US

The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic 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 semi-exclave of Alaska in the northwest and the archipelago of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The United States asserts sovereignty over five major island territories and various uninhabited islands in Oceania and the Caribbean. It is a megadiverse country, with the world's third-largest land area and third-largest population, exceeding 340 million. 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 from North Asia to North America over 12,000 years ago, and formed various civilizations. Spanish colonization led to the establishment in 1513 of Spanish Florida, the first European colony in what is now the continental United States. Subsequent British colonization, with the first settlement of the Thirteen Colonies in Virginia in 1607, saw these colonies expand. Forced migration of enslaved Africans provided the labor force necessary to make the plantation economy of the Southern Colonies economically viable. Clashes with the British Crown over taxation and the denial of parliamentary representation sparked the American Revolution, with the Second Continental Congress formally declaring independence on July 4, 1776. Victory in the 1775–1783 Revolutionary War brought international recognition of U.S. sovereignty, and 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 the Union in the 1861–1865 American Civil War. With the victory and preservation of the United States, the newly passed Thirteenth Amendment freed many slaves. By 1900, the country had established itself as a great power, a status solidified after its involvement in World War I. Following 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 superpowers and led to the Cold War, during which both countries struggled for ideological dominance and international influence. The Soviet Union's collapse and the end of the Cold War in 1991 left the U.S. as the world's sole superpower.

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. In addition, 574 Native tribes have sovereignty rights, with 326 reservations composing Indian country. American values are based on a democratic political tradition that draws its inspiration from the European Enlightenment movement. Since the 1850s, the Democratic and Republican parties have dominated American politics.

A developed country, the U.S. ranks high in economic competitiveness, productivity, innovation, and higher education. The U.S. accounted for over a quarter of nominal global economic output in 2024, and its economy has been the world's largest by nominal GDP since about 1890. It possesses the most wealth of any country and has the highest disposable household income per capita among OECD countries, though U.S. wealth inequality is one of the most pronounced in those countries. A melting pot of many ethnicities and customs, the culture of the U.S. has been shaped by centuries of immigration, and its soft power influence has a global reach. The U.S. is a member of multiple international organizations and plays a leading role in global political, cultural, economic, and military affairs.

Etymology

Documented use of the phrase "United States of America" dates back to January 2, 1776. On that day, Stephen Moylan, a Continental Army aide to General George Washington, wrote a letter 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. The first known public usage is an anonymous essay published in the Williamsburg newspaper '' The Virginia Gazette'' on April 6, 1776. Sometime on or after June 11, 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote "United States of America" in a rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. Davis 1996, p. 7.

The term "United States" and its 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. "United States" and "U.S." are the established terms throughout the U.S. federal government, with prescribed rules. "The States" is an established colloquial shortening of the name, used particularly from abroad; "stateside" is the corresponding adjective or adverb.

"" is the feminine form of the first word of , the Latinized name of Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512); it was first used as a place name by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann in 1507. Vespucci first proposed that the West Indies discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 were part of a previously unknown landmass and not among the Indies at the eastern limit of Asia. In English, the term "America" rarely refers to topics unrelated to the United States, despite the usage of "the Americas" to describe the totality of the continents of North and South America.

History

Indigenous peoples

The first inhabitants of North America migrated from Siberia over 12,000 years ago, either across the Bering land bridge or along the now-submerged Ice Age coastline. The Clovis culture, which appeared around 11,000 BC, is believed to be the first widespread culture in the Americas. Over time, Indigenous North American cultures grew increasingly sophisticated, and some, such as the Mississippian culture, developed agriculture, architecture, and complex societies. In the post-archaic period, the Mississippian cultures were located in the midwestern, eastern, and southern regions, and the Algonquian in the Great Lakes region and along the Eastern Seaboard, while the Hohokam culture and Ancestral Puebloans inhabited the southwest. Native population estimates of what is now the United States before the arrival of European immigrants range from around 500,000 to nearly 10 million.

European exploration, colonization and conflict (1513–1765)

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. The first Spanish colony in what is now the continental United States was Spanish Florida, chartered in 1513. After several settlements failed there due to hunger and disease, Spain's first permanent town, Saint Augustine, was founded in 1565. France established its own settlements in French Florida in 1562, but they were either abandoned (Charlesfort, 1578) or destroyed by Spanish raids ( Fort Caroline, 1565); permanent French settlements would be founded much later along the Great Lakes (Fort Detroit, 1701), the Mississippi River (Saint Louis, 1764) and especially the Gulf of Mexico (New Orleans, 1718). Early European colonies also included the thriving Dutch colony of New Nederland (settled 1626, present-day New York) and the small Swedish colony of New Sweden (settled 1638 in what is now Delaware). British colonization of the East Coast began with the Virginia Colony (1607) and the Plymouth Colony (Massachusetts, 1620). The Mayflower Compact in Massachusetts and the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut established precedents for representative self-governance and constitutionalism that would develop throughout the American colonies... 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. 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. Along the eastern seaboard, settlers trafficked African slaves through the Atlantic slave trade.

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

American Revolution and the early republic (1765–1800)

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. The political values of the American Revolution included liberty, inalienable individual rights; and the sovereignty of the people; supporting republicanism and rejecting monarchy, aristocracy, and all hereditary political power; civic virtue; and vilification of political corruption. 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 Classical, Renaissance, and Enlightenment philosophies and ideas.

Though in practical effect since its drafting in 1777, the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was ratified in 1781 and formally established a decentralized government that operated until 1789. 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. 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. The U.S. Constitution was drafted at the 1787 Constitutional Convention to overcome the limitations of the Articles. It went into effect in 1789, creating a federal republic governed by three separate branches that together ensured a system of checks and balances. George Washington was elected the country's first president under the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights was adopted in 1791 to allay skeptics' concerns about the power of the more centralized government. 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. Boyer, 2007, pp. 192–193

Westward expansion and Civil War (1800–1865)

In the late 18th century, American settlers began to expand westward in larger numbers, many with a sense of manifest destiny. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 from France nearly doubled the territory of the United States. Lingering issues with Britain remained, leading to the War of 1812, which was fought to a draw. Spain ceded Florida and its Gulf Coast territory in 1819. The Missouri Compromise of 1820, which admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, 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 there. Primarily, the compromise prohibited slavery in all other lands of the Louisiana Purchase north of the 36°30′ parallel. As Americans expanded further into territory inhabited by Native Americans, the federal government implemented policies of Indian removal or assimilation. The most significant such legislation was the Indian Removal Act of 1830, a key policy of President Andrew Jackson. It resulted in the Trail of Tears (1830–1850), in which an estimated 60,000 Native Americans living east of the Mississippi River were forcibly removed and displaced to lands far to the west, causing 13,200 to 16,700 deaths along the forced march. Settler expansion as well as this influx of Indigenous peoples from the East resulted in the American Indian Wars west of the Mississippi.

The United States annexed the Republic of Texas in 1845, and the 1846 Oregon Treaty led to U.S. control of the present-day American Northwest. Dispute with Mexico over Texas led to the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). After the victory of the U.S., Mexico recognized U.S sovereignty over Texas, New Mexico, and California in the 1848 Mexican Cession; the cession's lands also included the future states of Nevada, Colorado and Utah. 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 mid-1870s. Additional western territories and states were created.

During the colonial period, Slavery in the colonial history of the United States, slavery had been legal in the American colonies, becoming the main labor force in the Plantation complexes in the Southern United States, large-scale, Antebellum_South#Economic_structure, agriculture-dependent economies of the Southern Colonies from Maryland to Georgia. The practice began to be significantly questioned during the American Revolution, and spurred by an active abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist movement that had reemerged in the 1830s, states in Northern United States, the North enacted laws to prohibit slavery within their boundaries. At the same time, Pro-slavery ideology in the United States, support for slavery had strengthened in Southern states, with widespread use of inventions such as the cotton gin (1793) having made slavery immensely profitable for Planter class, Southern elites. Throughout the 1850s, this Slave states and free states, sectional conflict regarding slavery was further inflamed by national legislation in Congress and decisions of the Supreme Court: The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 mandated the forcible return to their owners in the South of slaves taking refuge in non-slave states. The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 effectively gutted the anti-slavery requirements of the Missouri Compromise. Finally, in its Dred Scott v. Sandford, Dred Scott decision of 1857, the Supreme Court ruled against a slave brought into non-slave territory and declared the entire Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional. These Origins of the American Civil War, events exacerbated tensions between North and South that would culminate in the American Civil War (1861–1865).

Beginning with South Carolina, 11 slave-state governments voted to Secession in the United States, secede from the United States in 1861, joining to create the Confederate States of America. All other states remained in the Union. War broke out in April 1861 after the Confederacy Battle of Fort Sumter, bombarded Fort Sumter. Following the January 1, 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, many freed slaves joined the Union army. The war Turning point of the American Civil War, began to turn in the Union's favor following the 1863 Siege of Vicksburg and Battle of Gettysburg, and the Confederates surrendered in 1865 after the Union's victory in the Battle of Appomattox Court House.

Reconstruction, Gilded Age, and Progressive Era (1863–1917)

Efforts toward Reconstruction era, reconstruction in the secessionist South had begun as early as 1862, but it was only after Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, President Lincoln's assassination that the three Reconstruction Amendments to the Constitution were ratified Civil rights movement (1865–1896), to protect civil rights. The amendments codified nationally the abolition of slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for crimes, promised equal protection under the law for all persons, and prohibited discrimination on the basis of race or previous enslavement. As a result, African Americans took an active political role in ex-Confederate states in the decade following the Civil War. The former Confederate states were readmitted to the Union, beginning with Tennessee in 1866 and ending with Georgia in 1870.

National infrastructure, including First transcontinental telegraph, transcontinental telegraph and First transcontinental railroad, railroads, spurred growth in the American frontier. This was accelerated by the Homestead Acts, through which nearly 10 percent of the total land area of the United States was given away free to some 1.6 million homesteaders. From 1865 through 1917, an unprecedented stream of immigrants arrived in the United States, including 24.4 million from Europe. Most came through the Port of New York and New Jersey, port of New York City, and New York City and other large cities on the East Coast became home to large History of the Jews in the United States, Jewish, Irish Americans, Irish, and Italian Americans, Italian populations, while many German Americans, Germans and Central Europeans moved to the Midwestern United States, Midwest. At the same time, about one million French-Canadian Americans, French Canadians migrated from Quebec to New England. During the Great Migration (African American), Great Migration, millions of African Americans Jim Crow economy, left the rural South for urban areas in the North. Alaska Purchase, Alaska was purchased from Russian Empire, Russia in 1867.

The Compromise of 1877 is generally considered the end of the Reconstruction era, as it resolved the electoral crisis following the 1876 United States presidential election, 1876 presidential election and led President Rutherford B. Hayes to reduce the role of federal troops in the South. Immediately, the Redeemers began evicting the Carpetbaggers and quickly regained local control of Southern politics in the name of white supremacy. African Americans endured a period of heightened, overt racism following Reconstruction, a time often called the nadir of American race relations. A series of Supreme Court decisions, including ''Plessy v. Ferguson'', emptied the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Fifteenth Amendments of their force, allowing Jim Crow laws in the South to remain unchecked, sundown towns in the Midwest, and Racial segregation in the United States, segregation in communities across the country, which would be reinforced by the policy of redlining later adopted by the federal Home Owners' Loan Corporation.

Second Industrial Revolution, An explosion of technological advancement accompanied by the exploitation of cheap immigrant labor led to Gilded Age, 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. This fostered the amassing of power by Robber baron (industrialist), a few prominent industrialists, largely by their formation of Trust (business), trusts and Monopoly, monopolies to prevent competition. Tycoons led the nation's expansion in the History of rail transportation in the United States, railroad, History of the petroleum industry in the United States, petroleum, and History of the steel industry (1850–1970), steel industries. The United States emerged as a pioneer of the Automotive industry in the United States, automotive industry. These changes were accompanied by significant increases in economic inequality, How the Other Half Lives, slum conditions, and List of incidents of civil unrest in the United States, social unrest, creating the environment for Labor history of the United States, labor unions and History of the socialist movement in the United States, socialist movements to begin to flourish. This period eventually ended with the advent of the Progressive Era, which was characterized by significant reforms.Aldrich, Mark. ''Safety First: Technology, Labor and Business in the Building of Work Safety, 1870-1939.'' Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. .

Pro-American elements in Hawaii Overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, overthrew the Hawaiian monarchy; the islands Newlands Resolution, 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.) American Samoa was acquired by the United States in 1900 after the Second Samoan Civil War. The United States Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark in 1917.

World War I, Great Depression, and World War II (1917–1945)

The United States American entry into World War I, entered World War I alongside the Allies of World War I, Allies in 1917 helping to turn the tide against the Central Powers. In 1920, Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a constitutional amendment granted nationwide Women's suffrage in the United States, women's suffrage. During the 1920s and 1930s, radio for mass communication and early television transformed communications nationwide. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 triggered the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depression, to which President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New Deal plan of “reform, recovery and relief”, a series of unprecedented and sweeping Alphabet agencies, recovery programs and Works Progress Administration, employment relief projects combined with Regulatory economics, financial reforms and regulations.

United States non-interventionism before entering World War II, Initially neutral during Military history of the United States during World War II, World War II, the U.S. began Lend-Lease, supplying war materiel to the Allies of World War II in March 1941 and American entry into World War II, entered the war in December after the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Manhattan Project, developed the first nuclear weapons and Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, used them against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, ending the war. The United States was one of the "Four Policemen" who met to plan the Aftermath of World War II, post-war world, alongside the United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Republic of China (1912–1949), China. The U.S. emerged relatively unscathed from the war, with even greater economic power and Sphere of influence, international political influence.

Cold War and social revolution (1945–1991)

The end of World War II in 1945 left the U.S. and the Soviet Union as superpowers, each with its own political, military, and economic sphere of influence. Geopolitical tensions between the two superpowers soon led to the Cold War. The U.S. utilized the policy of containment to limit the USSR's sphere of influence, engaged in United States involvement in regime change#1945–1991: Cold War, regime change against governments perceived to be aligned with Moscow, and prevailed in the Space Race, which culminated with the Apollo 11, first crewed Moon landing in 1969.

Domestically, the U.S. Post–World War II economic expansion, experienced economic growth, Urbanization in the United States, urbanization, and Mid-20th century baby boom, population growth following World War II. The civil rights movement emerged, with Martin Luther King Jr. becoming a prominent leader in the early 1960s. The Great Society plan of President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration resulted in groundbreaking and broad-reaching laws, policies and Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a constitutional amendment to counteract some of the worst effects of lingering institutional racism.

The Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture movement in the U.S. brought significant social changes, including the liberalization of attitudes toward recreational drug use and Sexual revolution, sexuality. It also encouraged Draft evasion in the Vietnam War, open defiance of the military draft (leading to the Conscription in the United States, end of conscription in 1973) and Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, wide opposition to United States in the Vietnam War, U.S. intervention in Vietnam (with the U.S. totally withdrawing in 1975). Women's liberation movement, 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.

The Revolutions of 1989, fall of communism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapse of the Soviet Union from 1989 to 1991 marked the end of the Cold War and Superpower#After the Cold War, left the United States as the world's sole superpower. This cemented the United States' global influence, reinforcing the concept of the "American Century" as it dominated international political, economic, and military affairs.

