United States of America

Region: North America

Official language: None (English, de facto)

Population: 341,963,408 (2024 est.)

Nationality: American(s) (noun), American (adjective)

Land area: 9,161,966 sq km (3,537,453 sq miles)

Water area: 664,709 sq km (256,645 sq miles)

Capital: Washington, DC

National anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner", by Francis Scott Key/John Stafford Smith

National holiday: Independence Day, July 4 (1776)

Population growth: 0.67% (2024 est.)

Time zone: The United States covers six time zones, Eastern Time (UTC–5), Central Time (UTC–6), Mountain time (UTC–7), Pacific Time (UTC–8), Alaska Time (UTC –9), Hawaii-Aleutian Time (UTC–10)

Flag: The United States flag features a blue rectangular field in the canton (upper hoist, or left, side), with fifty white stars representing the fifty states arranged in rows. Thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red alternating with white fill out the rest of the flag, with the red occupying both the top and bottom stripes. The alternating stripes of red and white stand for the thirteen original colonies. Ideals represented by the flag’s colors include courage, truth, justice, and purity.

Motto: “E Pluribus Unum” (Out of Many, One)

Independence: July 4, 1776 (declared); September 3, 1783 (recognized by Great Britain)

Government type: constitution-based federal republic structured on democratic tradition

Suffrage: universal for those eighteen years of age

Legal system: Federal law is based on an English system of common law; state legal systems are also rooted in common law, except for the state of Louisiana, which is based on Napoleonic civil code; there is judicial review of legislative acts

The United States of America is on the continent of North America and is one of the largest countries in both geographic size and population in the world. It is bordered on the south by Mexico and by Canada to the north. The United States comprises fifty states, four territories, and a capital district, and is a constitutional federal republic. It is the world's second largest economy and is known for its influence on culture and entertainment around the globe. Citizens of the United States are known as Americans.

Note: unless otherwise indicated, statistical data in this article is sourced from the CIA World Factbook, as cited in the bibliography.

People and Culture

Population: In the United States, much of the population is of European descent, with 61.6 percent of Americans identifying as White alone, according to the 2020 estimates. The US Census Bureau includes a separate listing for people of Hispanic origin, who may be of any race. Approximately 18.7 percent of Americans identified as Hispanic or Latino in 2020. Approximately 12.4 percent of the population is Black or African American, 6 percent is Asian alone, 1.1 percent is American Indian or Alaska Native alone, 0.2 percent is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone, and 10.2 percent belong to two or more races.

English is primarily spoken in the United States, though the country has no official language. In 2017, an estimated 78.2 percent of the population spoke only English at home, while 21.8 percent spoke another language at home. The most common language after English was Spanish, spoken by 13.4 percent of US residents.

The majority of people in the United States identify as Christians. Protestants account for approximately 43 percent of the population, while Roman Catholics make up 20 percent. Approximately 2 percent of the population is Jewish. Mormons account for 2 percent of the population. Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus each make up about 1 percent of the population. Another 3 percent adhere to other faiths. Approximately 26 percent of the population is unaffiliated with any religion; that includes atheists and agnostics (2019 estimates).

The state of Alaska is the largest in area at 663,268 square miles, while the state with the largest population is California, followed by Texas, New York, and Florida. Rhode Island is the smallest state in size, at 1,214 square miles, but the state of Wyoming has the fewest residents. The largest cities in the United States include New York City, New York; Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Houston, Texas; Phoenix, Arizona; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and San Antonio, Texas.

Indigenous People: Hundreds of American Indian tribes, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians were the first to inhabit the lands of the United States. Surviving tribes continue to function as political groups. Some of the largest tribes include the Navajo of the southwest, the Sioux of the Great Plains region, the Cherokee of the southeast, as well as the Iroquois from the northeast. Anthropologists speculate that the first Indigenous peoples descended from northeast Asia and migrated to North America from Siberia.

Upon the European colonization of North America, during the fifteenth through nineteenth century, American Indian tribes were displaced from their traditional territories. Although Europeans and their descendants often traded with Indigenous groups, battles for land were also frequent. The American Indian populations were devastated by diseases brought by Europeans, against which the Indigenous people had no immunity.

Many American Indians now live on reservations and lands under their own jurisdiction. The Inuit, Yupiks, and Aleuts, natives of Alaska, still live in the area in large populations.

Education: Most children in the United States attend a kindergarten before formal schooling begins. At the age of five or six, children begin elementary school. Typically at grade 6 (for students ages eleven to twelve years old), children enter junior high school (also known as middle school) and begin high school at grade 9 or 10 (ages fourteen to fifteen). Compulsory schooling laws have varied by state over the years, with maximum required schooling ages ranging between sixteen and eighteen.

