Most common jobs in the US

The most common job in each US state in 2024

In 15 states, the most common job by number of employees is "fast food worker." Other most common jobs include cashiers and nurses.

The 50 best (and highest paying) jobs in America

Here are the 50 Best Jobs in America, according to Glassdoor. Where does your job fall? This report ranks jobs according to each job’s Glassdoor Job Score, determined by combining three factors: number of job openings, salary, and overall job satisfaction rating.

The US federal government employs roughly 3 million people

Tracking began in 1939, when the federal workforce consisted of about 1 million people. The total peaked in 1990 at 3.4 million, and hit a recent low in 2014 at 2.7 million.

Explore an interactive chart that shows peoples' annual salaries by occupation

The median salary for full-time workers in the United States was roughly $49.5K in 2024. An interactive chart details how salaries differ by occupation.

How many Americans receive government assistance?

In 2022, nearly half of all American children—and roughly one in three Americans overall—were enrolled in at least one government assistance program. Those programs provide support for people who cannot afford healthcare, food, housing, or other needs. Find out more about the number of Americans receiving government assistance here.

The latest data on US motherhood

Here’s a snapshot of what motherhood looks like in the U.S. today, drawn from government data and Pew Research Center surveys. The list includes seven headline statistics with visual graphs, including the average age of a mother's first childbirth...

The US jobs with the highest union membership rates

The transport and construction industries, as you might have guessed, have particularly high rates of union membership. But do you know the broadcasting industry’s union participation rate, at roughly 10%, isn’t far behind? This visual depicts the US industries with the highest rates of union membership in the country.

View the religious breakdown of the United States

This resource presents religious data by state and region, and nationwide. The primary religious group in the US is Christians, making up 62% of the adult population. Twenty-nine percent of US adults identify as religiously unaffiliated.

Ranking the most popular undergraduate degrees of the last decade

Roughly 2 million Bachelor's degrees are awarded by colleges and universities in the US every year, but within that number there are big shifts in the popularity and decline of certain majors. This data visualization breaks down the biggest gainers...

Visualizing how American men and women spend every hour of the day, by decade of life

Drawing on three years of Census time-use data, the tool tracks 12 activities—sleep, work, housework, caregiving, TV, and more—across age groups from the 20s through 70s. One persistent gap: women spend 45 more minutes per day on housework than men on average.

Who owns America's wealth?

This visualization breaks down the total net worth of all US households by wealth percentile, listing the number of households in each percentile. As you'll see in the graphic, the total net worth of all US households is close to $160T, and the richer half of the country owns roughly 98% of it. Check out the visual here.

Jobs that marry each other the most

Out of all married physicians, roughly one in five is married to another physician. The trend extends beyond the medical field. Some professionals are more likely to marry one another than others. Find out which jobs most often pair together among married couples with this interactive tool based on estimates from the American Community Survey. Click here to type in your profession and see your most likely match.

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.

The average retirement age by country, visualized

In the US, the average retirement age was 64 as of 2020. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development projects a two-year increase in the average retirement age by the mid-2060s.

Breast, prostate, and lung cancer are the most common forms of the disease

Close to 1.8 million cases of cancer are diagnosed each year in the US, with more than 600,000 deaths (about 0.2% of the total population). This visualization tool offers a searchable database of aggregate statistics on common cancers by gender, race, state, and other demographic information.

Explore an interactive tool that reveals why Americans are unemployed

Among unemployed Americans ages 25 to 54, almost 30% cited being laid off as the reason for their unemployment.

Ten lesser-known duties of the US president

The president of the United States is one of the most powerful positions in the world, but what exactly do they oversee? In addition to the obvious tasks of commanding the military, signing laws, and shaping national policy, this article highlights the lesser-known responsibilities of the American president. Naming national monuments and managing the White House beehive are just a few of the jobs you may be surprised to learn about.

Visualize government spending with USAFacts

This resource turns complex federal budget data into clear charts and summaries, letting users explore how much the government spends; where the money goes; and how revenue, deficits, and debt change over time.

See which age group pays the most in taxes each year

Americans between 45 and 55 pay nearly 30% of all income taxes, bearing the largest share of tax burden in the country. These taxpayers pay an average tax rate of around 17%.

Alcohol use disorder is the most common addiction in the US

This comprehensive overview from the Addiction Center uses recent data from SAMHSA’s National Survey to examine the 10 most common substance dependencies in the United States. It ranks addictions from alcohol (affecting 28.3 million Americans) to barbiturates, while highlighting key trends, risks, and societal impacts.

Multiple legal pathways exist for immigrating to the United States

This comprehensive guide outlines various routes to US immigration, including family-sponsored and employment-based visas, as well as humanitarian protections. Navigate the complex American immigration system and understand the options available to prospective immigrants seeking legal entry.

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

Breaking down the House races

All 435 voting seats in the US House are up for election, but less than 10% of them are competitive. See a breakdown of the races and which way they are leaning here.

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.

Reported rates of burnout by occupation

Burnout is often considered a disorder of caregivers, with teachers, doctors, nurses, and social workers reporting high levels of burnout. Among K-12 education professionals, 44% reported experiencing burnout in 2022.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is by far the most popular in the US

The most common types of loans are conventional, jumbo, fixed-rate, adjustable, and government-backed.

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.

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

44% of Americans say they pray at least once a day—discover how your state's religiosity stacks up against the rest of the country.

The US dollar is the most widely circulated currency in the world, and is involved in nearly 90% of global transactions

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.

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

11 people died from firework injuries in the US in 2024.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

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.

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

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

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

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

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.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

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

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

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.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Animal phobias are likely the most common type of phobias, followed by an extreme fear of heights.

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

US intelligence allegedly pursued more than 600 schemes to assassinate Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro.

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight