Stories
How many census tracts are in the US? 84,401, and here is how they are drawn
The 50 states and DC are divided into 84,401 census tracts, each meant to hold about 4,000 people. California has the most, Wyoming the fewest, and one Texas tract has 44,364 residents.
Census survey shows no change in child uninsured rate as Medicaid rolls shrink, but researchers say the data may be missing the real story
The Census Bureau's survey found 5.8 percent of children uninsured all of 2025, statistically unchanged. Georgetown researchers point to 2.5 million fewer children on Medicaid and CHIP and a missing state-level release.
The most and least diverse states in America, and how much every state changed since 1990
Two random Hawaiians differ in race or ethnicity 89.7 percent of the time. In Vermont it is 23.5 percent. Every state in the country grew more diverse since 1990, Nevada most of all.
Workers with a license or certificate earn 16% more, and high school grads gain the most
Full-time workers with a nondegree credential reported 16.4 percent higher median earnings, a Census Bureau study found. High school graduates with both a certificate and a license earned about 21 percent more.
Where Do the Most Salvadoran Americans Live?
The Census Bureau counts 2,583,416 people of Salvadoran origin, the largest Central American group. California leads, but the Washington, DC area is the surprise second center, a legacy of 1980s refugee migration.
What share of the US population was born in another country?
The United States had 50.2 million foreign-born residents in 2024, 14.8 percent of the population. The share ranges from 27.6 percent in California to 2.1 percent in West Virginia.
The US cities where people actually take transit to work
About 3.2% of American workers commute by public transportation. New York is at 44.0%, and every city in the top twelve sits on a rail network built before 1980. No Sun Belt city makes the list.
How Americans actually get health insurance
54.8% are covered through an employer, 20.9% by Medicaid, 18.4% by Medicare, and 8.4% not at all. The eight most uninsured large counties in the country are all in Texas.
Trump's plan to exclude some immigrants from the census could cost Texas and Florida House seats
A New York Times analysis finds removing noncitizens without green cards would shift seats from Texas and Florida to Minnesota and Oregon. Our own projection shows why: those states sit right at the cutoff.
Cobb County Went From 88% White to 47% in a Generation
In 1990, Cobb County, Georgia was 87.6 percent white. Today it is 47.1 percent, having crossed into majority-minority, driven by Black, Hispanic, and Asian in-migration at once, and it stayed affluent the whole way.
The census has counted noncitizens since 1790, and the Trump administration wants to stop
Every census since the first one has included noncitizens in the count that divides up House seats. The 2030 proposal would break that rule, after a century of attempts that never changed the count.
What is a metropolitan area? How the Census draws the lines around 95% of Americans
A metro area is a group of whole counties tied together by commuting. There are 387 of them plus 538 micropolitan areas, covering 1,844 counties and 323.8 million people.
US retail sales jumped 1.2% in August as spending strengthened across nearly every category
Americans spent $773.9 billion at stores and restaurants in August, the strongest month of 2026. Online sellers are closing on car dealers, and grocery sales are barely moving.
Where the most Russian Americans live, from Brooklyn to Burleigh County
About 2.2 million Americans report Russian ancestry, a sixth of them in metro New York. North Dakota has the highest share of any state, and a Florida beach town the highest of any town.
How popular is the name Karen? Karen fell 60% after it became a meme
There are 880,756 living Karens, the 10th most common name among American women. Only 175 girls got the name in 2025. Compared with Cynthia, Brenda, and Linda, Karen's recent decline stands out.
US poverty rate fell to 10.2% in 2025, and child poverty hit a record low
The official poverty rate dropped for a third straight year to 10.2 percent, with record lows for children and Hispanic Americans. The broader Supplemental Poverty Measure held at 13.1 percent.
The poorest counties in America
Bell County, Kentucky has a median household income of $31,354 against a national $82,259. Five states hold 63 of the poorest 100 counties, and the income list and the poverty list don't name the same places.
Business applications fell 7.8% in August
Americans filed 531,728 business applications in August, down from a July spike but the highest August since records began in 2004. Nearly all of the monthly drop came from retail.
The counties where Black households earn the most
The median Black household earns about $55,900. In Stafford County, Virginia it is $145,572, and in Charles County, Maryland, a majority-Black county, Black households out-earn white households. Three of the top four are Washington suburbs.
The US cities where people walk and bike to work
About 2.4% of Americans walk to work and 0.4% bike. Cambridge is 19.2% walking and Davis, California is 11.2% biking, 28 times the national rate. Nearly every city on both lists is a college town.
The Fastest-Growing Counties in Florida, 2024 to 2025
Florida added 196,680 residents in a single year. Polk County led in raw numbers and St. Johns County grew fastest by percentage, as the growth concentrated in the suburban ring around Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville.