The New York MTA is North America's largest transit system

Transit is funded through a three-tier system, and the federal government is the smallest piece

In 2019, the federal government covered about one-sixth of the $79B spent on public transit. States and localities make up the rest. About 85% of all transit trips are taken by bus or heavy rail, and nearly 4 in 10 US transit trips occur in the New York City metro area.

The Federal Transit Administration distributes roughly $20B annually to support local transportation

Created by the Urban Mass Transportation Act in 1964, the FTA funds and oversees the roughly 2,200 transit systems that receive federal support across the US, covering everything from subway capital investment to rural bus service.

Visualizing New York City's public transportation commutes

New York City is one of the largest cities in the world, and transports one of the largest numbers of commuters on a daily basis. This data visualization tells the stories of those commuters, showing the varying volume of travelers throughout the week and day, where they are going, and maps of high-traffic areas like stadiums and midtown. Dive into the data here.

The 2021 infrastructure law increased transit spending 42%, but may not have produced more transit

The infrastructure bill committed $108B to transit, the largest investment in history. However, three years in, real inflation-adjusted investment has declined. An 84% increase in non-highway spending coincided with a potential 29% decrease in actual structures, most likely due to construction inflation and bureaucratic delays.

Mass transit in America began with horse-drawn omnibuses in New York City in 1827

The omnibus, a large horse-drawn stagecoach that ran a fixed route and carried a dozen riders at an affordable fare, was different from a private carriage because it carried everyone, not just the wealthy.

LA used to have one of the best mass transit systems in the country

A century ago, Los Angeles had one of the greatest urban transit networks in America. Today, driving in LA traffic can still be faster than taking the train. The city's rail design, which funnels traffic through a single point, fails to support a city with such a spread-out population.

New York City spends $429 million a year just to get rid of its trash

None of NYC's garbage is processed within the city. It is transported by truck, train, and barge to waste-to-energy facilities and landfills as far away as Ohio and South Carolina, a vast logistical operation.

NYC's first subway was built largely in secret

In 1870, Alfred Ely Beach secretly tunneled under Broadway in 58 nights, disguising his pneumatic subway as a mail tube to fool Tammany Hall, the corrupt political machine that ran New York City. Nearly half a million New Yorkers rode it before politics, and a stock market crash killed the project.

Broadway grosses over $1B annually

The famous but relatively small geographic area is responsible for a relatively enormous economy, thanks to high demand and high ticket prices.

Infrastructure projects in New York are much more difficult today

The Erie Canal was one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in American history. Many have said such an effort would be impossible today. This article explores why that is the case and ponders the future of large-scale American infrastructure development.

Cities bore the brunt of the migrant surge in the 2020s

During the 2022-24 migration surge, cities such as New York, Chicago, and Denver faced shelter overcrowding, strained public services, and housing shortages—while the upfront costs fell almost entirely to states and cities.

The USPS spent $3.97B in 2024, accounting for .058% of the federal budget.

Over 35% of remote-capable US workers worked from home 'all the time' in 2023

With more than 1.3 million remote workers, the New York City metropolitan area had more remote workers than any of the top 30 metro areas in the US at the time. However, the Austin, Texas, metro area had the largest share of remote workers, with more than 23% of the city's workforce working remotely.

The Nasdaq is typically the world's second-largest stock exchange when measured by the total market value of the companies listed on the exchange

However, the Nasdaq sometimes surpasses the NYSE in terms of the total market cap of all the companies listed on each exchange. For instance, as of late April 2026, the Nasdaq's roughly 4,000 listed companies had a total market cap of about $44T, while the NYSE's roughly 2,300 companies' total market cap was around $38T.

Tokyo is the world's largest city by population

Home to over 41 million people, the megacity used to be a humble fishing village called Edo. Since Japan opened to foreign trade in the mid-1800s, Tokyo has made significant economic advances and achieved numerous milestones in public transportation, urban planning and culture.

The 2025 budget bill significantly increased ICE's budget and role in federal law enforcement

The 2025 'Big Beautiful Bill' allocated $170B to immigration and border enforcement for use through 2029. ICE's nearly $100B share includes substantial increases in detention capacity and operational scope. The increased funding will make ICE the most heavily funded federal law enforcement agency.

The marathon is only getting more popular

The marathon has become a part of popular culture, with races in nearly every major city. The largest is the New York City Marathon, which started in 1970. Over 55,000 runners participated in the 2024 race. Its popularity doesn’t appear to be slowing, with younger generations increasingly lacing up their shoes for the race of a lifetime.

The US air traffic control system is safe but due for major technological updates

On any given day, over 3 million passengers fly on roughly 45,000 flights in the US. Flying today is safer than ever, but air traffic controllers deal with outdated technology that can interfere with pilot communication.

Niagara Falls is New York State’s biggest electricity producer

The Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant and Lewiston Pump-Generating Plant together produce up to 2.6 million kilowatts—providing about 20% of New York State’s hydropower and supplying electricity to over 3 million homes.

See where Americans spend the most on gas

Drivers in Wyoming spend the most on gas per month at about $279, while New York drivers pay the least at $132. Longer driving distances have a significant impact on how much American drivers spend on gas.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, explained

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, founded in 1870, houses 1.5 million works spanning centuries—from ancient Egyptian artifacts to impressionist masterpieces. Its iconic Fifth Avenue building, designed by architect Richard Morris Hunt, and tranquil Cloisters location reflect its dedication to showcasing global creativity.

The overall median annual salary in the US was $62,192 as of 2025

The age group with the highest median annual salary in the US, $70,824, was made up of people ages 45 to 54, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data from July 28, 2025.

As of 2025, Meta Platforms Inc. is the largest social media company in the world

Facebook alone has nearly three billion monthly active users, with advertising across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp generating 97% of Meta's revenue. Messenger adds more than 650,000 users a daily.

People spent more than a billion hours visiting national park sites in 2025

Overall, the National Park Service reported 323 million visits for the calendar year, with 26 parks reporting record years. Here's how that broke down by type of site:

School buses are the safest vehicles on the road

Even without seat belts or airbags, the big yellow school bus transporting millions of students to school each day remains the safest vehicle on the road. A long history of tragic lessons led to today's highly tested school bus design, including the padded compartments created by school bus seats, multiple emergency exits, cross-view mirrors, and more.

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

Facts and figures on the largest credit unions

As of early 2024, credit unions had $2.31T in assets under management and were growing exponentially. Some of the biggest players limit access to military personnel, residents of specific states, and those with active religious affiliations. If you want to bank with some of the top names in the US, this list will help you check to see if you qualify.

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

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world

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

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.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

The Russia-Ukraine conflict is the largest ground war in Europe since World War II in casualties, forces mobilized, and displacement of civilians.

Before the current East Wing ballroom project, only two White House renovations in the past 100 years cost more than $10M.

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

Track the location of the Voyager probes, currently between 13 and 15 billion miles away from Earth.

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

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

See a 3D reconstruction of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital that was home to an estimated population of 200,000 to 400,000.

In 1984, Operation Smash Hit intentionally crashed a 239-ton train into a nuclear waste canister at 100 miles per hour to prove the canister's safety, which remained completely intact and lost just 0.29 of its 100 pounds of pressure.

See how each of the more than two million known species relates to each other—and to common ancestors—in this zoomable tree of life.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.

The American cockroach is actually from Africa, an apparent hitchhiker aboard ships carrying enslaved people, with evidence suggesting the bug may have arrived in the New World as early as the 1600s.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

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.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real