The United States has thousands of colleges and universities, both private and publicly funded. Among the most notable are Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown, Stanford, Cornell, and Columbia Universities, as well as the University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth College. The largest universities in terms of undergraduate enrollment include the University of Central Florida, Texas A&M University, Florida International University, Liberty University in Virgina, and Ohio State University–Columbus.

Health Care: Health care in the United States is paid for primarily through private-sector health insurers and health maintenance organizations, or HMOs. HMOs consist of consortia of physicians who follow standard care policies along with hospitals. The health care plans often limit certain benefits in order to avoid high rates and costs. For workers who have injured themselves on the job, worker's compensation is generally available and compensates workers for a percentage of the amount of income that they would have earned while working and their medical costs. In 2010, President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law in an attempt to make both public and private health care more affordable and available. The federal law eliminated lifetime and unreasonable annual limits that private insurers had placed on benefits, prohibits the rescission of health insurance policies due to the onset of illness, and requires insurance plans to provide coverage of preventive health services. Although, the law expanded health care coverage to nearly twenty million Americans who were previously uninsured, it has also been the subject of much debate and faced an unsuccessful partial repeal in 2017.

Medical care is also provided for the elderly and disabled through Social Security, a government program that provides a monthly stipend. In addition, the Medicaid and Medicare health care programs cover many medical costs for elderly and poor Americans. Residential housing for those who are elderly and disabled is often partially covered by these programs but still remains very costly to individual patients. Although the United States spends more on health care per capita and as a percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP) than any other country in the world, its health care outcomes are typically poorer than other high-income nations. The United States is one of the few developed nations that does not provide universal health care. Health care reform remains a hotly debated political topic in the United States.

Average life expectancy is moderately high, at 80.9 years in 2024. The United States ranked 21st out of 191 countries and territories on the 2021 United Nations Human Development Index.

Food: American cuisine is influenced by food from all over the world, as ethnic groups within the United States often popularize their own types of cuisine. Chinese, Mexican, and Italian foods have all been incorporated into the broader American cuisine. At the same time, the United States has many types of cuisine that are native to the country and are specialized in particular regions. Cajun food is predominant in Louisiana, while New England is known for its stews, chowders, and seafood. Soul food is popular in the South, and consists of items such as catfish, collard greens, black-eyed peas, and cornbread.

Fast food originated in the United States and is one of the country's biggest industries. The first major fast-food restaurant chain was McDonald's, known for its hamburgers, fries, and milkshakes. Also popular in the United States is barbecue, a term used for a style of cooking, in which food is slow-cooked over indirect heat and flavored by a smoking process, as well as for an outdoor social event where food is cooked on a grill.

Arts & Entertainment: Entertainment and the arts are an integral part of American life. The United States is well known for its motion picture and television production, and these industries are primarily concentrated in Hollywood, California, and New York City. The music industry is also based in these areas, as well as Nashville, Tennessee, which is considered home to American country music.

New York City is also a major center for the performing arts. Most of the city's successful plays and musicals are concentrated on Broadway. Other major cities also have theater districts, and community theaters are often popular in smaller towns. The United States is home to hundreds of world-renowned art museums and symphonies.

Professional sports are a very popular source of entertainment for Americans. Baseball, American football, basketball, golf, hockey, and race car driving are particular favorites. Most sports also have minor league, or semiprofessional leagues. Among significant sporting events is the World Series of baseball, which determines the year's winning team. The Super Bowl is a major American football game that is held each year and is among the most watched sporting events in the world.

Holidays: The United States celebrates ten major national holidays. Included in these are New Year's Day (January 1), Martin Luther King Day (third Monday in January), Presidents' Day (third Monday in February), Memorial Day (last Monday in May), Independence Day (July 4), Labor Day (first Monday in September), Columbus Day (second Monday in October), Veterans' Day (November 11), Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday in November), and Christmas (December 25).

Environment and Geography

Topography: The United States has three major coastlines. The East Coast borders the Atlantic Ocean, the West Coast borders the Pacific Ocean, and the Gulf Coast lies to the southeast along the Gulf of Mexico. The country borders Canada to the north, and Mexico to the south. The state of Hawaii is an island in the Pacific Ocean, while the state of Alaska borders Canada to the east and has a Pacific coastline.

Because of the country's vast size, there are numerous rivers, mountain ranges, deserts, plains regions, and coastal areas within the United States. The major mountain ranges include the Rocky Mountains in the Midwest, the Adirondacks in the New York state region, and the Appalachian Mountains on the eastern coast. Active volcanoes include Mount St. Helen's in Washington state and Kilauea in Hawaii.

The highest point in the United States is Mount Denali, formerly known as Mt. McKinley (20,310 feet), located in Alaska. In the lower forty-eight states, California's Mt. Whitney is the highest point, at 14,505 feet. The lowest point in North America is Death Valley, which is located around 100 miles from Mt. Whitney. Death Valley lies 282 feet below sea level.

Notable rivers include the Mississippi River, the Missouri River, the Rio Grande, the Colorado River, the Delaware River, the Potomac, and the Hudson River. The United States is also home to the Great Lakes, located near the Canadian border. These five lakes (Lake Superior, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and Lake Ontario) are the largest freshwater lakes in the world. Another noteworthy landmark within the United States is the Grand Canyon, located in northern Arizona. The canyon is one of the seven wonders of the natural world and was carved out by the Colorado River.

Natural Resources: The United States is rich with natural resources. The fishing, forestry, and metal refining industries all take advantage of the country's resources. Minerals and metals mined in the United States include coal, copper, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, uranium, gold, iron, silver, nickel, zinc, mercury, and tungsten. Oil is also found in some areas, particularly Alaska, Texas, and North Dakota. By 2021 crude oil production in the United States reached 38.212 billion barrels per day, making it the largest producer of oil in the world. Diamonds are mined in Arkansas, the only state to have a diamond mine.

Plants & Animals: A diverse range of plants and animals exist in the United States, due to the extremes in geography and climate throughout the country. Animals such as squirrels, birds, and small reptiles are indigenous to most areas.

The Northeast, including the areas of New England, New York, and Pennsylvania, is known for its deciduous forests, which display colorful autumn foliage. Coniferous trees are also common. Animals native to these areas include bears, deer, rabbits, raccoons, opossums, fox, and coyotes. Along the more coastal regions, aquatic creatures such as fish, clams, crabs, and lobsters are common.

The Southeast is known for its more tropical foliage, such as palm trees, Spanish moss, and fruit trees. Much of the fruit grown in the United States is grown in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and similar warm regions. The Florida Everglades is a critical ecosphere that is protected by the National Park Service. Numerous endangered and threatened animals live in this area, including the manatee. Exotic birds, crocodiles, alligators, and many other species also make this area their home.

The Midwest is known for its plains regions. Tall grasses and small shrubbery are common, trees are scarce, and the area is the main center for the country's farming industry. Bison were once abundant in the area, but their population dwindled immensely due to human development and hunting, nearing extinction in the nineteenth century; the American bison population has since recovered, particularly in protected areas such as national parks and reserves. Prairie dogs, bats, wolves, lynx, and other large cats are among the animals commonly found in the area.

The Southwest is primarily desert, with evergreen trees and cactus among the prevalent plant life. Animals such as kangaroo rats, spiders, scorpions, vultures, and wolves inhabit the area.

The Northwest region of the United States is vastly different, with thick forests and vegetation. The area is known for its redwood trees, the largest trees in the world. Animals that inhabit this area include mountain lions, bears, owls, bobcats, and eagles.

The states of Alaska and Hawaii both differ greatly from the lower forty-eight states in terms of plant and animal life. Alaska's arctic climate nurtures large coniferous forests, and animals such as moose, bears, large cats, eagles, and wolves. Hawaii's tropical island climate allows lush rainforests to thrive, and tropical birds, insects, turtles, dolphins, and other sea life inhabit the state.

Climate: There is an extensive range of climates within the United States to go along with the country's geographic diversity. Northern parts of the country are generally cooler, with the northernmost state of Alaska reaching subarctic temperatures. The Pacific Northwest has the wettest climate in the country, while the Southwest experiences desert conditions. Much of coastal California has a Mediterranean climate.

In general, most areas of the United States experience cooler temperatures in the winter and warmer temperatures in the summer.

Because of its varied climate and geography, the United States is affected by all manner of natural disasters, including hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes, tornadoes, blizzards, and droughts.

Economy

In 2023 the estimated gross domestic product (GDP, the total value of all goods and services produced by the country) of the United States was $24.662 trillion. The per capita GDP was estimated at $73,600. In 2023, the unemployment rate in the United States was 3.63 percent of the workforce.

Industry: The United States has a highly diversified economy and many strong industries, including energy, steel manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, electronics, food processing, consumer goods, lumber, and mining. The service sector contributes the most toward the country’s GDP, with 76.7 percent in 2021. Industry accounted for 17.7 percent and agriculture accounted for 0.9 percent of the GDP in the same year.

The United States manufactures a tremendous number of products, notably vehicles, electronics, and airplanes. Detroit, Michigan, is known as Motor City, due to the number of automobiles manufactured there by the Big Three US automakers: Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler corporations. However, the global market share of American-made cars has declined in the twenty-first century, particularly following the 2007–10 global financial crisis. The American automotive industry later faced further challenges after global supply chains suffered due to complications from the onset of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020. The United States is at the technological forefront of several industries, particularly in telecommunications and electronics, pharmaceuticals, and medical, aerospace, and military equipment.