Contemporary (1991–present)

The 1990s saw the 1990s United States boom, longest recorded economic expansion in American history, a dramatic Crime in the United States#Crime over time, decline in U.S. crime rates, and Technological and industrial history of the United States#Computers and information networks, advances in technology. Throughout this decade, technological innovations such as the World Wide Web, the evolution of the Pentium (original), Pentium microprocessor in accordance with Moore's law, rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, 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.

In the Gulf War of 1991, an Coalition of the Gulf War, American-led international coalition of states expelled an Ba'athist Iraq, Iraqi invasion force that had occupied neighboring Kuwait. The September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 by the Pan-Islamism, pan-Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda led to the war on terror, and subsequent War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq War, Iraq.

The 2000s United States housing bubble, U.S. housing bubble culminated in 2007 with the Great Recession, the largest economic contraction since the Great Depression. Coming to a head in the 2010s, Political polarization in the United States, political polarization in the country increased between liberal and conservative factions. This polarization was capitalized upon in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, January 2021 Capitol attack, when a mob of insurrectionists entered the United States Capitol, U.S. Capitol and sought to prevent the peaceful transfer of power in an Self-coup#Notable events described as attempted self-coups, attempted self-coup d'état. The 2021 Taliban offensive (May–August) ended the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), War in Afghanistan one year after the United States–Taliban deal, U.S. signed a peace agreement with the Taliban.

Geography

The United States is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, third-largest country by total area behind Russia and Canada. The 48 Contiguous United States, contiguous states and the District of Columbia have a combined area of . In 2021, the United States had 8% of the earth's permanent meadows and pastures and 10% of its cropland.

Starting in the east, Atlantic Plain, the coastal plain of the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic seaboard gives way to inland forests and rolling hills in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont plateau region. The Appalachian Mountains and the Adirondack Mountains, Adirondack Massif separate the East Coast from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of Midwestern United States, the Midwest. The Mississippi River System, the world's List of rivers by length, fourth-longest river system, runs predominantly north–south through the center of the country. The flat and fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by U.S. Interior Highlands, a highland region in the southeast.

The Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains, extend north to south across the country, peaking at over in Colorado. The supervolcano underlying Yellowstone National Park in the Rocky Mountains, the Yellowstone Caldera, is the continent's largest volcanic feature. Farther west are the rocky Great Basin and the Chihuahuan Desert, Chihuahuan, Sonoran Desert, Sonoran, and Mojave Desert, Mojave deserts. In the northwest corner of Arizona, carved by the Colorado River, is the Grand Canyon, a steep-sided canyon and popular tourist destination known for its overwhelming visual size and intricate, colorful landscape. The Cascade Range, Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges run close to the West Coast of the United States, Pacific coast. The Extreme points of the United States, lowest and highest points in the contiguous United States are in the State of California, about apart.

At an elevation of , Alaska's Denali is the highest peak in the country and continent. Active List of volcanoes in the United States, volcanoes are common throughout Alaska's Alexander Archipelago, Alexander and Aleutian Islands. Located entirely outside North America, the archipelago of Hawaii consists of volcanic islands, Physical geography, physiographically and Ethnology, ethnologically part of the Polynesian subregion of Oceania.

Climate

With its large size and geographic variety, the United States includes most climate types. East of the 100th meridian west, 100th meridian, the climate ranges from humid continental climate, humid continental in the north to humid subtropical climate, humid subtropical in the south. The western Great Plains are Semi-arid climate, semi-arid. Many mountainous areas of the American West have an alpine climate. The climate is Desert climate, arid in the Southwest, Mediterranean climate, Mediterranean in coastal California, and oceanic climate, oceanic in coastal Oregon, Washington (state), Washington, and southern Alaska. Most of Alaska is Subarctic climate, subarctic or Polar climate, polar. Hawaii, the South Florida, southern tip of Florida and U.S. territories in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, Pacific are Tropical climate, tropical.

The United States receives more high-impact extreme weather incidents than any other country. States bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes Tornadoes in the United States, occur in the country, mainly in Tornado Alley. Due to Climate change in the United States, climate change, extreme weather has become more frequent in the U.S. in the 21st century, with three times the number of reported heat waves compared to the 1960s. In the Southwestern United States, American Southwest, droughts became more persistent and more severe. The regions considered as the most attractive to the population are the most vulnerable.

Biodiversity and conservation

The U.S. is one of 17 megadiverse countries containing large numbers of List of endangered animals of North America, 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. The United States is home to 428 mammal species, 784 birds, 311 reptiles, 295 amphibians, and around 91,000 insect species.

There are List of national parks of the United States, 63 national parks, and Federal lands, hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and National Wilderness Preservation System, wilderness areas, managed by the National Park Service and other agencies. About 28% of the country's land is publicly owned and federally managed, primarily in the Western United States, Western States. Protected areas of the United States, Most of this land is protected, though some is leased for commercial use, and less than one percent is used for military purposes.

Environmental issues in the United States include debates on non-renewable resources and Nuclear power debate, nuclear energy, Pollution prevention in the US, air and water pollution, biodiversity, logging and Deforestation in the United States, deforestation, and Climate change in the United States, climate change. The United States Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the federal agency charged with Environmental policy of the United States, addressing most environmental-related issues. The National Wilderness Preservation System, idea of wilderness has shaped the management of public lands since 1964, with the Wilderness Act. 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. In 2024, the U.S. ranked 35th among 180 countries in the Environmental Performance Index.

Government and politics

The United States is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The U.S. asserts sovereignty over five Territories of the United States, unincorporated territories and United States Minor Outlying Islands, several uninhabited island possessions. It is the world's oldest surviving federation, and its presidential system of national government has been adopted, in whole or in part, by many newly independent states worldwide following their decolonization. The Constitution of the United States serves as Supremacy Clause, the country's supreme legal document. Most scholars describe the United States as a liberal democracy.Scheb, John M.; Scheb, John M. II (2002). ''An Introduction to the American Legal System''. Florence, Kentucky: Delmar, p. 6. .

National government

Composed of three branches, all headquartered in Washington, D.C., the federal government is the national government of the United States. It is regulated by a strong system of checks and balances.
* The United States Congress, U.S. Congress, a bicameral legislature made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. 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 List of United States congressional districts, congressional district of equivalent population. Congressional districts are drawn by each state legislature and are contiguous within the state. Congress makes federal law, declaration of war, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has Impeachment in the United States, the power of impeachment. One of Congress's foremost non-legislative functions is the power to Congressional investigation, investigate and oversee the executive branch. Congressional oversight is usually delegated to committees and is facilitated by Congress's subpoena power. Much of the work of Congress is performed by a United States congressional committee, collection of committees, each appointed for a specific purpose or duty. Committee membership is by tradition and statute bipartisan.
* 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 bill (law), legislative bills from the U.S. Congress before they become law. However, Veto power in the United States, presidential vetoes can be overridden by a two-thirds Supermajority#Use in governments around the world, supermajority vote in both chambers of Congress. The president appoints the Cabinet of the United States, members of the Cabinet, subject to Senate approval, and names other officials who administer and enforce federal laws through List of federal agencies in the United States, their respective agencies. The president also has clemency power for federal crimes and Federal pardons in the United States, can issue pardons. Finally, the president has the right to issue expansive "executive orders", subject to Judicial review in the United States, 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 United States Electoral College, U.S. Electoral College. There, votes are officially cast by individual electors selected by State legislature (United States), their state legislature. 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 Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, reelected to the office only once, for one additional four-year term.
* The Federal judiciary of the United States, U.S. federal judiciary, whose judges are all appointed for life by the president with Senate approval, consists primarily of the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court, the United States courts of appeals, U.S. courts of appeals, and the United States district court, U.S. district courts. The U.S. Supreme Court interprets laws and judicial review, overturns those it finds unconstitutional. Consisting of nine members led by the Chief Justice of the United States, the court judges each case before it by majority decision. The members are appointed by the sitting president with Senate approval when a vacancy becomes available. The first level in the federal courts is federal district court for any case under "Original jurisdiction#Federal and state courts, original jurisdiction", such as federal statutes, the Constitution, or International treaty, treaties. There are twelve United States Courts of Appeals, 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 Appellate court, appealed to a United States court of appeal. The next and highest court in the system is the Supreme Court of the United States. On average, the Supreme Court receives about 7,000 appeals petitions for writs of certiorari each year, but only grants about 80.

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 adopted this aspect of the 1789 Constitution of the United States, especially in the Americas.

Subdivisions

In the Federalism in the United States, U.S. federal system, sovereign powers are shared between three levels of government specified in the Constitution: the national government, the states, and Indian tribes. The U.S. also asserts sovereignty over five permanently inhabited territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Residents of the 50 states are governed by their elected state governments, and by elected Local government in the United States, local governments that are administrative divisions of the states. States are subdivided into counties or county equivalents, and (except for Hawaii) Local government in the United States, further divided into municipalities, each administered by elected representatives. The District of Columbia is Federal district of the United States, a federal district containing the U.S. capital, Washington, D.C. The federal district is an administrative division of the federal government.

Indian country is made up of 574 federally recognized tribes and List of Indian reservations in the United States, 326 Indian reservations. They hold a government-to-government relationship with the U.S. federal government in Washington and are legally defined as domestic dependent nations with Tribal sovereignty in the United States, inherent tribal sovereignty rights.

In addition to the five major territories, the U.S. also asserts sovereignty over the United States Minor Outlying Islands in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean. The seven undisputed islands 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.

Political parties

The Constitution is silent on political parties. However, they developed independently in the 18th century with the Federalist Party, Federalist and Anti-Federalist Party, Anti-Federalist parties. 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. The two main national parties are presently the Democratic and the Republican. The former is perceived as Modern liberalism in the United States, relatively liberal in its political platform while the latter is perceived as Conservatism in the United States, relatively conservative.

Foreign relations

The United States has an established structure of foreign relations, and it has the world's List of countries by number of diplomatic missions, second-largest diplomatic corps . It is a Permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and home to the Headquarters of the United Nations, United Nations headquarters. The United States is a member of the G7, G20, and OECD intergovernmental organizations. List of diplomatic missions in the United States, Almost all countries have embassies and many have consul (representative), consulates (official representatives) in the country. Likewise, nearly all countries host formal diplomatic missions with the United States, except Iran–United States relations, Iran, North Korea–United States relations, North Korea, and Foreign relations of Bhutan#Other countries, Bhutan. Though Taiwan–United States relations, Taiwan does not have formal diplomatic relations with the U.S., it maintains close unofficial relations. The United States regularly Six Assurances, supplies Taiwan with military equipment to deter potential Chinese aggression. Its geopolitical attention also turned to the Indo-Pacific when the United States joined the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue with Australia, India, and Japan.

The United States has a "Special Relationship" United Kingdom–United States relations, with the United Kingdom and strong ties Canada–United States relations, with Canada, Australia–United States relations, Australia, New Zealand–United States relations, New Zealand, Philippines–United States relations, the Philippines, Japan–United States relations, Japan, South Korea–United States relations, South Korea, Israel–United States relations, Israel, and several Member state of the European Union, European Union countries (France–United States relations, France, Italy–United States relations, Italy, Germany–United States relations, Germany, Spain–United States relations, Spain, and Poland–United States relations, Poland). 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 Agreement, United States–Mexico–Canada Free Trade Agreement. In South America, Colombia is traditionally considered to be the closest ally of the United States. The U.S. exercises full international defense authority and responsibility for Federated States of Micronesia, Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau through the Compact of Free Association. It has increasingly conducted strategic cooperation India–United States relations, with India, while China–United States relations, its ties with China have steadily deteriorated. Since 2014, the U.S. has Ukraine–United States relations, become a key ally of Ukraine.

Military

The president is the Commander-in-Chief of the United States, commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces and appoints its leaders, the United States Secretary of Defense, secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The United States Department of Defense, 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 United States Army, U.S. Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Navy, United States Air Force, Air Force, and United States Space Force, Space Force. The United States Coast Guard, Coast Guard is administered by the United States Department of Homeland Security, Department of Homeland Security in peacetime and can be transferred to the United States Department of the Navy, Department of the Navy in wartime.

The United States Military budget of the United States, spent $916 billion on its military in 2023, which is by far the List of countries with highest military expenditures, largest amount of any country, making up 37% of global military spending and accounting for 3.4% of the country's GDP.'''' The U.S. Nuclear weapons of the United States, possesses 42% of the world's nuclear weapons—the second-largest stockpile after Russia and weapons of mass destruction, that of Russia.

The United States has the List of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel, third-largest combined armed forces in the world, behind the People's Liberation Army, Chinese People's Liberation Army and Indian Armed Forces. The military operates about 800 bases and facilities abroad, and maintains United States military deployments, deployments greater than 100 active duty personnel in 25 foreign countries. The United States has engaged in over 400 military interventions since its founding in 1776, with over half of these occurring between 1950 and 2019 and 25% occurring in the post-Cold War era.

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 Governor (United States), the state's governor.
They are distinct from the state's National Guard (United States), 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 of 1916#National Defense Act Amendments of 1933, 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.

Law enforcement and criminal justice

There are about 18,000 U.S. police agencies from local to national level in the United States. Law in the United States is mainly enforced by local police departments and Sheriffs in the United States, sheriff departments in their municipal or county jurisdictions. State police (United States), The state police departments Police power (United States constitutional law), have authority in their respective state, and Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the United States Marshals Service, U.S. Marshals Service have national jurisdiction and specialized duties, such as protecting civil rights, National security of the United States, national security, enforcing U.S. federal courts' rulings and federal laws, and interstate criminal activity. State court (United States), State courts conduct almost all civil and criminal trials, but federal courts Subject-matter jurisdiction, adjudicate civil and criminal cases relating to federal law.

There is no unified "criminal justice system" in the United States. The Incarceration in the United States, American prison system is largely heterogenous, with thousands of relatively independent systems operating across federal, state, local, and tribal levels. In 2025, "these systems hold Incarceration in the United States, nearly 2 million people in 1,566 state prisons, 98 federal prisons, 3,116 local jails, 1,277 juvenile correctional facilities, 133 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." Despite disparate systems of confinement, four main institutions dominate: List of United States federal prisons, federal prisons, Lists of United States state prisons, state prisons, local jails, and American juvenile justice system, juvenile correctional facilities. Federal prisons are run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons and hold pretrial detainees as well as people who have been convicted of federal crimes. State prisons, run by the department of corrections of each state, hold people sentenced and serving prison time (usually longer than one year) for felony offenses. Local jails are county or municipal facilities that incarcerate defendants prior to trial; they also hold those serving short sentences (typically under a year). 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.

In January 2023, the United States had the List of countries by incarceration rate, 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 more than 1.9 million people incarcerated.Highest to Lowest
World Prison Brief (WPB). Use the dropdown menu to choose lists of countries by region or the whole world. Use the menu to select highest-to-lowest lists of prison population totals, prison population rates, percentage of pre-trial detainees/remand prisoners, percentage of female prisoners, percentage of foreign prisoners, and occupancy rate. Column headings in WPB tables can be clicked to reorder columns lowest to highest, or alphabetically. For detailed information for each country click on any country name in lists. See th
WPB main data page
and click on the map links or the sidebar links to get to the region and country desired. 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 Gun deaths in the United States, a gun homicide rate that was 25 times higher".

Economy

The U.S. has a highly developed mixed economy that has been the world's largest nominally since about 1890. Its 2024 gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $29 trillion constituted over 25% of nominal Gross world product, global economic output, or 15% at purchasing power parity (PPP). 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. The country ranks List of countries by GDP (nominal), first in the world by nominal GDP, List of countries by GDP (PPP), second when adjusted for purchasing power parities (PPP), and List of countries by GDP (PPP) per capita, ninth by PPP-adjusted GDP per capita. In February 2024, the total National debt of the United States, U.S. federal government debt was $34.4 trillion.

Of the world's Fortune Global 500, 500 largest companies by revenue, List of largest companies in the United States by revenue, 136 were headquartered in the U.S. in 2023, which is the highest number of any country. The United States dollar, U.S. dollar is the currency most used International use of the U.S. dollar, in international transactions and the world's foremost reserve currency, backed by the country's dominant economy, United States Armed Forces, its military, the petrodollar system, its large U.S. Treasury, U.S. treasuries market, and its linked eurodollar. United States dollar#Countries that use US dollar, Several countries use it as their official currency, and in others it is the de facto currency, ''de facto'' currency.Benjamin J. Cohen, ''The Future of Money'', Princeton University Press, 2006, ; ''cf''. "the dollar is the de facto currency in Cambodia", Charles Agar, ''Frommer's Vietnam'', 2006, , p. 17. The U.S. has free trade agreements with Free trade agreements of the United States, several countries, including the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, USMCA. It ranked second in the Global Competitiveness Report in 2019, after Singapore. Although the United States has reached a Post-industrial economy, post-industrial level of economic development and is often described as having a service economy, it remains a major industrial power; in 2021, the U.S. manufacturing sector was the world's List of countries by manufacturing output, second-largest after Manufacturing in China, China's.

New York City is the world's principal financial center and the epicenter of the world's list of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, both located in New York City, are the world's two List of stock exchanges, largest stock exchanges by market capitalization and trade volume.Table A – Market Capitalization of the World's Top Stock Exchanges (As at end of June 2012)
Securities and Exchange Commission (China). The United States is at or near the forefront of Science and technology in the United States, technological advancement and innovation in many economic fields, especially in artificial intelligence; electronics and computers; pharmaceuticals; and medical, aerospace and military equipment. The country's economy is fueled by abundant natural resources, a well-developed Infrastructure policy of the United States, infrastructure, and List of countries by labour productivity, high productivity.Wright, Gavin, and Jesse Czelusta, "Resource-Based Growth Past and Present", in ''Natural Resources: Neither Curse Nor Destiny'', ed. Daniel Lederman and William Maloney (World Bank, 2007), p. 185. . The List of the largest trading partners of the United States, largest trading partners of the United States are the European Union, Mexico, Canada, China, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, India, and Taiwan. The United States is the world's List of countries by imports, largest importer and List of countries by exports, second-largest exporter. It is by far the world's List of countries by service exports, largest exporter of services.

Americans have the highest average Household income, household and List of countries by average wage, employee income among OECD member states, and the fourth-highest Median income, median household income in 2023, up from sixth-highest in 2013. With personal Consumer spending, consumption expenditures of over $18.5 trillion in 2023, the U.S. has a heavily Consumer economy, consumer-driven economy and is the world's List of largest consumer markets, largest consumer market. The U.S. List of countries by number of billionaires, ranked first in the number of dollar billionaires and List of countries by number of millionaires, millionaires in 2023, with 735 billionaires and nearly 22 million millionaires.

Wealth in the United States is highly concentrated; in 2011, the richest 10% of the adult population owned 72% of the country's household wealth, while the bottom 50% owned just 2%. U.S. wealth inequality increased substantially since the late 1980s, and Income inequality in the United States, income inequality in the U.S. reached a record high in 2019. By 2024, the country had some of the highest wealth and income inequality levels among OECD countries. Since the 1970s, there has been a decoupling of U.S. wage gains from worker productivity. In 2016, the top fifth of earners took home more than half of all income, giving the U.S. one of the widest income distributions among OECD countries. There were about 771,480 Homelessness in the United States, homeless persons in the U.S. in 2024. In 2022, 6.4 million children experienced food insecurity. Feeding America estimates that around one in five, or approximately 13 million, Hunger in the United States#Children, children experience hunger in the U.S. and do not know where they will get their next meal or when. Also in 2022, about 37.9 million people, or 11.5% of the U.S. population, were Poverty in the United States, living in poverty.

The United States has a smaller welfare state and redistributes less income through government action than most other World Bank high-income economy, high-income countries. It is the only advanced economy that does not List of statutory minimum employment leave by country, guarantee its workers paid vacation nationally and is one of a few countries in the world without federal Parental leave in the United States, paid family leave as a legal right. The United States has a higher percentage of low-income Working class in the United States, workers than almost any other developed country, largely because of a weak collective bargaining system and lack of government support for at-risk workers.

Science and technology

The United States Technological and industrial history of the United States, has been a leader in technological innovation since the late 19th century and scientific research since the mid-20th century. Methods for producing interchangeable parts and the establishment of a machine tool industry enabled American system of manufacturing, the large-scale manufacturing of U.S. consumer products in the late 19th century. By the early 20th century, factory electrification, the introduction of the assembly line, and other automation, labor-saving techniques created the system of mass production.

In the 21st century, the United States continues to be one of the world's foremost scientific powers, though China has emerged as a major competitor in many fields. The U.S. has the List of sovereign states by research and development spending, highest total research and development expenditure of any country and ranks ninth as a percentage of GDP. In 2022, the United States was (after China) the country with the List of countries by number of scientific and technical journal articles, second-highest number of published scientific papers. 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. In 2023 and 2024, the United States ranked third (after Switzerland and Sweden) in the Global Innovation Index. The United States is considered to be the leading country in the development of artificial intelligence technology. In 2023, the United States was ranked the second most technologically advanced country in the world (after South Korea) by ''Global Finance (magazine), Global Finance'' magazine.

Spaceflight

The United States has maintained a space program since the late 1950s, beginning with the establishment of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. 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. Other major endeavors by NASA include the Space Shuttle program (1981–2011), the Voyager program (1972–present), the Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble and James Webb Space Telescope, James Webb space telescopes (launched in 1990 and 2021, respectively), and the multi-mission Mars Exploration Program (''Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit'' and ''Opportunity (rover), Opportunity'', ''Curiosity (rover), Curiosity,'' and ''Perseverance (rover), Perseverance''). NASA is one of five agencies collaborating on the International Space Station (ISS); U.S. contributions to the ISS include several modules, including ''Destiny (ISS module), Destiny'' (2001), ''Harmony (ISS module), Harmony'' (2007), and ''Tranquility (ISS module), Tranquility'' (2010), as well as ongoing logistical and operational support.

The United States private sector dominates the global Private spaceflight, commercial spaceflight industry. 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 Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, NextSTEP have facilitated growing private-sector involvement in American spaceflight.

Energy

In 2023, the United States received approximately 84% of its energy from fossil fuel, and the largest source of the country's energy came from Petroleum in the United States, petroleum (38%), followed by Natural gas in the United States, natural gas (36%), Renewable energy in the United States, renewable sources (9%), Coal in the United States, coal (9%), and Nuclear power in the United States, nuclear power (9%). In 2022, the United States constituted only about 4% of the world population, world's population, but consumed around 16% of the World energy consumption, world's energy. The U.S. ranks as the List of countries by greenhouse gas emissions, second-highest emitter of greenhouse gases behind China.

The U.S. is the world's Nuclear power by country, largest producer of nuclear power, generating around 30% of the world's nuclear electricity. It also has the highest number of nuclear power reactors of any country. From 2024, the U.S. plans to triple its nuclear power capacity by 2050.

Transportation

The road network, owned almost entirely by state and local governments, is the List of countries by road network size, longest in the world. The extensive Interstate Highway System connects all major cities and is funded mostly by the federal government but maintained by List of U.S. state and insular area departments of transportation, state departments of transportation, supplemented by state expressways and some private toll roads.

The U.S. is among the top ten countries with the List of countries by vehicles per capita, highest vehicle ownership per capita (850 vehicles per 1,000 people) in 2022. A 2022 study found that 76% of U.S. commuters drive alone and 14% ride a bicycle, including bike owners and users of bike-sharing networks. About 11% use some form of public transportation.

Public transportation in the United States is well developed in the largest urban areas, notably New York City, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Portland, Oregon; otherwise, coverage is generally less extensive than in most other developed countries. The U.S. also has many relatively car-dependent localities.

Long-distance intercity travel is provided primarily by airlines, but travel by rail is more common along the Northeast Corridor, the only high-speed rail in the United States, high-speed rail in the U.S. that meets international standards. Amtrak, the country's government-sponsored national passenger rail company, has a relatively sparse network compared to that of Western European countries. Service is concentrated in the Northeast, Illinois, and the West Coast.

The United States has an extensive air transportation network. List of airlines of the United States, U.S. civilian airlines are all privately owned. The three largest airlines in the world, by total number of passengers carried, are U.S.-based; American Airlines became the global leader after its 2013 merger with US Airways. Among the busiest 50 airports in the world, 16 are in the United States, as well as five of the top 10. The world's busiest airport by passenger volume is Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International in Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia. In 2022, most of the List of airports in the United States, 19,969 U.S. airports were owned and operated by local government authorities, and there are also some private airports. Some 5,193 are designated as "public use", including for general aviation. The Transportation Security Administration has provided security at most major airports since 2001.

Rail transport in the United States, The country's rail transport network, the List of countries by rail transport network size, longest in the world at , handles mostly Freight transport, freight (in contrast to more passenger-centered rail in Europe). Because they are often privately owned operations as well, U.S. railroads lag behind those of the rest of the world in terms of electrification.

Inland waterways of the United States, The country's inland waterways are the world's List of countries by waterways length, fifth-longest, totaling . They are used extensively for freight, recreation, and a small amount of passenger traffic. Of the world's List of busiest container ports, 50 busiest container ports, four are located in the United States, with the busiest in the U.S. being the Port of Los Angeles.

Demographics

Population

The United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau reported 331,449,281 residents on April 1, 2020, making the United States the List of countries and dependencies by population, third-most-populous country in the world, after China and India. The Census Bureau's official 2024 population estimate was 340,110,988, an increase of 2.6% since the 2020 census. According to the Bureau's U.S. and World Population Clock, 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. In 2023, 51% of Americans age 15 and over were married, 6% were widowed, 10% were divorced, and 34% had never been married. In 2023, the total fertility rate for the U.S. stood at 1.6 children per woman, and, at 23%, it had the world's highest rate of children living in Single parents in the United States, single-parent households in 2019.

The United States has a diverse population; 37 American ancestries, ancestry groups have more than one million members. Non-Hispanic whites, White Americans with ancestry from Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa form the largest race (human classification), racial and ethnic group at 57.8% of the United States population. 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. 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%, and some 574 native tribes are recognized by the federal government. In 2022, the median age of the United States population was 38.9 years.

Language

While many languages are spoken in the United States, American English, English is by far the most commonly spoken and written. English was made the official language of the United States by Executive Order 14224 in 2025. However, Congress has never passed a bill to designate English as the official language of all three federal branches. Some laws, such as Naturalized citizen of the United States, U.S. naturalization requirements, nonetheless standardize English. Twenty-eight states and the United States Virgin Islands have declared English as the sole official language; 19 states and the District of Columbia have no official language. Three states and four U.S. territories have recognized local or indigenous languages in addition to English: Hawaii (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian), Alaska (Alaska Native languages, twenty Native languages), South Dakota (Sioux language, Sioux), American Samoa (Samoan language, Samoan), Puerto Rico (Spanish language in the United States, Spanish), Guam (Chamorro language, Chamorro), and the Northern Mariana Islands (Carolinian language, Carolinian and Chamorro). In total, 169 Native American languages are spoken in the United States. In Puerto Rico, Spanish is more widely spoken than English.

According to the American Community Survey (2020), some 245.4 million people in the U.S. age five and older 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 language in the United States, Chinese (3.40 million), Tagalog language in the United States, Tagalog (1.71 million), Vietnamese language in the United States, Vietnamese (1.52 million), Arabic language in the United States, Arabic (1.39 million), French language in the United States, French (1.18 million), Korean language in the United States, Korean (1.07 million), and Russian language in the United States, Russian (1.04 million). German language in the United States, German, spoken by 1 million people at home in 2010, fell to 857,000 total speakers in 2020.

Immigration

America's immigrant population is by far the world's List of sovereign states and dependent territories by immigrant population, largest in absolute terms. In 2022, there were 87.7 million immigrants and Second-generation immigrants in the United States, U.S.-born children of immigrants in the United States, accounting for nearly 27% of the overall U.S. population. 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. 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%). In fiscal year 2022, over one million immigrants (most of whom entered through Chain migration#Legislation, family reunification) were granted Permanent residence (United States), legal residence. In fiscal year 2024 alone, according to the Migration Policy Institute, the United States resettled 100,034 refugees, which "re-cements the United States' role as the top global resettlement destination, far surpassing other major resettlement countries in Europe and Canada".

Religion

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, First Amendment guarantees the Free Exercise Clause, free exercise of religion in the country and forbids Congress from passing laws respecting Establishment Clause, its establishment. Religious practice is widespread, among the List of countries by ethnic and cultural diversity level, most diverse in the world, and profoundly vibrant. The country has the world's Christianity by country, largest Christian population. It has the Catholic Church by country, fourth-largest population of Roman Catholics; Pope Leo XIV of Chicago, Illinois is their current head. Other notable faiths include Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, many New Age movements, and Native American religions. Religious practice varies significantly by region. "Ceremonial deism" is common in American culture.

The overwhelming majority of Americans believe in a Higher Power, higher power or spiritual force, engage in spiritual practices such as prayer, and consider themselves religious or Spirituality, spiritual. In the "Bible Belt", located within the Southern United States, Evangelicalism, evangelical Protestantism plays a significant role culturally, whereas New England and the Western United States Unchurched Belt, tend to be more secular. Mormonism, a Restorationism, Restorationist movement founded in the U.S. in 1847, is the predominant religion in the state of Utah and a major religion in Idaho.

Urbanization

About 82% of Americans live in United States urban area, urban areas, including suburbs; about half of those reside in cities with populations over 50,000. In 2022, 333 List of United States cities by population, 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. Many U.S. metropolitan populations are growing rapidly, particularly in the South and West.

Health

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), average American life expectancy at birth was 78.4 years in 2023 (75.8 years for men and 81.1 years for women). This was a gain of 0.9 year from 77.5 years in 2022, and the CDC noted that the new average was largely driven by "decreases in mortality due to COVID-19, heart disease, unintentional injuries, cancer and diabetes". Starting in 1998, life expectancy in the U.S. fell List of countries by life expectancy, behind that of other wealthy industrialized countries, and Americans' "health disadvantage" gap has been increasing ever since.

The Commonwealth Fund reported in 2020 that the U.S. had the List of countries by suicide rate, highest suicide rate among high-income countries. Obesity in the United States, Approximately one-third of the U.S. adult population is obese and another third is overweight. The U.S. healthcare system far List of countries by total health expenditure (PPP) per capita, 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. The United States is the only developed country Healthcare reform in the United States, without a system of universal healthcare, and Health insurance coverage in the United States, a significant proportion of the population that does not carry health insurance. Government-funded healthcare coverage for the poor (Medicaid) and for those age 65 and older (Medicare (United States), 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. Abortion in the United States is not federally protected, and is illegal or restricted in 17 states.

