Local governments are responsible for more than 148,000 public water systems across the US

Illinois has more local governments than any other state

As of 2022, there were a reported total of 90,837 local government units across the US. Illinois had the highest number with 6,930, followed by Texas with 5,533. Explore all the data from the 2022 Census of Governments, which takes place every five years.

One in seven US tax dollars is collected by local governments

Local governments collect about $886B each year to support education, infrastructure, and public health. Roughly three-quarters of this funding comes from property taxes, with the rest sourced from sales, excise, and income taxes.

The Safe Drinking Water Act protects tap water for Americans

Passed in 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act requires the EPA to set and enforce national standards for public water systems. It regulates contaminants, funds infrastructure improvements, and ensures that communities nationwide have access to safe and clean drinking water.

Special districts are a form of local government focused on a single purpose

Unlike cities or counties, which provide a wide range of services, special districts are created to perform a single function, such as water, transit, or mosquito control. They are governed by appointed boards, have independent taxing authority, and now number nearly 40,000 across the US.

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

The sewage of New York City

Residents of the five boroughs of New York produce 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater everyday. Seventy miles of sewer pipes, first built in the mid-1800s, feed the sewage to 14 wastewater treatment and recovery plants where the waste is treated back to viable, drinkable water. See what shouldn't go down the toilet here.

Local governments coordinate across jurisdictions through regional councils and planning bodies

Many local governments are part of Councils of Governments or Metropolitan Planning Organizations—regional entities that coordinate transportation, land use, and other shared priorities across city and county boundaries. Federal law mandates their establishment in any metro area with a population over 50,000.

Explore how close you live to some of the most contaminated places in the US

Known as Superfund sites, these toxic locations undergo long-term cleanup to remove hazardous waste, protect health, and restore land for safe reuse. As of 2025, the EPA lists around 1,300 active Superfund sites on its National Priorities List, with more than 450 cleaned and removed since 1980.

Most common jobs in the US

Most US government organizations list roughly 500 primary occupations that most Americans fall into, such as teachers and cashiers. Using data from the 2018 through 2022 American Community Survey, these graphics break down the most common jobs in the US by age, gender, and more. See the graphics here.

A breakdown of where water is located on Earth and where it is most used worldwide

About 97% of Earth's water volume is in the oceans, 2% is trapped in polar ice caps and glaciers, and almost all of the remaining 1% is found in groundwater reserves. Roughly 70% of the easily accessible surface water in rivers and lakes—0.01% of all water—is used for agriculture, contributing to 20% of the world's population living in water-scarce areas and 2.1 billion people lacking access to clean drinking water.

Not all public lands are part of the National Park System

The entire National Park System is located on public lands. There are four different land management agencies in the United States, including the National Park Service.

State governments have public pensions for their employees

In many US states, these pensions are set aside for teachers, firefighters, and/or other state government workers. However, many of these pensions are currently underfunded. This map provides a visual representation of how strong each US states’ public pensions are.

How LA brought water to its booming population

By the turn of the 20th century, Los Angeles had grown from a dusty, crime-ridden pueblo into a thriving metropolis. The only problem was that it was growing too fast. Here's the story of how the booming town created a massive water infrastructure to redirect area rivers to its residents.

Most US fire departments are staffed entirely by volunteers, though they tend to serve smaller communities

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency's 2024 registry, 70% of US fire departments are all volunteer, while 9.5% are fully staffed with paid employees. Volunteer departments are mainly found in rural and suburban areas, whereas most urban Americans are served by career or mixed departments.

Thousands of quarters and huge water bills: the economics of laundromats

There are approximately 30,000 laundromats in the US, serving the roughly 50% of apartment dwellers who do not have a washer or dryer. Shops profit when they can get their machines—roughly 30 to 40 per location, on average—to wash eight to 10 loads a day. Connections with commercial vendors help.

