In the late 18th century, American settlers began to expand
westward, many with a sense of manifest destiny.[82][83] The Missouri Compromise
attempted to balance the desire of northern states to prevent the expansion of
slavery into new territories with that of southern states to extend it, admitting
Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It further prohibited slavery
in all other lands of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36°30′ parallel.[84] As
Americans expanded further into land inhabited by Native Americans, the federal
government often applied policies of Indian removal or assimilation.[85][86] The
Trail of Tears (1830–1850) was a U.S. government policy that forcibly removed and
displaced most Native Americans living east of the Mississippi River to lands far
to the west. These and earlier organized displacements prompted a long series of
American Indian Wars west of the Mississippi.[87][88] The Republic of Texas was
annexed in 1845,[89] and the 1846 Oregon Treaty led to U.S. control of the present-
day American Northwest.[90] 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.[82][91] The California gold rush of 1848–1849 spurred a
huge migration of white settlers to the Pacific coast, leading to even more
confrontations with Native populations. One of the most violent, the California
genocide of thousands of Native inhabitants, lasted into the early 1870s,[92] just
as additional western territories and states were created.[93]

During the colonial period, slavery had been legal in the American colonies, though
the practice began to be significantly questioned during the American Revolution.
[94] States in the North enacted abolition laws,[95] though support for slavery
strengthened in Southern states, as inventions such as the cotton gin made the
institution increasingly profitable for Southern elites.[96][97][98] This sectional
conflict regarding slavery culminated in the American Civil War (1861–1865).[99]
[100] Eleven slave states seceded and formed the Confederate States of America,
while the other states remained in the Union.[101][102] War broke out in April 1861
after the Confederates bombarded Fort Sumter.[103][104] After the January 1863
Emancipation Proclamation, many freed slaves joined the Union army.[105] 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.[106] 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.[107]
Post–Civil War era (1865–1917)
Main article: History of the United States (1865–1917)
Duration: 2 minutes and 27 seconds.2:27
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[108][109]

From 1865 through 1917 an unprecedented stream of immigrants arrived in the United
States, including 24.4 million from Europe.[110] 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.[111] During the Great Migration,
millions of African Americans left the rural South for urban areas in the North.
[112] Alaska was purchased from Russia in 1867.[113]

The Compromise of 1877 effectively ended Reconstruction and white supremacists took
local control of Southern politics.[114][115] African Americans endured a period of
heightened, overt racism following Reconstruction, a time often called the nadir of
American race relations.[116][117] 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.[118]

An explosion of technological advancement accompanied by the exploitation of cheap

immigrant labor[119] led to rapid economic expansion during the late 19th and early
20th centuries, allowing the United States to outpace the economies of England,
France, and Germany combined.[120][121] This fostered the amassing of power by a
few prominent industrialists, largely by their formation of trusts and monopolies
to prevent competition.[122] Tycoons led the nation's expansion in the railroad,
petroleum, and steel industries. The United States emerged as a pioneer of the
automotive industry.[123] 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.[124][125][126] This period
eventually ended with the advent of the Progressive Era, which was characterized by
significant reforms.[127][128]

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.)[129] American
Samoa was acquired by the United States in 1900 after the Second Samoan Civil War.
[130] The U.S. Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark in 1917.[131]
Rise as a superpower (1917–1945)
Main article: History of the United States (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.[132] In 1920, a constitutional
amendment granted nationwide women's suffrage.[133] During the 1920s and '30s,
radio for mass communication and the invention of early television transformed
communications nationwide.[134] 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 and public works projects combined with financial
reforms and regulations. All were intended to protect against future economic
depressions.[135][136]

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.[137][138] 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.[139][140] 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.[141][142] The U.S. emerged relatively unscathed from the war,
with even greater economic power and international political influence.[143]
Cold War (1945–1991)
Main article: Cold War
Further information: History of the United States (1945–1964), History of the
United States (1964–1980), and History of the United States (1980–1991)
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.[144][145][146] The U.S. utilized the policy of containment to limit
the USSR's sphere of influence, and prevailed in the Space Race, which culminated
with the first crewed Moon landing in 1969.[147][148] Domestically, the U.S.
experienced economic growth, urbanization, and population growth following World
War II.[149] The civil rights movement emerged, with Martin Luther King Jr.
becoming a prominent leader in the early 1960s.[150] 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.[151] The counterculture movement
in the U.S. brought significant social changes, including the liberalization of
attitudes toward recreational drug use and sexuality.[152][153] 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).[154] A societal shift in the roles of women was significantly
responsible for the large increase in female paid labor participation during the
1970s, and by 1985 the majority of American women aged 16 and older were employed.
[155] The late 1980s and early 1990s saw the fall of communism and the collapse of
the Soviet Union, which marked the end of the Cold War and left the United States
as the world's sole superpower.[156][157][158][159]
Contemporary (1991–present)
Main articles: History of the United States (1991–2008) and History of the United
States (2008–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 U.S. crime rates, and advances in technology. Throughout this
decade, technological innovations such as 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 either emerged in the U.S. or
were improved upon there. 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.[160]

