Demographics of the United States

Current demographics of the United States

Population:
The U.S. population for July 2002 was estimated by the Census Bureau to be 288,368,698, a 2.47% increase over the July 2000 estimate of 281,421,906. The U.S. population more than tripled during the 20th century, a growth rate of about 1.3% a year, having been about 76 million in 1900.

The following is a list of the ten most populous cities in the country, with their estimates for 2002 and 2000. The trend column indicates whether the city is growing (+) or shrinking (-), based on the two estimates.

Rank	Trend	City	July 2002  estimate	July 2000  estimate
1.	+	New York City, New York	8,084,316	8,008,278
2.	+	Los Angeles, California	3,798,981	3,694,820
3.	-	Chicago, Illinois	2,886,251	2,896,016
4.	+	Houston, Texas	2,009,834	1,953,631
5.	-	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	1,492,231	1,517,550
6.	+	Phoenix, Arizona	1,371,960	1,321,045
7.	+	San Diego, California	1,259,532	1,223,400
8.	+	Dallas, Texas	1,211,467	1,118,580
9.	-	Detroit, Michigan	925,051	951,270
10.	+	San Jose, California	900,443	894,943

City rankings by metropolitan area are also available.

The most densely populated state is New Jersey (372/sq.km).

Age structure: (2000 est.)

• 0-14 years: 21.25% (male 29,956,875; female 28,597,880)
• 15-64 years: 66.11% (male 90,345,154; female 91,827,471)
• 65 years and over: 12.64% (male 14,472,865; female 20,362,428)

Population growth rate: 0.91% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 14.2 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 8.7 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 3.5 migrants/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex ratios: (2000 est.)

• at birth: 1.05 males/female
• under 15 years: 1.05 males/female
• 15-64 years: 0.98 male/female
• 65 years and over: 0.71 male/female
• total population: 0.96 male/female

Infant mortality rate: 6.82 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy: (2000 est.)

• total population: 77.12 years
• male: 74.24 years
• female: 79.9 years

Total fertility rate: 2.06 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Nationality:

• noun: American(s)
• adjective: American

Ethnic groups:

• white 75.1%,
• black 12.3%,
• Asian 3.6%,
• Amerindian 0.9%,
• Two or more races 2.4%,
• other 5.5% (2000)
• Hispanic or Latino 12.5%;

a separate listing for Hispanic is not included because the Census Bureau considers Hispanic to mean a person of Latin American descent (especially of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto Rican origin) who may be of any race or ethnic group.

Religious beliefs: (2001 American Religious Identification Survey)

Protestant	52%
Catholic	24.5%
None	13.2%
Jewish	1.3%
Muslim	0.5%
Buddhist	0.5%
Agnostic	0.5%
Atheist	0.4%
Hindu	0.4%
Unitarian Universalist	0.3%
Pagan	0.07%
Wiccan	0.06%
Spiritualist	0.06%
Native American	0.05%

Others less than 100,000 adherents or unclassified. 5.4% refused to respond to the question.

Of the religious groups, an average of 54% reported being member of a church, temple, synagogue or mosque, with widely varying percentages, from 83% for evengelical to 19% for those of no religion.

Languages in the United States:
English, Spanish (spoken by a sizable minority)

Literacy: (age 15 and over can read and write, 1979 est.)

• total population: 97%
• male: 97%
• female: 97%

See also:

• Demographics history of the United States
• United States metropolitan area
• Languages in the United States
• United States
• Largest cities of the world