Demographics of the United States


The United States is the most populous country in the Americas and the Western Hemisphere, with an estimated population of 341,784,857 on July 1, 2025, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The country's population grew by only 1.8 million, or 0.5%, between 2024 and 2025, due to a decline in net international migration. The previous year, the Census Bureau had reported a population increase of 0.98% between 2023 and 2024, slightly below the world estimated annual growth rate of 1.03%. With about 4% of the world's population, the U.S. is the third most populous country. These figures include the 50 states and the federal capital, Washington, D.C., but exclude the 3.6 million residents of five unincorporated U.S. territories as well as several minor uninhabited island possessions. By several metrics, including racial and ethnic background, religious affiliation, and percentage of rural and urban divide, the state of Illinois is the most representative of the larger demography of the United States.
The United States population almost quadrupled during the 20th century—at a growth rate of about 1.3% a year—from about 76 million in 1900 to 281 million in 2000. It is estimated to have reached the 200 million mark in 1967, and the 300 million mark on October 17, 2006. Foreign-born immigration caused the U.S. population to continue its rapid increase, with this population doubling from almost 20 million in 1990 to over 45 million in 2015, representing one-third of the population increase. The U.S. Census Bureau reported in late 2024 that recent immigration to the United States had more than offset the country's lower birth and fertility rates: "Net international migration's influence on population trends has increased over the last few years. Since 2021, it accounted for the majority of the nation's growth—a departure from the last two decades, when natural increase was the main factor." This in turn led to an increase in the U.S. population in each of the years 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Population growth is fastest among minorities as a whole, and according to a 2020 U.S. Census Bureau analysis, 50% of U.S. children under the age of 18 are members of ethnic minority groups.
As of 2020, white Americans numbered 235,411,507 or 71% of the population, including people who identified as white in combination with another race. People who identified as white alone numbered 204,277,273 or 61.6% of the population, while non-Latino whites made up 57.8% of the country's population.
Latino Americans accounted for 51.1% of the country's total population growth between 2010 and 2020. The Hispanic or Latino population increased from 50.5 million in 2010 to 62.1 million in 2020, a 23% increase and a numerical increase of more than 11.6 million. Immigrants and their U.S.-born descendants are expected to provide most of the U.S. population gains in the decades ahead.
Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial group in the United States, with a growth rate of 35%. However, multiracial Asian Americans make up the fastest-growing subgroup, with a growth rate of 55%, reflecting the increase of mixed-race marriages in the United States.
, births to White American mothers remain around 50% of the U.S. total, a decline of 3% compared to 2021. In the same time period, births to Asian American and Hispanic women increased by 2% and 6%, respectively.

Population

In 1900, when the U.S. population was 76 million, there were 66.8 million white Americans in the United States, representing 88% of the total population, 8.8 million Black Americans, with about 90% of them still living in Southern states, and slightly more than 500,000 Hispanics.
Under federal law, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the number of first-generation immigrants living in the United States has increased, from 9.6 million in 1970 to about 38 million in 2007. Around a million people legally immigrated to the United States per year in the 1990s, up from 250,000 per year in the 1950s.
In 1900, non-Hispanic whites comprised almost 97% of the population of the 10 largest U.S. cities. The Census Bureau reported that minorities made up 50.4% of the children born in the U.S. between July 2010 and July 2011, compared to 37% in 1990.
In 2014, the state with the lowest fertility rate was Rhode Island, with a rate of 1.56, while Utah had the greatest rate with a rate of 2.33. This correlates with the ages of the states' populations: Rhode Island has the ninth-oldest median age in the US39.2while Utah has the youngest29.0.
In 2017, the U.S. birth rate remains well below the replacement level needed – at least 2.1 children per woman so as not to experience population decreases – as white American births fell in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Among non-Hispanic white women, no states had a fertility rate above the replacement level. Among non-Hispanic Black women, 12 states reached above the replacement level needed. Among Hispanic women, 29 states did. For non-Hispanic white women, the highest total fertility rate was in Utah, at 2.099, and the lowest in the District of Columbia, at 1.012. Among non-Hispanic Black women, the highest total fertility rate was in Maine, at 4.003, and the lowest in Wyoming, at 1.146. For Hispanic women, the highest total fertility rate was in Alabama, at 3.085, and the lowest in Vermont, at 1.200, and Maine, at 1.281. As of 2016, due to aging, low birth rates and rising mortality driven partly by drug overdoses, deaths outnumber births among non-Hispanic whites in more than half the states in the country.

Growth rate

  • U.S. population growth rates: 0.98%, 0.83%, 0.58%, 0.16%, 0.41%

    Age and sex distribution

Sex distribution

The 2020 U.S. Census reported there were more females than males with females making up 50.9% of the population and males making up 49.1%. The previous census in 2010 also reported that there were more females than males; but females made up slightly less of the population at 50.8% and males made slightly more at 49.2%.
The first U.S. Census to report more females than males was the 1950 Census.
Age
Total
% of U.S. pop.Males
Females
% male% femaleSex ratio
03,5641.1%1,8221,74351.1%48.9%1.05
< 518,8275.7%9,6249,20351.1%48.9%1.05
< 1560,46718.2%30,98929,57851.2%48.8%1.05
15-2443,08913.0%21,99621,09251.0%49.0%1.04
25-3445,49513.7%23,05322,44250.7%49.3%1.03
35-4443,40413.1%21,85821,54650.4%49.6%1.01
45-5440,68812.3%20,31220,37649.9%50.1%0.99
55-6442,80312.9%20,96321,84049.0%51.0%0.96
65+55,84816.8%25,21430,63445.1%54.9%0.82
75+22,1826.7%9,34412,83742.1%57.9%0.73
85+5,9761.8%2,1763,80036.4%63.6%0.57
100+980.03%257325.5%74.5%0.34
Total331,894100%164,385167,50949.5%50.5%0.98

Note that this table shows some people in more than one group: for example someone aged 90 is included three times: in "65+", "75+" and "85+".
Age GroupPercentage
0–14 years18.2%
15–24 years13.0%
25–54 years39.0%
55–64 years12.9%
65 years and over16.8%

Percent distribution of the total population by age: 1900 to 2015

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce, United Nations medium variant projections
Ages1900191019201930194019501960197019801990200020102015
0–14 years34.532.131.829.425.026.931.128.522.621.521.420.219.8
15–24 years19.619.717.718.318.214.713.417.418.814.813.9
25–44 years28.129.229.629.530.130.026.223.627.732.530.2
45–64 years13.714.616.117.519.820.320.120.619.618.622.0
65 years and over4.14.34.75.46.88.19.29.911.312.612.413.014.3
Total 10010010010010010010010010010010033.234.1

Dependency ratio

The dependency ratio is the age-population ratio of people who are normally not in the labor force to those who are. It is used to gauge the strain on the populace that is productive. The support ratio is the ratio of the working-age population to the elderly population, that is, the reciprocal of the aged dependency ratio.
CategoryGlobal rankingReferences
Total dependency ratio110th
Child dependency ratio138th
Aged dependency ratio42nd
Potential support ratio160th