This July 4 will be the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the nation’s founding. It’s also known as the nation’s semiquincentennial (quincentennial = 500 years, and semi = half, so “semiquincentennial” means “half of 500 years”).

So, who are Americans in this historic moment? Here’s a semiquincentennial snapshot of the US at 250 years.

The US reached a record highest recorded population in 2025, with 341.8 million people calling it home.

As of June 2026, the US was the world’s third most populous country behind China (1.41 billion people) and India (1.43 billion).

Although the country’s population has grown for over a century, the pace has recently slowed — a trend driven by lower birth rates, an aging population, and shifting immigration patterns.

The US population is influenced by two factors:

• Natural population change: If births outnumber deaths in a given year, natural population growth is positive. If deaths exceed births, it’s negative.
• Immigration: Population change from immigration is positive if more people move to the US than move out, If more people move out than in, it’s negative.

Natural population change drove most of the nation’s growth before the COVID-19 pandemic. Immigration has been the driver since 2020.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines the general fertility rate as the number of live births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. The rate has declined by more than half over the last century.

In 1924, there were 110.9 births per 1,000 women, compared with a fertility rate of 53.8 in 2024, a decrease of 51.5%.

Many American women are also having children later in life. Just over 20 years ago, in 2004, women ages 25 to 29 had the highest birth rate (116.5 births per 1,000 women). In 2024, the highest rate was among women ages 30 to 34, at 93.7 births per 1,000 women.

Overall, birth rates dropped for women ages 34 and younger and increased among those 35 and up from 2004 to 2024.

The country’s largest age group is people who are 65 and older. In 2025, 18.9% of people, or nearly one in five people in the nation, were in this age group.

New births hit a record high in 1957 at 4.3 million. People born that year turned 65 in 2022. Since 2022, the population share of Americans 65 and older has increased nearly 7%.

The Social Security Administration expects the number of people 65 and older to continue to grow by 26% over 12 more years, from about 65 million in 2025 to an estimated 77 million in 2035.

The second largest age group was people 25 to 34 (13.6% of the population). Close behind were people 35 to 44 (13.3%), and 15 to 24 (13.2%).

All other age groups each accounted for less than 13.0% of the population: people ages 55 to 64 (12.1%), children 5 to 14 (11.8%), 45 to 54 (11.7%), and children under 5 (5.4%).

In 1990, 75.6% of people in the US identified as white and non-Hispanic. By 2024, 57.5% did, down 18.1 percentage points.

The share of all other racial and ethnic groups measured in the census increased over the same period. The Hispanic share of the population more than doubled from 9.0% to 20.0%, making it the nation’s second-largest racial or ethnic group.

In 2024, 12.6% of the population identified as Black and 6.7% as Asian or Pacific Islander. Another 3.2% identified as “other,” a census category that includes American Indians, Alaska Natives, and people reporting they identity with two or more races.

In 2025, about one in five Americans lived in one of two states: California or Texas.

Around 11.5% of all US residents (39.4 million) called the Golden State home, and another 9.3% (31.7 million) was at home in the Lone Star State.

The five most populous states were:

• California (39.4 million people)
• Texas (31.7 million)
• Florida (23.5 million)
• New York (20.0 million)
• Pennsylvania (13.1 million)

And the five least populous states were:

• Wyoming (588,800 people)
• Vermont (644,600)
• Alaska (737,300)
• North Dakota (799,400)
• South Dakota (935,100)

In 2025, for the first time ever, the largest household category was people who lived alone. This was nearly three out of every ten people, or 29.5% of Americans.

Married couples without children under 18 in the home were the second-largest group, accounting for 29.3% of households, nearly identical to the share of people living alone. This group includes married couples who have never had children, and married couples whose children are adults (18 and over).

Households with children under 18 made up about a quarter of all households (24.9%). Of these, married parents headed 17.3% of households, while single parents headed 7.6%.

The remaining 16.3% of households fell into an “other” category, which includes relatives outside of immediate family, and nonfamily households such as roommates and unmarried partners.

In 2024, 49.3% of adults age 25 or older held an associate’s degree or higher. The largest share of these adults had completed a bachelor’s degree as their highest level of education (23.7%), the second-largest share was a graduate or professional degree (14.9%), and the share with an associate’s degree was 10.7%. Some adults (14.0%) attended some college but did not receive a degree.

Another 27.8% of adults completed high school, while 8.4% had less than a complete high school education.

As of May 2026, nearly 27.9 million people worked in private education and health services, making it the nation’s largest workforce.

This sector includes private schools, colleges, universities, and training centers as well as hospitals, ambulatory services, nursing care, and social assistance.

Professional and business services is the country’s second-largest employer (22.5 million people), and leisure and hospitality is third (17.1 million).

Two industries employ fewer than 2 million people: mining and logging (613,000 people) and utilities (608,200).

Unemployment was at 4.3% in May 2026. The unemployment rate is the percentage of people in the labor force who are actively looking for work but not currently employed.

This rate is based on the civilian labor force, which includes people who are employed, or who are unemployed but actively seeking work. It excludes retirees or discouraged workers who are no longer looking for work. Part-time workers are counted as employed.

The unemployment rate has been between 4.0% and 4.5% since June 2024.

State unemployment rates vary: California, Delaware, and Nevada had April 2026’s highest unemployment rates, each at 5.3%. The lowest unemployment rate was in South Dakota (2.2%).

The median household income in the US was $81,600 in 2024. Household income is the total money received in a year — wages, pensions, investments, public assistance, and more — by everyone in a household over 15.

That same year, nearly three in five (58.8%) households earned less than $100,000 per year. The other 41.2% earned $100,000 or more per year.

This income also varies by the makeup of the household. For example, households ran by a married couple had a higher median income than other types of familial households in 2024.

Among nonfamily households, male householders not living alone had a higher median income than female householders not living alone. For each of these scenarios, a man or woman is the primary person responsible for the housing unit, but shares the residence with one other person, such as a roommate or unmarried partner.

The states with the highest median household incomes were:

• Massachusetts ($104,800)
• New Jersey ($104,300)
• Maryland ($102,900)
• Hawaii ($100,700)
• California ($100,100)

The states with the lowest household incomes were:

• Mississippi ($59,100)
• West Virginia ($60,800)
• Louisiana ($61,000)
• Arkansas ($62,100)
• Kentucky ($64,500)

Learn more about the role of data collection in the US, and get data directly to your inbox by signing up for our weekly newsletter.