The firms running America's voting systems

Three companies make up over 90% of the US market share around voting systems, and like any company, they're priorities aren't always aligned with the public's. Dive into the industry of voting machines in this investigation piece from the Guardian.

The United States is the world's oldest continuously operating federal system under a written constitution

The US pioneered federalism in the late 18th century, and many countries later adopted federal systems to manage conflict and share power. This resource features interactive maps that trace the spread of federal systems worldwide from 1900 to the present.

Many issues facing urban environments cannot be solved by smart technologies

Although connecting systems to the Internet of Things can provide improved efficiency in municipal systems, problems such as limited affordable housing are driven by larger socioeconomic factors. Some experts suggest that local governments should focus resources on practical solutions to these issues rather than investing in smart technologies.

Water from four Great Lakes feeds Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is powered by water from Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie. The Great Lakes basin spans over 260,000 square miles and holds nearly 20% of the world's surface freshwater—about two-thirds of which passes over the falls.

Virtually all public libraries in the US offer free internet access

Beyond providing internet access, libraries have also expanded into broad digital hubs for communities. Ninety percent offer basic digital literacy training, 76% help patrons navigate online government services, and 73% assist people with job applications.

45% of Americans have no access to public transit

Most US transit was built on a monocentric design, funneling riders into a downtown center. But today's most common commute is from suburb to suburb, meaning the system is built for a work pattern that no longer exists.

Discover what would happen in the US if the electric grid permanently went down

While the grid is designed with redundancies and to restart quickly in the event of an interruption, a long-term, widespread blackout would cut off most telecommunications, water, and sewage systems and cause supermarkets, which keep only about three days of inventory, to quickly empty. Without electricity and the transportation systems that rely on it, modern food production would also halt.

Swimmer's ear is America's most common waterborne illness

Federal government analysis of the roughly 7 million waterborne illness cases that occur annually in the US found that swimmer's ear comprises some 4.7 million, or 65%, of the annual waterborne illnesses and 20% of hospitalizations. Norovirus infection comes in second place.

Data centers' electrical needs create increased water demands beyond cooling

Each query uses approximately one single-serving water bottle per conversation, but water is also used for steam cycles and cooling in power plants that generate electricity for data centers. Newer cooling methods, such as immersion cooling, where servers are submerged in fluids that don't conduct electricity, can minimize water use.

Walt Disney World essentially ran its own local government for more than 50 years

Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District granted the company county-level authority to construct roads, issue bonds, and self-regulate for decades. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dissolved the arrangement in 2023 after a public dispute with the company.

Discover the catastrophic consequences of a failure of the US electrical grid—something that is more likely than many Americans think.

View a distribution of wind turbine locations across the US

As of May 2025, the US Wind Turbine Database maps and provides technical specifications for 76,051 onshore and offshore turbines from 1,794 projects, ranging from small installations to large-scale wind farms.

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

Calculate how much of your tax dollars go to each federal program based on your income, filing status, and number of children

Pure water does not conduct electricity because this flow of energy requires the movement of charged particles, and water is a neutral molecule.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

See this overview of the firework rules across all 50 states, ranging from a complete ban on non-professional fireworks in Massachusetts to states with more lax rules like Indiana.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Between 10 million and 50 million people in the US develop rashes from poison ivy, poison sumac, and poison oak each year.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

Experimental hantavirus vaccines and therapies, still under development, have long been funded by the US military.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

See how Budweiser's famous Clydesdales spend their days at Warm Springs Ranch, where roughly 70 to 80 of the beer brand's giant horses can be found at any given time.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

While El Niño moves warm Pacific Ocean waters east along the equator, La Niña moves them west, shifting where rainfall will become more common for months.

Bone marrow (soft tissue found inside certain bones) generates roughly 500 billion new blood cells each day

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

An initial public offering or 'IPO' is the process of a private company becoming public by putting shares of the company on the stock market for purchase.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

'Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone,' a work by American painter Thomas Moran, inspired Congress to establish Yellowstone National Park.