In the Gulf War of 1991, an American-led international coalition of states expelled

an Iraqi invasion force that had occupied neighboring Kuwait.[161] 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.[162][163] 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.[164] Coming to a head in the
2010s, political polarization in the country increased between liberal and
conservative factions.[165][166][167] This polarization was capitalized upon in the
January 2021 Capitol attack,[168] when a mob of insurrectionists[169] entered the
U.S. Capitol and sought to prevent the peaceful transfer of power[170] in an
attempted self-coup d'état.[171]
Geography
Main article: Geography of the United States
See also: Borders of the United States
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][172][173] The 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia
occupy a combined area of 3,119,885 square miles (8,080,470 km2).[10][174][175] The
coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way to inland forests and rolling
hills in the Piedmont plateau region.[176]

The Appalachian Mountains and the Adirondack massif separate the East Coast from
the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest.[177] 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.[177]
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.[178] Farther west are
the rocky Great Basin and Chihuahua, Sonoran, and Mojave deserts.[179] 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,[180] about 84 miles (135 km) apart.[181] At an elevation of 20,310 feet
(6,190.5 m), Alaska's Denali is the highest peak in the country and continent.[182]
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.[183] In 2021, the United States had 8% of global
permanent meadows and pastures and 10% of cropland.[184]
Climate
Main article: Climate of the United States
See also: Climate change in the United States
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.[185] 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.[186]

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.[187] Overall, the
United States receives more high-impact extreme weather incidents than any other
country.[188][189] 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.[190] The
regions considered as the most attractive to the population are the most
vulnerable.[191]
Biodiversity and conservation
Main articles: Fauna of the United States and Flora of the United States

A bald eagle
The bald eagle, the national bird of the United States since 1782[192]

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.[193] The United States is home to 428 mammal
species, 784 birds, 311 reptiles, 295 amphibians,[194] and around 91,000 insect
species.[195]

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.[196] About 28% of the country's land is publicly owned and federally
managed,[197] primarily in the Western States.[198] Most of this land is protected,
though some is leased for commercial use, and less than one percent is used for
military purposes.[199][200]

Environmental issues in the United States include debates on non-renewable

resources and nuclear energy, air and water pollution, biodiversity, logging and
deforestation,[201][202] and climate change.[203][204] The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) is the federal agency charged with addressing most
environmental-related issues.[205] The idea of wilderness has shaped the management
of public lands since 1964, with the Wilderness Act.[206] 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.[207] In 2024, the U.S. ranked 34th among 180 countries in the Environmental
Performance Index.[208] The country joined the Paris Agreement on climate change in
2016 and has many other environmental commitments.[209]
Government and politics
Main article: Politics of the United States
Further information: Elections in the United States, Political ideologies in the
United States, Americanism (ideology), and American civil religion
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 separate federal capital
district, Washington, D.C. It also asserts sovereignty over five unincorporated
territories and several uninhabited island possessions.[17][210] The U.S. is the
world's oldest surviving federation,[211] and its presidential system of national
government has been adopted, in whole or in part, by many newly independent states
worldwide following their decolonization.[212] It is a liberal representative
democracy "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law".
[213] 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. The U.S.
Constitution is the world's oldest national constitution still in effect (from
March 4, 1789).
National government
Main article: Federal government of the United States

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.[214]

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,[215] and has the power of impeachment.[216] 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.
Congressional districts are drawn by each state legislature and are contiguous
within the state.[217] 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.
[218] Congressional oversight is usually delegated to committees and is facilitated
by Congress's subpoena power.[219] 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 head of state, commander-in-chief of the military,
chief executive of the federal government, and has 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.[220] 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.
[221] 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. Each
state is allocated two electors plus one additional elector for each congressional
district, which in effect combines to equal the number of elected officials that
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.[222] 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.[223] 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.[224]
Political parties
Main articles: Political parties in the United States and List of political parties
in the United States
See also: Political party strength in U.S. states
U.S. state governments (governor and legislature) by party control, as of 2024:
Democratic control
Republican control
Split control

The Constitution is silent on political parties. However, they developed

independently in the 18th century with the Federalist and Anti-Federalist parties.
[225] 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.[226] 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.[227]
Subdivisions
Main articles: U.S. state and County (United States)
See also: State governments of the United States and Local government in the United
States
Further information: List of states and territories of the United States, Indian
reservation, Territories of the United States, and Territorial evolution of the
United States

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.
[228] States are subdivided into counties or county equivalents, and further
divided into municipalities. The District of Columbia is a federal district
containing the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C..[229] The federal district is an
administrative division of the federal government.[230] Federally recognized tribes
govern 326 Indian reservations.[231]
Foreign relations
Main articles: Foreign relations of the United States and Foreign policy of the
United States
see caption
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. It is a permanent member of the
United Nations Security Council,[232] and home to the United Nations headquarters.
[233] The United States is a member of the G7,[234] G20,[235] and OECD
intergovernmental organizations.[236] 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,[237]
North Korea,[238] and Bhutan.[239] Though Taiwan does not have formal diplomatic
relations with the U.S., it maintains close unofficial relations.[240] The United
States regularly supplies Taiwan with military equipment to deter potential Chinese
aggression.[241] Its geopolitical attention also turned to the Indo-Pacific when
the United States joined the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Australia, India,
and Japan.[242]

The United States has a "Special Relationship" with the United Kingdom[243] and
strong ties with Canada,[244] Australia,[245] New Zealand,[246] the Philippines,
[247] Japan,[248] South Korea,[249] Israel,[250] and several European Union
countries (France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Poland).[251] 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.[252] The U.S. exercises
full international defense authority and responsibility for Micronesia, the
Marshall Islands, and Palau through the Compact of Free Association.[222] It has
increasingly conducted strategic cooperation with India,[253] but its ties with
China have steadily deteriorated.[254][255] Since 2014, the U.S. has become a key
ally of Ukraine;[256] it has also provided the country with significant military
equipment and other support in response to Russia's 2022 invasion.[257]
Military
Main article: United States Armed Forces
See also: Military history of the United States
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.[258] 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.[259]

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.[260][261] The U.S. has 42% of the world's
nuclear weapons—the second-largest share after Russia.[262]

The United States has the third-largest combined armed forces in the world, behind
the Chinese People's Liberation Army and Indian Armed Forces.[263] The military
operates about 800 bases and facilities abroad,[264] and maintains deployments
greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries.[265]

State defense forces (SDFs) are military units that operate under the sole
authority of a state government. SDFs are authorized by state and federal law but
are under the command of the state's governor.[266][267][268] They are distinct
from the state's National Guard units in that they cannot become federalized
entities. A state's National Guard personnel, however, may be federalized under the
National Defense Act Amendments of 1933, which created the Guard and provides for
the integration of Army National Guard units and personnel into the U.S. Army and
(since 1947) the U.S. Air Force.[269]
Law enforcement and criminal justice
Main articles: Law of the United States, Law enforcement in the United States, and
Crime in the United States
See also: Censorship in the United States and Race and crime in the United States
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.[270] 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.[271] State courts conduct most civil and criminal trials,[272] and federal
courts handle designated crimes and appeals of state court decisions.[273]

There is no unified "criminal justice system" in the United States. The American
prison system is largely heterogenous, with thousands of relatively independent
systems operating across federal, state, local, and 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."[274] Despite disparate systems of confinement, four main institutions
dominate: federal prisons, state prisons, local jails, and juvenile correctional
facilities.[275] Federal prisons are run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and hold
people who have been convicted of federal crimes, including pretrial detainees.
[275] 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.[275] Local jails are county or municipal facilities that incarcerate
defendants prior to trial; they also hold those serving short sentences (typically
under a year).[275] 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.[276]

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.
[274][277][278] 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".[279]
Economy
Main article: Economy of the United States
Further information: Economic history of the United States and Tourism in the
United States
see caption
The U.S. dollar, the most-used currency in international transactions and the
world's foremost reserve currency[280]

The U.S. has been the world's largest economy nominally since about 1890.[281] 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).[13][282] 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
G7.[283] The country ranks first in the world by nominal GDP,[284] 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.[285] As of February 2024, the total federal government debt was
$34.4 trillion.[286]
Microsoft, the world's biggest company by market capitalization,[287] has its
global headquarters in Redmond, Washington, north of Seattle.

Of the world's 500 largest companies by revenue, 136 are headquartered in the U.S.
as of 2023,[288] which is the highest number of any country.[289] 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.
[280] Several countries use it as their official currency, and in others it is the
de facto currency.[290][291] It has free trade agreements with several countries,
including the USMCA.[292] The U.S. ranked second in the Global Competitiveness
Report in 2019, after Singapore.[293] Although the United States has reached a
post-industrial level of development[294] and is often described as having a
service economy,[294][295] it remains a major industrial power.[296] As of 2021,
the U.S. is the second-largest manufacturing country after China.[297]
The New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, the world's largest stock exchange by
market capitalization[298]

New York City is the world's principal financial center[299][300] and the epicenter
of the world's largest metropolitan economy.[301] 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.[302][303] The United States is at or
near the forefront of technological advancement and innovation[304] in many
economic fields, especially in artificial intelligence; electronics and computers;
pharmaceuticals; and medical, aerospace and military equipment.[172] The country's
economy is fueled by abundant natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure,
and high productivity.[305] The largest trading partners of the United States are
the European Union, Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom,
Vietnam, India, and Taiwan.[306] 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.[309]

Americans have the highest average household and employee income among OECD member
states,[310] and the fourth-highest median household income,[311] up from sixth-
highest in 2013.[312] With personal consumption expenditures of over $18.5 trillion
in 2023,[313] the U.S. has a heavily consumer-driven economy and is by far the
world's largest consumer market.[314] 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%.[315] Income inequality in the
U.S. remains at record highs,[316] with the top fifth of earners taking home more
than half of all income[317] and giving the U.S. one of the widest income
distributions among OECD members.[318][319] The U.S. ranks first in the number of
dollar billionaires and millionaires, with 735 billionaires and nearly 22 million
millionaires as of 2023.[320] 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.[321] In 2022, 6.4 million children experienced food
insecurity.[322] 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.[323] As of 2022, 37.9 million people,
or 11.5% of the U.S. population, were living in poverty.[324]

The United States has a smaller welfare state and redistributes less income through
government action than most other high-income countries.[325][326] It is the only
advanced economy that does not guarantee its workers paid vacation nationally[327]
and is one of a few countries in the world without federal paid family leave as a
legal right.[328] 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.[329]
Science, technology, spaceflight and energy
Main articles: Science and technology in the United States, Space policy of the
United States, and Energy in the United States
See also: Communications in the United States

The United States has been a leader in technological innovation since the late 19th
century and scientific research since the mid-20th century.[330] 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.[331] By the early 20th century, factory electrification, the introduction
of the assembly line, and other labor-saving techniques created the system of mass
production.[332] The United States is widely considered to be the leading country
in the development of artificial intelligence technology.[333][334][335] In 2022,
the United States was (after China) the country with the second-highest number of
published scientific papers.[336] In 2021, the U.S. ranked second (also after
China) by the number of patent applications, and third by trademark and industrial
design applications (after China and Germany), according to World Intellectual
Property Indicators.[337] In 2023 and 2024, the United States ranked third (after
Switzerland and Sweden) in the Global Innovation Index.[338][339] The U.S. has the
highest total research and development expenditure of any country[340] and ranks
ninth as a percentage of GDP.[341] In 2023, the United States was ranked the second
most technologically advanced country in the world (after South Korea) by Global
Finance magazine.[342]
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.[343][344] NASA's Apollo program (1961–1972) achieved the first crewed Moon
landing with the 1969 Apollo 11 mission; it remains one of the agency's most
significant milestones.[345][346] Other major endeavors by NASA include the Space
Shuttle program (1981–2011),[347] the Voyager program (1972–present), the Hubble
and James Webb space telescopes (launched in 1990 and 2021, respectively),[348]
[349] and the multi-mission Mars Exploration Program (Spirit and Opportunity,
Curiosity, and Perseverance).[350] NASA is one of five agencies collaborating on
the International Space Station (ISS);[351] 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.[352] The United States
private sector dominates the global commercial spaceflight industry.[353] Prominent
American spaceflight contractors include Blue Origin, Boeing, Lockheed Martin,
Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX. NASA programs such as the Commercial Crew Program,
Commercial Resupply Services, Commercial Lunar Payload Services, and NextSTEP have
facilitated growing private-sector involvement in American spaceflight.[354]

As of 2023, 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%).[355][356] The United States constitutes less than 4% of the world's
population, but consumes around 16% of the world's energy.[357] The U.S. ranks as
the second-highest emitter of greenhouse gases.[358]
Transportation
Main article: Transportation in the United States
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.[359]

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 federal government; the
Federal Aviation Administration regulates all aspects of civil aviation, air
traffic management, certification and compliance, and aviation safety. 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).[360]

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.
Interchange between Interstate 10 and Interstate 45 in Houston, Texas

Commercial 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 routes accelerated a decline in demand for
interstate and 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 American civil airline industry is entirely owned by corporations and has been
largely deregulated since 1978, while most major airports are publicly owned.[361]
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.[362] 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.
[363][364] As of 2022, 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.
[365]

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 only 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.

Public transportation in the United States includes bus, commuter rail, ferry, and
sometimes airline service. Public transit systems serve areas of higher population
density where demand is greatest. Many U.S. cities, towns, and suburbs are car-
dependent, however, and subrurban public transit is less common and service far
less frequent. Most U.S. urban areas have some form of public transit, notably city
buses, while the largest (e.g. New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston,
San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon) operate extensive systems that also include
subways or light rail.[366] Most public transit service in the United States is run
by local governments, but national and regional commuter lines serve major U.S.
urban corridors.

Personal transportation in the United States is dominated by automobiles,[367][368]

which operate on a network of 4 million miles (6.4 million kilometers) of public
roads, making it the longest in the world.[369][370] The country's rail transport
network, also the longest in the world at 182,412.3 mi (293,564.2 km),[371] handles
mostly freight.[372][373] 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.
[374]

The Oldsmobile Curved Dash and the Ford Model T, both American cars, are considered
the first mass-produced[375] and mass-affordable[376] cars, respectively. As of
2023, the United States is the second-largest manufacturer of motor vehicles[377]
and is home to Tesla, the world's most valuable car company.[378] American
automotive company General Motors held the title of the world's best-selling
automaker from 1931 to 2008.[379] The American automotive industry is the world's
second-largest automobile market by sales, having been overtaken by China in 2010,
[380] and the U.S. has the highest vehicle ownership per capita in the world,[381]
with 910 vehicles per 1000 people.[382] By value, the U.S. was the world's largest
importer and third-largest exporter of cars in 2022.[383]
Demographics
Main article: Demographics of the United States
Population
Main articles: Americans and Race and ethnicity in the United States
See also: List of U.S. states by population
The 10 most populous U.S. states
(2020 U.S. census)[384][385] State Population (millions)
California
39.0
Texas
30.5
Florida
22.6
New York
19.6
Pennsylvania
13.0
Illinois
12.5
Ohio
11.7
Georgia
11.0
North Carolina
10.8
Michigan
10.0

The U.S. Census Bureau reported 331,449,281 residents as of April 1, 2020,[s][386]

making the United States the third-most-populous country in the world, after China
and India.[172] 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.[387] In 2023, 51% of Americans age 15 and over were married, 6%
were widowed, 10% were divorced, and 34% had never been married.[388] In 2023, the
total fertility rate for the U.S. stood at 1.6 children per woman,[389] and, at
23%, it had the world's highest rate of children living in single-parent households
in 2019.[390]
The United States has a diverse population; 37 ancestry groups have more than one
million members.[391] 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.[392][393] 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.[391] 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%,[391] and some 574 native tribes are recognized by the federal
government.[394] In 2022, the median age of the United States population was 38.9
years.[395]
Language
Main article: Languages of the United States
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.[396] 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.[397] Three states
and four U.S. territories have recognized local or indigenous languages in addition
to English, including Hawaii (Hawaiian),[398] Alaska (twenty Native languages),[t]
[399] South Dakota (Sioux),[400] 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.[401] In
Puerto Rico, Spanish is more widely spoken than English.[402]

According to the American Community Survey (2020),[403] some 245.4 million people
out of the total U.S. population of 334 million spoke only English at home. About
41.2 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 (3.40 million), Tagalog (1.71 million), Vietnamese (1.52 million), Arabic
(1.39 million), French (1.18 million), Korean (1.07 million), and Russian (1.04
million). German, spoken by 1 million people at home in 2010, fell to 857,000 total
speakers in 2020.[404]
Immigration
Main article: Immigration to the United States
See also: United States Border Patrol
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.[405][406] 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.[407] 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.[408] 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%).[409] In fiscal year 2022, over one
million immigrants (most of whom entered through family reunification) were granted
legal residence.[410] The United States led the world in refugee resettlement for
decades, admitting more refugees than the rest of the world combined.[411]
Religion
Main article: Religion in the United States
See also: List of religious movements that began in the United States

