General
Who Still Claims 'American' as Their Ancestry?
The share of U.S. residents who write in 'American' as their census ancestry fell from 10.6% to 8.4% since 2011, and it is most concentrated in Appalachia, led by Buchanan County, Virginia.
Where Do the Most Chinese Americans Live?
The New York metro leads with 800,178 people of Chinese origin, but California is the real center of gravity, with 1.54 million statewide across Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose.
America Hits a Record Median Age as Baby Boomers Keep Aging
The U.S. median age hit a record 39.4 in 2025 as the 65-and-older population grew 16.2% and younger generations stalled, according to new Census Bureau estimates.
Where Americans Are Having the Most Children
The national fertility rate is 51.3 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 50. The places that beat it share a structure, not a region: military bases, religious communities, and agricultural Hispanic counties.
The South Is the Only Region Where the Child Population Grew
New Census Bureau population estimates show the South was the only U.S. region where the under-18 population grew from 2020 to 2025, while it fell in the Northeast, Midwest, and West and the national median age kept rising.
Where the Singles Are: Cities With the Most Unmarried Adults
The cities with the most never-married adults are dense urban cores like Detroit and Boston, while the most-married big cities are really suburbs. Plus the one place where the usual men-vs-women pattern flips: Washington, DC.
The 10 Richest Cities in California in 2026
In the richest city in California, the median household income and the median home value both run so high that the Census Bureau stops counting and reports them as 'more than' a ceiling. Nine of the ten wealthiest cities in the state sit within an hour of San Francisco. Here is the list.
The 10 Richest Cities in New York in 2026
New York State's wealthiest cities are not in New York City. They are in the suburbs surrounding it, concentrated almost entirely in Westchester County to the north and Nassau County...
The Most Affordable Counties Where Incomes Are Rising
Where can you still buy a house and watch your paycheck grow? We screened Census data for counties that are both cheap and gaining income, from the Texas border to metro-adjacent counties near St. Louis, Louisville, and Kansas City.
The Most Common Last Names in America
Smith leads by a wide margin, and the racial composition under the top names records emancipation, Hispanic surnames surging into the top fifteen, and Lee bridging Asian and other origins.
The Most Segregated Metros in America
A White /non-White dissimilarity score, computed from 2020 to 2024 Census data, ranks America's most segregated large metros. Milwaukee leads, and the industrial Midwest and Northeast dominate the list for reasons rooted in 20th-century policy.
Which State Has the Largest Population? All 50 States Ranked
California is still the largest U.S. state with 39,287,377 people, but it lost population in the latest estimate while Texas grows fast and closes the gap. Here is the full ranking from largest to smallest.
Median Household Income by County: The Highest and Lowest in America
The richest county in America has a median household income nearly five times the poorest. Here's the full top and bottom of the list, and what the geography shows.
Why Is the Census Taken Every 10 Years?
The decade-long census cycle isn't tradition, it's a constitutional rule. Here's the apportionment reason behind it, the history, and why ten years is the interval where fairness and feasibility meet.
Before You Move to Phoenix: What the Census Data Says
Phoenix added more than 650,000 residents since 1990 and is closing in on 1.7 million, which makes it the fastest-growing large city in the country. Before you join them, the Census data has a few things to tell you about incomes, housing, and the heat that the brochures leave out.
The Most Affordable Mid-Size Cities to Buy a Home in 2026
In the most affordable mid-size city in the country, the typical home costs about 2.3 times the typical household income. In the most expensive metros that multiple runs past ten. Here are the real cities where a normal salary still buys a house, and what the Census data says about each one.
The Most Diverse Cities in America in 2026
The most racially diverse cities in the country are not the famous big ones. They are mid-sized suburbs and satellite cities near Seattle, San Francisco, and New York, where no single racial group comes close to a majority and the odds that two random residents share a background are almost a coin flip.
The Richest Counties in America in 2026
The wealthiest county in the country sits in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, where the median household earns more than $181,000 a year. The rest of the top of the list clusters in three places: the DC commuter belt, the San Francisco Bay Area, and a short list of outliers built around one big employer.
The Most Educated Cities in America
In the most educated residential city in the country, more than nine of every ten adults hold a bachelor's degree, roughly triple the national rate. The places where that is true form a tight pattern: wealthy suburbs of New York, Boston, Dallas, and the Bay Area, plus a few college towns where almost everyone is a student or a professor.
Which Cities Have Become Less Diverse Since 2000?
The United States as a whole has become steadily more diverse since 2000. But a handful of individual cities have moved in the opposite direction, becoming less diverse rather than more. The mechanism is almost always the same: gentrification...
When Will Texas Surpass California in Population?
Most credible projections point to the same answer: Texas will surpass California as the most populous state in the United States around 2045 to 2050. The gap between the two states is large today, roughly 9 million people, but it has been closing steadily for two decades, and...