Education

American primary and secondary education (known in the U.S. as K–12 education in the United States, K–12, "kindergarten through 12th grade") is decentralized. School systems are operated by state, territorial, and sometimes municipal governments and regulated by the United States Department of Education, U.S. Department of Education. In general, children are required to attend school or Homeschooling in the United States, 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 twelfth grade, 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. The U.S. spends more on education per student than any other country, an average of $18,614 per year per public elementary and secondary school student in 2020–2021. 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. The Literacy in the United States, U.S. literacy rate is near-universal. The country has the List of Nobel laureates by country, most Nobel Prize winners of any country, with List of American Nobel laureates, 411 (having won 413 awards).

Higher education in the United States, 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. American higher education is dominated by state university systems, although Private universities in the United States, 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.

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. Colleges and universities directly funded by the federal government do not charge tuition and are limited to military personnel and government employees, including: the United States service academies, U.S. service academies, the Naval Postgraduate School, and US military staff colleges, military staff colleges. Despite some student loan forgiveness programs in place, Student debt, student loan debt increased by 102% between 2010 and 2020, and exceeded $1.7 trillion in 2022.

Culture and society

Americans have traditionally Stereotypes of Americans, 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. Culturally, the country has been described as having Americanism (ideology), the values of individualism and Left-libertarianism, personal autonomy, as well as having a strong work ethic, Competition, competitiveness, and voluntary altruism towards others. According to a 2016 study by the Charities Aid Foundation, Americans donated 1.44% of total GDP to charity—the List of countries by charitable donation, highest rate in the world by a large margin. The United States is home to a Multiculturalism, wide variety of ethnic groups, traditions, and values. The country has acquired significant Hard power, hard and soft power through Foreign relations of the United States, its diplomatic influence, economic power, military alliances, and cultural exports such as Cinema of the United States, American movies, Music of the United States, music, Video games in the United States, video games, Sports in the United States, sports, and American cuisine, food. The influence that the United States exerts on other countries through soft power is referred to as Americanization.

Nearly all present Americans or their ancestors came from Afro-Eurasia, Europe, Africa, or Asia (the "Old World") within the past five centuries. wikt:mainstream, Mainstream American culture is a Western culture largely derived from the European American#Culture, traditions of European immigrants with influences from many other sources, such as African-American culture, traditions brought by slaves from Africa. More recent immigration from Asian American, Asia and especially Latin American culture, Latin America has added to a cultural mix that has been described as a homogenizing melting pot, and a heterogeneous salad bowl (cultural idea), salad bowl, with immigrants contributing to, and often Assimilation (phonology), assimilating into, mainstream American culture. The American Dream, or the perception that Americans enjoy high Socio-economic mobility in the United States, social mobility, plays a key role in attracting immigrants. Whether this perception is accurate has been a topic of debate. While mainstream culture holds that the United States is a classless society, scholars identify significant differences between Social class in the United States, the country's social classes, affecting socialization, language, and values. Americans tend to greatly value socioeconomics, socioeconomic achievement, but Average Joe, being ordinary or average is promoted by some as a noble condition as well.

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." 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

Under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, First Amendment to the Constitution, the United States is considered to have the Freedom of speech in the United States, strongest protections of free speech of any country. Flag desecration in the United States, Flag desecration, Hate speech in the United States, hate speech, Blasphemy law in the United States, blasphemy, and Lèse-majesté, lese majesty are all forms of protected expression. A 2016 Pew Research Center poll found that Americans were the most supportive of free expression of any polity measured. They are the "most supportive of Freedom of the press in the United States, freedom of the press and the Right to Internet access, right to use the Internet without government censorship". The U.S. is a Cultural liberalism, socially progressive country with Permissive society, permissive attitudes surrounding human sexuality. LGBT rights in the United States are, by global standards, among the most advanced.

Literature

Colonial American authors were influenced by John Locke and various other Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment philosophers. The American Revolution, 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. 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, who took American poetry and short fiction in new directions. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller pioneered the influential Transcendentalism movement; Henry David Thoreau, author of ''Walden'', was influenced by this movement.

The conflict surrounding Abolitionism in the United States, 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 (literature), American Renaissance include Walt Whitman, Melville, and Emily Dickinson. Mark Twain was the first major American writer to be born in the West. Henry James achieved international recognition with novels like ''The Portrait of a Lady'' (1881). As literacy rates rose, periodicals published more stories centered around industrial workers, women, and the rural poor. Naturalism (literature), Naturalism, American literary regionalism, regionalism, and Literary realism#UnitedStates, realism were the major literary movements of the period.

While Literary modernism, modernism generally took on an international character, modernist authors working within the United States more often rooted their work in specific regions, peoples, and cultures. Following the Great Migration to northern cities, African-American and black West Indian Americans, 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. In the 1950s, an ideal of homogeneity led many authors to attempt to write the Great American Novel, while the Beat Generation rejected this conformity, using styles that elevated the impact of the spoken word over mechanics to describe drug use, sexuality, and the failings of society. Contemporary literature is more pluralistic than in previous eras, with the closest thing to a unifying feature being a trend toward self-conscious Experimental literature, experiments with language. Twelve American laureates have won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Mass media

Media in the United States is Censorship in the United States, broadly uncensored, with the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, First Amendment providing significant protections, as reiterated in ''New York Times Co. v. United States''. 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 in the United States, Cable television offers hundreds of channels catering to a variety of niches. In 2021, about 83% of Americans over age 12 listened to radio broadcasting, broadcast radio, while about 40% listened to podcasts. In the prior year, there were 15,460 licensed full-power radio stations in the U.S. according to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Much of the public radio broadcasting is supplied by NPR, incorporated in February 1970 under the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967.

U.S. newspapers with a global reach and reputation include ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The New York Times'', ''The Washington Post'', and ''USA Today''. List of Spanish-language newspapers published in the United States, About 800 publications are produced in Spanish. With few exceptions, newspapers are privately owned, either by large chains such as Gannett Company, Gannett or The McClatchy Company, 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 Search, Google, YouTube, Amazon (website), Amazon, Yahoo, and Facebook—all of them American-owned.

In 2022, the video game market of the United States was the world's List of video games markets by country, largest by revenue. There are 444 publishers, developers, and hardware companies in California alone.

Theater

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 Theatre of the United Kingdom, British theater. By the middle of the 19th century America had created new distinct dramatic forms in the Tom Shows, the showboat, showboat theater and the minstrel show. The central hub of the American theater scene is the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District in Manhattan, with its divisions of Broadway theatre, Broadway, off-Broadway, and off-off-Broadway.

Many movie and television Celebrity, celebrities have gotten their big break working in New York productions. Outside New York City, many cities have professional Regional theater in the United States, 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.

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 theatre in the United States, 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.

Visual arts

Folk art of the United States, Folk art in Colonial america, colonial America grew out of artisanal Workmanship, craftsmanship in communities that allowed commonly trained people to individually express themselves. It was distinct from Europe's tradition of High culture, high art, which was less accessible and generally less relevant to early American settlers. 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 of the United States, sculpture became integral to early American folk art, despite the emergence of Renaissance art, 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.

The Hudson River School was a mid-19th-century movement in the visual arts tradition of European Realism (arts), naturalism. The 1913 Armory Show in New York City, an exhibition of European modern art, modernist art, shocked the public and transformed the U.S. art scene.

American Realism and American Regionalism sought to reflect and give America new ways of looking at itself. 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.

The tide of modernism and then postmodernism has brought global fame to American architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Philip Johnson, and Frank Gehry. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan is the largest art museum in the United States and the List of largest art museums, fourth-largest in the world.

Music

American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as traditional music, traditional folk music, contemporary folk music, or roots music. Many traditional songs have been sung within the same family or folk group for generations, and sometimes trace back to such origins as the British Isles, mainland Europe, or African-American music, Africa. The rhythmic and lyrical styles of African-American music in particular have influenced American music. 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. 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. The synthesizer, turntablism, and electronic music were also largely developed in the U.S.