Agriculture: The United States is one of the major agricultural producers in the world. The interests of farmers and exporters are regulated and protected by the United States Department of Agriculture.

The country's biggest cash crops include wheat, corn, other grains, fruits, vegetables, and cotton. Livestock is a major division of agriculture, and US ranchers raise dairy cattle, beef cattle, swine, poultry, and sheep. Horses, turkeys, goats, and bees are also raised on US farms. Timber is also an important resource.

Tourism: Tourism is a major industry in the United States, and the country welcomed about 80 million international visitors in 2019. However, travel restrictions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic caused this figure to drop to 19.2 million the following year, according to the US government. By 2022, the tourism industry in the US had begun to recover, though numbers of tourist arrivals remained far below pre-pandemic levels. States such as Florida, Hawaii, and California attract tourists with their warm climates, entertainment destinations, and resorts. Mountainous states such as Colorado and Vermont entice skiers and other winter sports enthusiasts. New York City is also a major tourist destination, due to its abundance of entertainment, theater, and cultural attractions.

The nation's national parks and wildlife refuges are also popular among both domestic and foreign tourists. Included in these attractions are the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Yosemite National Park in California, Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, the Everglades of Florida, and Niagara Falls in New York along the Canadian border.

Government

The United States government is a federal presidential republic that is guided by the US Constitution. The government consists of a federal government, state governments, tribal governments, and local governments in cities and towns.

National politics are dominated by two political parties: the generally conservative Republican Party and the more liberal Democratic Party. The Green Party and Libertarian Party are notable third parties, although third parties historically have little representation in US politics.

The federal government comprises three branches. The executive branch consists of the president, who is elected to a four-year term and limited to serving two terms. The president and vice president are elected on the same ballot by the Electoral College, based on the popular vote in each state.

The legislative branch is made up of the Senate and House of Representatives, known collectively as Congress. The 100 members of the Senate are elected to six-year terms; each state is represented in the Senate by two senators. The 435 members of the House of Representatives are elected to two-year terms; the number of US representatives from each state is based upon that state's population. Territories each have a nonvoting representative in the US House but no senators. The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court, whose judges serve unlimited terms. The nine Supreme Court justices are appointed by the president of the United States and are then approved by the Senate.

State and territorial governments are relatively autonomous, though federal laws supersede state and territorial laws. State and territorial governors are elected by popular vote, and each has its own legislature. Local governments are generally led by mayors or a select board but can take on various forms.

Interesting Facts

• The first US president to be inaugurated in Washington, DC, was Thomas Jefferson. The first and second presidents were inaugurated in New York City.
• Among the many notable innovations invented in the United States are the telephone, automobile, desktop computer, steam locomotives, FM radio, air conditioner, sewing machine, helicopter, and pencil.
• The United States has hosted eight Olympic Games, more than any other country. The cities that hosted the events include St. Louis, Missouri (1904); Los Angeles, California (1932 and 1984); Squaw Valley, California (1960); Lake Placid, New York (1932 and 1980); Atlanta, Georgia (1996); and Salt Lake City, Utah (2002).
• The United States is the third largest country in the world by land area (following Russia and Canada) and by population (following China and India).

Bibliography

"FACT SHEET: 2022 National Travel and Tourism Strategy." US Department of Commerce, 6 June 2022, www.commerce.gov/news/fact-sheets/2022/06/fact-sheet-2022-national-travel-and-tourism-strategy. Accessed 14 Nov. 2023.

“Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey (CPS).” US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21 Apr. 2020, www.bls.gov/cps. Accessed 5 Oct. 2020. ‌

Smith, Gregory, et al. In U.S., Decline of Christianity Continues at Rapid Pace: An Update on America's Changing Religious Landscape. Pew Research Center, 17 Oct. 2019, www.pewforum.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2019/10/Trends-in-Religious-Identity-and-Attendance-FOR-WEB.pdf. Accessed 5 Oct. 2020.

"United States." Human Development Reports, United Nations Development Programme, 8 Sept. 2022, hdr.undp.org/data-center/specific-country-data#/countries/USA. Accessed 06 Dec. 2024.

"United States." The World Bank, data.worldbank.org/country/united-states. Accessed 14 Nov. 2023.

"United States." The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 7 Nov. 2023, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/united-states/. Accessed 06 Dec. 2024.

"United States." United States Census Bureau, US Dept. of Commerce, data.census.gov/cedsci/profile?q=United%20States&g=0100000US. Accessed 5 Oct. 2020.

"United States of America." World Health Organization, www.who.int/countries/usa/en/. Accessed 14 Nov. 2023.

“United States: Overview of the Education System (EAG 2020).” OECD Education GPS, OECD, 2020, gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?primaryCountry=USA. Accessed 2 Oct. 2020.