Stories
The counties where Americans never move
On Staten Island, 94.3 percent of people lived in the same house a year ago. In one Iowa county it's 71.4 percent. The most rooted places in America are suburbs, and the most transient are college towns.
How the census shapes American politics
If House seats were reapportioned on today's population estimates, seven would move. Texas and Florida would gain two each, California would lose two, and Rhode Island would fall to a single representative.
Where disability rates are highest in America
In one eastern Kentucky county, nearly one in three residents reports a disability. The map traces Appalachia and the rural South, and three forces stack up to produce it.
Census Bureau report claims 24,000 noncitizens voted in 2020, but experts question how it got there
The unauthored seven-page analysis, promoted by President Trump, amounts to 0.019 percent of the votes it examined. Georgia's own audit found fewer than a dozen noncitizen voters where the report counts 400.
The largest metro areas in America
More than 20 million people live in the New York metro, more than any state but California, Texas, and Florida. The 12 biggest US metro areas, and why the list looks nothing like the biggest cities.
Census privacy changes will reduce detail for small places and population groups
The Bureau published its own roadmap for replacing noise infusion: a 2030 census preview in mid-2027, the ACS fully converted by 2029, and a plain acknowledgment that small areas will lose detail.
The US cities with the largest white population
New York has about 2.6 million White residents, the most of any city, but they're only 31 percent of it. The cities with the most White people are the biggest cities, where White residents are often a minority.
What is the Census used for?
The census has one constitutional job: dividing the 435 House seats among the states. Redistricting, hundreds of billions in federal funding, and countless business and research decisions all grew on top of that.
Why El Paso is already preparing for the 2030 census
A city official's warning that 2029 is too late to start lands harder once you see the data. El Paso County stacks the two groups the 2020 census missed most: young children and Hispanic residents.
US fertility hit a record low, but some counties are still booming
The national fertility rate fell to 53.1 in 2025, the lowest ever recorded. But the county map is wildly uneven. We ran the numbers: Orthodox Jewish and border counties top the list, college towns bottom it.
The US cities with the highest white share
The Villages, Florida is the whitest US city over 50,000 people, at 94.9 percent. The rest of the list runs through the Upper Midwest and college towns, with one Arab American city that isn't what it looks like.
US retail sales fell 0.6% in July, dragged down by autos and online
Retail and food services sales slipped to $763.6 billion in July, the first real decline in months. But autos and online sellers drove almost all of it, and the core measure was nearly flat.
Which US counties produce the most pro athletes?
We matched every US-born player in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL to their birth county. St. Louis leads per capita, Georgia's Fulton and Gwinnett counties are among the most athletic in the country, and each sport draws from a different map.
America's foreign-born share is back to its 1890 record
In 2024, 50.2 million US residents were born abroad, the most ever, and at 14.8 percent of the population it ties the all-time high set in 1890. Where the foreign-born actually live tells the rest of the story.
The US cities with the largest Mexican population
Los Angeles has more than 1.1 million people of Mexican origin, the most of any American city. The 12 cities with the largest Mexican populations run through the Southwest, with Chicago the big exception.
AI is everywhere at work now, but the time savings are smaller than the hype
A new Census Bureau survey finds 55% of US workers have used AI on the job, but for about 7 in 10 users it saved two hours a week or less. The wider story is a sharp divide by education.
The most common Asian American surnames
Nguyen leads with more than 500,000 Asian holders, a name that was rare in America before 1975. The 12 most common Asian American surnames, and why almost none of them were common here before 1965.
The Most Ethnically Diverse ZIP Codes in America
ZIP code 94531 east of San Francisco is 24.7% Black, 23.6% Hispanic, 23.1% White and 20.7% Asian, about as evenly divided as American geography gets. Six of the twelve most diverse ZIP codes are in California, none in a big city center.
US Business applications jumped 8.1% in July
Americans filed 578,926 business applications in July 2026, up 8.1 percent. But retail trade accounts for nearly the entire gain, and the applications most likely to become employers actually fell.
The most common first names in America
Michael passed James to become the most common man's name in the country, and Maria climbed from seventh to second among women. Every name on both lists peaked decades ago, which is exactly what you'd expect once you know what the data is counting.
The 12 most Chinese cities in America are all in the SGV
San Marino, California, the old-money town of the Huntington Library, is now 48.3 percent Chinese, the highest share in America. The twelve most Chinese cities all sit in the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles.