The United States is the third most populous country in the world by most current estimates. The 2020 U.S. Census counted **331,449,281** residents, and later national estimates place the population in the mid-330 millions.
Population characteristics include:
- **Growth:** Long-term growth has come from both natural increase and immigration, though growth rates have generally slowed in recent decades. - **Urbanization:** The population is predominantly urban and suburban, with major metropolitan regions along both coasts, the Great Lakes, Texas, Florida, and parts of the Mountain West. - **Age structure:** The population includes large working-age cohorts, an aging Baby Boomer generation, and regional variation in median age. - **Gender:** Nationally near parity between men and women, with slight variation by age group and region. - **Ethnic and racial composition:** The U.S. is highly diverse. Census categories commonly include White, Black or African American, Asian, American Indian and Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, people of Hispanic or Latino origin, and people identifying with two or more races. - **Languages:** English is the dominant language in public life. Spanish is widely spoken, and many communities use Chinese languages, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Arabic, French, Korean, Russian, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, and Indigenous languages. - **Religions:** The country has a Christian majority by broad affiliation, alongside substantial numbers of religiously unaffiliated people and communities practicing Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, and many other faiths.
Socioeconomic conditions vary greatly by state, metropolitan area, race, educational attainment, and immigration history. The United States has world-leading universities and high overall educational attainment in many regions, but also significant disparities in income, health outcomes, employment stability, and access to opportunity.
Median household income, poverty rates, employment conditions, and educational attainment are tracked by the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies, but the most meaningful picture is usually regional rather than national alone.