The federal agency dedicated to supporting museums and libraries spent $280M in 2024

The federal government distributes more than $160M in grants directly to libraries each year

The Institute of Museum and Library Services distributes funds annually to State Library Administrative Agencies, which support statewide initiatives and channel funds to public and academic libraries.

An analysis of the National Science Foundation's historical budget and spending

The NSF accounted for 0.1% of all federal spending in FY2024, with $9.39B—just over twice its FY1991 spending—out of $6.78T overall. Almost 99% of these funds ($9.29B) went to general science and basic research, with the rest allocated to national defense.

The EPA budget was 0.2% of total federal spending in 2024

The EPA spent $13.7B in 2024, making it 23rd among federal agencies in total expenditures. Of that money, more than half was distributed to state environmental agencies for sustainability and environmental protection programs.

The Department of Justice spent $44B in 2024

In fiscal year 2024, the Department of Justice spent approximately $44B—making it the 14th-largest federal agency by total spending. Its budget funds law enforcement activities, prosecutions, prisons, and grants to state and local justice initiatives.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) accounted for 22.4% of all federal spending in 2024

The SSA is an independent executive branch agency that is primarily responsible for administering Social Security benefits. In fiscal year 2024, The SSA, ranking second among federal agencies in terms of total spending, behind only the Department of Health and Human Services.

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

In 2020, government entities spent $316.5B on infrastructure, with state and local governments accounting for 34.8% of that amount.

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:

It cost the IRS $0.36 to collect $100 in 2024

It costs the IRS a significant amount of money to do part of its job—collecting money. For instance, the Internal Revenue Service spent $16.1B to collect $4.7T in taxes in 2023.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency leads the US response to disasters

Established in 1979, FEMA coordinates the government's response to hurricanes, wildfires, floods, and other disasters, providing funding, logistical support, and recovery assistance. In FY 2024, the agency spent $35.1B, nearly 40% of the Department of Homeland Security's total budget.

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.

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

As of 2025, the Wikimedia Foundation funds 14 open-source, free knowledge projects

Since its founding in 2003, the nonprofit has provided financial, legal, and infrastructure support to Wikipedia and its sister projects (e.g., Wikinews), primarily by managing donations, which average $11, from readers. Additional funding comes from gifts exceeding $1,000, the Wikimedia Endowment, and providing Wikipedia content for commercial use.

Half of Americans have an unfavorable opinion of the IRS, while 38% have a favorable view

From July 1 to July 7, 2024, Pew Research Center conducted a survey of 9,424 adults to gauge the public's attitudes about the federal government, including government agencies and departments. Of 13 agencies, 10 had net favorable ratings of 15 percentage points or more. Topping the list were the National Park Service (76% favorable), the US Postal Service (72%) and NASA (67%).

Different types of endowments, explained

​This Investopedia article provides a comprehensive overview of financial endowments—donations made to nonprofit institutions like universities, museums, or hospitals. It explains how endowments are structured, the various types (such as restricted and quasi-endowments), and how they are managed to support an institution's mission over time.

The Smithsonian is the world's largest museum complex

With 21 museums and the National Zoo, the Smithsonian Institution is the world's largest museum complex. Eleven of those museums sit directly on the National Mall, and all offer free admission to the public.

It took nearly a century to build the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Although Congress first authorized a national memorial to Black achievement in 1929, the National Museum of African American History and Culture did not open until 2016—after decades of stalled efforts, renewed legislation in 2003, and a prolonged fight over funding and location.

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 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 provided federal aid to tackle inequity in public schools

Signed into law April 11, 1965, ESEA authorized over $1B in grants during its first year—boosting Title I programs which now provide $18.4B annually to support low-income students.

Congressional funding for asteroid detection has long seen bipartisan support

Although asteroid detection is mandated by law, the NEO Surveyor telescope, which is specifically designed to detect asteroids, received more than twice the funding requested by NASA in 2023.

The Ford Foundation helped expand America’s regional theater

In 1961, the philanthropic arm of Henry Ford’s massive empire seeded an initial grant of $9M to fund regional theaters around the United States. This was done to replicate the repertory theaters throughout Europe.

The iconic National Parks posters were the product of a New Deal arts initiative

Ranklin Delano Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration in 1935 as a part of his New Deal. The program was intended to both create American jobs and inspire regular citizens through art. The Federal Art Project, as a part of the WPA, employed over 5,000 artists to work on projects, including the now-iconic National Parks posters.

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

The MTA's FY2026 budget is $21.3B, and the system carried 1.6 billion riders on buses and subways in 2024, making it by far the largest transit network in the country.

A separate agency within the Department of the Interior manages the education of Native Americans on reservations

The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), housed under the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, manages 183 elementary and secondary schools on 64 reservations across 23 states, serving around 40,000 Native American K–12 students outside state public systems.

In 2025, sovereign wealth funds invested more than $66B into artificial intelligence

Developing artificial intelligence, both from a hardware and software perspective, is time and resource-intensive. Sovereign wealth funds, particularly those in the Middle East, have heavily invested in critical AI infrastructure, like data centers.

Museums are updating their approach to wall texts amid 8-second-long attention spans

The explanatory text found next to art in museums has long been integral to the exhibit experience, helping provide context for artists, the piece, and cultural movements. Some institutions are removing the texts to allow visitors to interpret the pieces unaided; others are seeking to optimize length or recruit a variety of perspectives—called "labelists"—to offer less authoritative context for the pieces.

A 1990 law forced museums and federal agencies to return Native remains and sacred objects

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act required federally funded institutions to inventory and return Native American human remains and sacred items to descendant tribes.

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.

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

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

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

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

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

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

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

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

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.

Despite being favored by 87% of Americans, Congress does not have term limits.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

Fish populations in the Great Barrier Reef have increased after installing waterproof speakers on the ocean floor that played recordings of sounds from healthy coral reefs.

Explore the archaeological treasures of Pompeii, the city buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE.

The rivalry between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson centered on federalism—the question of how much power the federal government should hold relative to the states.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

In its famous catalog, Sears sold $600 DIY house kits from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in an estimated 100,000 'Sears and Roebuck homes.'

Take a 3D tour of the Hajj, Islam's annual pilgrimage to Mecca, undertaken by more than 1.5 million Muslims each year.

Against his wishes, Albert Einstein's brain was removed before his cremation, and the pathologist responsible stored it for decades in mason jars within a beer cooler.

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

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