Elements from folk idioms such as the blues and old-time music were adopted and transformed into popular music, 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. Country music developed in the 1920s, bluegrass music, bluegrass and rhythm and blues in the 1940s, and rock and roll in the 1950s. In the 1960s, Bob Dylan emerged from the American folk music revival, folk revival to become one of the country's most celebrated songwriters. The musical forms of Punk rock, punk and hip hop both originated in the United States in the 1970s.

The United States has the world's List of largest recorded music markets, largest music market, with a total retail value of $15.9 billion in 2022. Most of the world's Record label#Major labels, major record companies are based in the U.S.; they are represented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Mid-20th-century American pop stars, such as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, became Superstar, global celebrities and List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists, as have artists of the late 20th century, such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Whitney Houston, and Mariah Carey, and the early 21st century, such as Eminem, Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.

Fashion

The United States has the world's largest apparel market by revenue. 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. New York, with New York Fashion Week, its Fashion Week, is considered to be one of the "Big Four" global fashion capitals, along with Paris Fashion Week, Paris, Milan Fashion Week, Milan, and London Fashion Week, London. A study demonstrated that general proximity to Garment District, Manhattan, Manhattan's Garment District has been synonymous with American fashion since its inception in the early 20th century.

A number of well-known designer labels, among them Tommy Hilfiger (company), Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren Corporation, Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford (brand), Tom Ford and Calvin Klein (fashion house), Calvin Klein, are headquartered in Manhattan. Labels cater to niche markets, such as preteens. New York Fashion Week is one of the most influential fashion shows in the world, and is held twice each year in Manhattan; the annual Met Gala, also in Manhattan, has been called the fashion world's "biggest night".

Cinema

The U.S. film industry has Global Hollywood, a worldwide influence and following. Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, a district in northern Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city, is also metonymous for the American filmmaking industry. The major film studios of the United States are the primary source of the List of highest-grossing films, most commercially successful movies selling the most tickets in the world.

Largely centered in the New York City region from its beginnings in the late 19th century through the first decades of the 20th century, the U.S. film industry has since been primarily based in and around Hollywood. Nonetheless, American film companies have been subject to the forces of globalization in the 21st century, and an increasing number of films are made elsewhere. The Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, have been held annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1929, and the Golden Globe Awards have been held annually since January 1944.

The industry peaked in what is commonly referred to as the "Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood", from the early sound period until the early 1960s, with screen actors such as John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe becoming iconic figures. In the 1970s, "New Hollywood", or the "Hollywood Renaissance", was defined by grittier films influenced by French and Italian realist pictures of the Aftermath of World War II, post-war period. The 21st century has been marked by the rise of American streaming platforms, which came to rival traditional cinema.

Cuisine

Early settlers were introduced by Native Americans to foods such as Turkey as food, turkey, sweet potatoes, maize, corn, Cucurbita, 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, beef, and milk, to create a distinctive American cuisine. New World crops, especially pumpkin, corn, potatoes, and turkey as the main course are part of a shared national menu on Thanksgiving (United States), Thanksgiving, when many Americans prepare or purchase traditional dishes to celebrate the occasion.

Characteristic American dishes such as apple pie, fried chicken, doughnuts, french fries, macaroni and cheese, ice cream, hamburgers, hot dogs, and Pizza in the United States, American pizza derive from the recipes of various immigrant groups. Mexican-American cuisine, Mexican dishes such as burritos and tacos preexisted the United States in areas later annexed from Mexico, and American Chinese cuisine, adaptations of Chinese cuisine as well as Italian-American cuisine, pasta dishes freely adapted from Italian sources are all widely consumed.

American chefs have had a significant impact on society both domestically and internationally. In 1946, the Culinary Institute of America was founded by Katharine Cramer Angell, 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. The United States restaurant industry was projected at $899 billion in sales for 2020, and employed more than 15 million people, representing 10% of the nation's workforce directly. It is the country's second-largest private employer and the third-largest employer overall. The United States is home to over 220 Michelin star-rated restaurants, 70 of which are in New York City alone.

American wine, Wine has been produced in what is now the United States since the 1500s, with the New Mexico wine, first widespread production beginning in what is now New Mexico in 1628. In the modern U.S., wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California wine, California producing 84 percent of all U.S. wine. With more than under vine, the United States is the List of countries by wine production, fourth-largest wine-producing country in the world, after Italian wine, Italy, Spanish wine, Spain, and French wine, France.T. Stevenson, ''The Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia'' Fourth Edition, p. 462, Dorling Kindersly, 2005, .J. Robinson, ed. ''The Oxford Companion to Wine'', Third Edition, p. 719; Oxford University Press, 2006, .

The American fast-food industry developed alongside the nation's car culture. American restaurants developed the drive-in format in the 1920s, which they began to replace with the drive-through format by the 1940s. American fast-food restaurant chains, such as McDonald's, Burger King, Chick-fil-A, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dunkin' Donuts and List of fast food restaurant chains#United States, many others, have numerous outlets around the world.

Sports

The most popular spectator sports in the U.S. are American football in the United States, American football, Basketball in the United States, basketball, Baseball in the United States, baseball, Soccer in the United States, soccer, and Ice hockey in the United States, ice hockey. While most major U.S. sports such as baseball and American football have evolved out of European practices, basketball, Volleyball in the United States, volleyball, skateboarding, and snowboarding are American inventions, many of which have become popular worldwide. Lacrosse in the United States, Lacrosse and Surfing in the United States, surfing arose from Native American and Native Hawaiian activities that predate European contact.Liss, Howard. ''Lacrosse'' (Funk & Wagnalls, 1970), p. 13. The Professional sports market in the United States, market for professional sports in the United States was approximately $69 billion in July 2013, roughly 50% larger than that of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa combined.

American football is by several measures the most popular spectator sport in the United States; 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. 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 in the United States, golf and auto racing, particularly NASCAR and IndyCar.

On the College athletics in the United States, collegiate level, earnings for the member institutions exceed $1 billion annually, and college football and College basketball, basketball attract large audiences, as the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, NCAA March Madness tournament and the College Football Playoff are some of the most watched national sporting events. 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.

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. The Olympic Games will be held in the U.S. for a ninth time when Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Summer Olympics. United States at the Olympics, U.S. athletes have won a total of 2,968 medals (1,179 gold) at the Olympic Games, the most of any country.

In international professional competition, the United States men's national soccer team, U.S. men's national soccer team has qualified for United States at the FIFA World Cup, eleven World Cups, while the United States women's national soccer team, women's national team has United States at the FIFA Women's World Cup, won the FIFA Women's World Cup and Football at the Summer Olympics, Olympic soccer tournament four times each. The United States hosted the 1994 FIFA World Cup and will co-host, along with Canada and Mexico, the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was also hosted by the United States. 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup final, Its final match was watched by 90,185, setting the world record for most-attended women's sporting event at the time.

See also

* Lists of U.S. state topics
* Outline of the United States
* List of online encyclopedias of U.S. states, encyclopedias typically maintained by state historical societies, universities, or humanities councils

Notes

References

Sources

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External links

Key Development Forecasts for the United States
from International Futures

Government

Official U.S. Government web portal
– gateway to government sites

House
– official website of the United States House of Representatives

Senate
– official website of the United States Senate

White House
– official website of the president of the United States
* [ Supreme Court] – official website of the Supreme Court of the United States

History

"Historical Documents"
– website from the National Center for Public Policy Research

"Historical Statistics"
– links to U.S. historical data

Maps

"National Atlas of the United States"
– official maps from the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior
*
*

"Measure of America"
– a variety of mapped information relating to health, education, income, safety and demographics in the United States

{{Coord, 40, -100, dim:10000000_region:region:US_type:country, name=United States of America, display=title

United States,
Countries in North America
English-speaking countries and territories
Federal constitutional republics
Former British colonies and protectorates in the Americas
Former confederations
G20 members
Member states of NATO
Member states of the United Nations
States and territories established in 1776