Religious affiliation in the U.S., according to a 2023 Gallup poll:[7]

Protestantism (33%)
Catholicism (22%)
Non-specific Christian (11%)
 Judaism (2%)
Mormonism (1%)
Other religion (6%)
Unaffiliated (22%)
Unanswered (3%)

The First Amendment guarantees the free exercise of religion in the country and
forbids Congress from passing laws respecting its establishment.[412][413]
Religious practice is widespread, among the most diverse in the world,[414] and
profoundly vibrant.[415] The country has the world's largest Christian population.
[416] Other notable faiths include Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, many New Age
movements, and Native American religions.[417] Religious practice varies
significantly by region.[418] "Ceremonial deism" is common in American culture.
[419]

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.[420][421] 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.[418]
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[422]—remains the predominant religion in Utah to this day.[423]
Urbanization
Main articles: Urbanization in the United States and List of United States cities
by population

About 82% of Americans live in urban areas, including suburbs;[172] about half of
those reside in cities with populations over 50,000.[424] 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.[425] Many U.S. metropolitan populations are
growing rapidly, particularly in the South and West.[426]

vte

Largest metropolitan areas in the United States

2023 MSA population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau[427]
Rank Name Region Pop. Rank Name Region Pop.
New York
New York
Los Angeles
Los Angeles 1 New York Northeast 19,498,249 11 Boston
Northeast 4,919,179 Chicago
Chicago
Dallas–Fort Worth
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
See also: Healthcare in the United States, Healthcare reform in the United States,
and Health insurance in the United States
The Texas Medical Center, a cluster of contemporary skyscrapers, at night
Texas Medical Center in Houston is the largest medical complex in the world.[428]
[429] As of 2018, it employed 120,000 people and treated 10 million patients
annually.[430]

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". Higher overall mortality due especially to the health impact of the COVID-19
pandemic as well as opioid overdoses and suicides were held mostly responsible for
the previous drop in life expectancy.[431] 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.
[432] The U.S. has one of the highest suicide rates among high-income countries.
[433] Approximately one-third of the U.S. adult population is obese and another
third is overweight.[434] 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.[435] 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.[436] 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][437] Abortion in the
United States is not federally protected, and is illegal or restricted in 17
states.[438]
Education
Main article: Education in the United States
Photograph of the University of Virginia
77% of American college students attend public institutions[439] 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. School systems are 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.[440] The U.S. spends more on education per student
than any country in the world,[441] an average of $18,614 per year per public
elementary and secondary school student in 2020–2021.[442] 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.[443] The U.S.
literacy rate is near-universal.[172][444] The country has the most Nobel Prize
winners of any country, with 411 (having won 413 awards).[445][446]

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.[447][448] 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.[449]

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.[450] 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,[451] student loan debt increased by 102% between 2010 and 2020,[452] and
exceeded $1.7 trillion as of 2022.[453]
Culture and society
Main articles: Culture of the United States and Society of the United States
The Statue of Liberty, a large teal bronze sculpture on a stone pedestal
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.[454]

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.[455][456] Culturally, the country has been described as having the
values of individualism and personal autonomy,[457][458] as well as having a strong
work ethic,[459] competitiveness,[460] and voluntary altruism towards others.[461]
[462][463] 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.[464] The United States is home to a wide variety of ethnic groups,
traditions, and values.[465][466] It has acquired significant cultural and economic
soft power.[467][468]

Nearly all present Americans or their ancestors came from Europe, Africa, or Asia
(the "Old World") within the past five centuries.[469] 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.[470] 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.
[471][472] Whether this perception is accurate has been a topic of debate.[473]
[474][475] While mainstream culture holds that the United States is a classless
society,[476] scholars identify significant differences between the country's
social classes, affecting socialization, language, and values.[477][478] Americans
tend to greatly value socioeconomic achievement, but being ordinary or average is
promoted by some as a noble condition as well.[479]

The National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities is an agency of the United
States federal government that was established in 1965 with the purpose to "develop
and promote a broadly conceived national policy of support for the humanities and
the arts in the United States, and for institutions which preserve the cultural
heritage of the United States."[480] It is composed of four sub-agencies:

National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Humanities
Institute of Museum and Library Services
 Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities

The United States is considered to have the strongest protections of free speech of
any country under the First Amendment,[481] which protects flag desecration, hate
speech, blasphemy, and lese-majesty as forms of protected expression.[482][483]
[484] A 2016 Pew Research Center poll found that Americans were the most supportive
of free expression of any polity measured.[485] They are the "most supportive of
freedom of the press and the right to use the Internet without government
censorship."[486] The U.S. is a socially progressive country[487] with permissive
attitudes surrounding human sexuality.[488] LGBT rights in the United States are
advanced by global standards.[488][489][490]
Literature
Main articles: American literature and American philosophy
See also: List of American novelists and List of playwrights from the United States
Photograph of Mark Twain
Mark Twain, whom William Faulkner called "the father of American literature"[491]

Colonial American authors were influenced by John Locke and various other
Enlightenment philosophers.[492][493] 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.[494][495] 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,[496] who took
American poetry and short fiction in new directions. Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Margaret Fuller pioneered the influential Transcendentalism movement;[497][498]
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.[499][500]
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.[501][502] Naturalism, regionalism,
and realism were the major literary movements of the period.[503][504]

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.[505] 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.[506][507] In the 1950s, an ideal
of homogeneity led many authors to attempt to write the Great American Novel,[508]
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.[509][510] 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.[511] As of 2024 there have been 12
American laureates for the Nobel Prize in literature.[512]
Mass media
Main article: Mass media in the United States
See also: Newspapers in the United States, Television in the United States,
Broadcasting in the United States, Public broadcasting in the United States,
Internet in the United States, Radio in the United States, and Video games in the
United States
Comcast Center in Philadelphia, headquarters of Comcast, one of the world's largest
telecommunications companies and media conglomerates

Media is broadly uncensored, with the First Amendment providing significant

protections, as reiterated in New York Times Co. v. United States.[481] 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.[513] As of 2021, about 83% of Americans over age 12 listen to
broadcast radio, while about 40% listen to podcasts.[514] As of 2020, there were
15,460 licensed full-power radio stations in the U.S. according to the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC).[515] Much of the public radio broadcasting is
supplied by NPR, incorporated in February 1970 under the Public Broadcasting Act of
1967.[516]

U.S. newspapers with a global reach and reputation include The Wall Street Journal,
The New York Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today.[517] About 800 publications
are produced in Spanish.[518][519] 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.[520]

As of 2022, the video game market of the United States is the world's largest by
revenue.[521] There are 444 publishers, developers, and hardware companies in
California alone.[522]
Theater
Main article: Theater in the United States
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.[523] 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.[524] The central hub of the American theater scene is the
Theater District in Manhattan, with its divisions of Broadway, off-Broadway, and
off-off-Broadway.[525]

Many movie and television celebrities 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.[526]

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.[527]
Visual arts
Main articles: Visual art of the United States and Architecture of the United
States
American Gothic (1930) by Grant Wood is one of the most famous American paintings
and is widely parodied.[528]

Folk art in colonial America grew out of artisanal craftsmanship in communities

that allowed commonly trained people to individually express themselves. It was
distinct from Europe's tradition of high art, which was less accessible and
generally less relevant to early American settlers.[529] Cultural movements in art
and craftsmanship in colonial America generally lagged behind those of Western
Europe. For example, the prevailing medieval style of woodworking and primitive
sculpture became integral to early American folk art, despite the emergence of
Renaissance styles in England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The new
English styles would have been early enough to make a considerable impact on
American folk art, but American styles and forms had already been firmly adopted.
Not only did styles change slowly in early America, but there was a tendency for
rural artisans there to continue their traditional forms longer than their urban
counterparts did—and far longer than those in Western Europe.[481]

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.[530]

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.
[531]

The tide of modernism and then postmodernism has brought global fame to American
architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Philip Johnson, and Frank Gehry.[532] The
Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan is the largest art museum in the United
States[533] and the fourth-largest in the world.
Music
Main article: Music of the United States

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.[534] The rhythmic and lyrical styles of African-
American music in particular have influenced American music.[535] 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.[536][537] 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.[538]
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.[539] Country music
developed in the 1920s,[540] rock and roll in the 1930s,[538] and bluegrass[541]
and rhythm and blues in the 1940s.[542] In the 1960s, Bob Dylan emerged from the
folk revival to become one of the country's most celebrated songwriters.[543] The
musical forms of punk and hip hop both originated in the United States in the
1970s.[544]

The United States has the world's largest music market with a total retail value of
$15.9 billion in 2022.[545] 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).[546] Mid-20th-century American pop stars, such as Frank Sinatra[547] and
Elvis Presley,[548] became global celebrities and best-selling music artists,[539]
as have artists of the late 20th century, such as Michael Jackson,[549] Madonna,
[550] Whitney Houston,[551] and Prince,[552] and the early 21st century, such as
Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.[553]
Fashion
Main article: Fashion in the United States
Haute couture fashion models on the catwalk during New York Fashion Week

The United States is the world's largest apparel market by revenue.[554] 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.[555] 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.
[556]

The headquarters of many designer labels reside in Manhattan. Labels cater to niche
markets, such as preteens. New York Fashion Week is one of the most influential
fashion weeks in the world, and occurs twice a year;[557] while the annual Met Gala
in Manhattan is commonly known as the fashion world's "biggest night".[558][559]
Cinema
Main article: Cinema of the United States
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.[560][561][562] 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.[563][564] 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.[565]
The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, have been held annually by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1929,[566] and the Golden Globe
Awards have been held annually since January 1944.[567]

The industry peaked in what is commonly referred to as the "Golden Age of

Hollywood", from the early sound period until the early 1960s,[568] with screen
actors such as John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe becoming iconic figures.[569][570] In
the 1970s, "New Hollywood", or the "Hollywood Renaissance",[571] was defined by
grittier films influenced by French and Italian realist pictures of the post-war
period.[572] The 21st century has been marked by the rise of American streaming
platforms, which came to rival traditional cinema.[573][574]
Cuisine
Main article: American cuisine
Further information: List of American regional and fusion cuisines
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,[575] beef, and milk, to create a distinctive American cuisine.[576][577] 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.[578]

Characteristic American dishes such as apple pie, fried chicken, doughnuts, french
fries, macaroni and cheese, ice cream, hamburgers, hot dogs, and American pizza
derive from the recipes of various immigrant groups.[579][580][581][582] 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.[583] 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.
[584][585]

The United States restaurant industry was projected at $899 billion in sales for
2020,[586][587] and employed more than 15 million people, representing 10% of the
nation's workforce directly.[586] It is the country's second-largest private
employer and the third-largest employer overall.[588][589] The United States is
home to over 220 Michelin Star-rated restaurants, 70 of which are in New York City
alone.[590] 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.[591][592][593] 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.[594][595]

The American fast-food industry developed alongside the nation's car culture.[596]
American restaurants developed the drive-in format in the 1920s, which they began
to replace with the drive-through format by the 1940s.[597][598] American fast-food
restaurant chains, such as McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dunkin' Donuts and
many others, have numerous outlets around the world.[599]
Sports
Main article: Sports in the United States
See also: Professional sports leagues in the United States, National Collegiate
Athletic Association, and United States at the Olympics
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.[600] 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.[601] Lacrosse and surfing arose from Native American
and Native Hawaiian activities that predate European contact.[602] 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.[603]

American football is by several measures the most popular spectator sport in the
United States;[604] 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.[605] 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.[606][607]

On the collegiate level, earnings for the member institutions exceed $1 billion
annually,[608] 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.[609] 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.[610]

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.
[611] 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.[612][613][614]

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.[615] The United
States hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup and will co-host, along with Canada and
Mexico, the 2026 FIFA World Cup.[616] 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.[617]
See also

Lists of U.S. state topics

Outline of the United States

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.
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)[18]
Only internal waters included: 3,696,100 sq mi (9,572,900 km2)[19]
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.
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.[17]
The U.S. Census Bureau's latest official population estimate of 334,914,895
residents (2023) is for the 50 states and the District of Columbia; it excludes the
3.6 million residents of the five major U.S. territories and outlying islands. The
Census Bureau also provides a continuously updated but unofficial population clock:
www.census.gov/popclock
Based on purchasing power
Including agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Health
Organization
The official U.S. Government Publishing Office Style Manual has prescribed specific
usages for "U.S." and "United States" as part of official names. In "formal writing
(treaties, Executive orders, proclamations, etc.); congressional bills; legal
citations and courtwork; and covers and title pages",[28] "United States" is always
used. In a sentence containing the name of another country, "United States" must be
used. Otherwise, "U.S." is used preceding a government organization or as an
adjective, but "United States" is used as an adjective preceding non-governmental
organizations (e.g. United States Steel Corporation).[28]
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;[51] remaining
populations were often displaced by European expansion.[52][53]
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.[307] However,
if primary income is included, the U.S. is the world's largest exporter.[308]
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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