Education is the largest
book festival in the United States, annually drawing approximately 150,000 attendees. In the year 2000, there were 76.6 million students enrolled in schools from
kindergarten through
graduate schools. Of these, 72 percent aged 12 to 17 were judged academically "on track" for their age (enrolled in school at or above grade level). Of those enrolled in compulsory education, 5.2 million (10.4 percent) were attending private schools. Among the country's adult population, over 85 percent have completed high school and 27 percent have received a
bachelor's degree or higher. The large majority of the world's top universities, as listed by various ranking organizations, are in the United States, including 19 of the top 25, and the most prestigious
Harvard University. The country also has by far the most
Nobel Prize winners in history, with 403 (having won 406 awards).
Gun culture In sharp contrast to most other nations,
firearms laws in the United States are permissive, and private gun ownership is common; almost half of American households contain at least one firearm. The Supreme Court has ruled that the
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution protects an individual right to possess modern firearms, subject to reasonable regulation, a view shared by the majority of Americans. There are more privately owned firearms in the United States than in any other country, both
per capita and in total. Civilians in the United States possess about 42% of the global inventory of privately owned firearms. Rates of gun ownership vary significantly by region and by state; gun ownership is most common in Alaska, the
Mountain States, and
the South, and least prevalent in Hawaii, the
island territories,
California, and
New England. Across the board, gun ownership tends to be more common in rural than in urban areas. Hunting,
plinking, and
target shooting are popular pastimes, although ownership of firearms for purely utilitarian purposes such as personal protection is common as well. "Personal protection" was the most common reason given for gun ownership in a 2013 Gallup poll of gun owners, at 60%. Ownership of
handguns, while not uncommon, is less common than ownership of
long guns. Gun ownership is much more prevalent among men than among women, with men being approximately four times more likely than women to report owning guns.
Religion Among
developed countries, the U.S. is one of the most religious in terms of its demographics. According to a 2002 study by the
Pew Global Attitudes Project, the U.S. was the only developed nation in the survey where a majority of citizens reported that religion played a "very important" role in their lives, an opinion similar to that found in Latin America. Today, governments at the national, state, and local levels are
secular institutions, with what is often called the "
separation of church and state". The most popular religion in the U.S. is
Christianity, comprising the majority of the population (73.7% of adults in 2016). Although participation in organized religion has been diminishing, the public life and
popular culture of the United States incorporates many Christian ideals specifically about redemption, salvation, conscience, and morality. Examples are popular culture obsessions with confession and forgiveness, which extends from
reality television to
twelve-step meetings. Most of the
British Thirteen Colonies were generally not tolerant of dissident forms of worship. Civil and religious restrictions were most strictly applied by the
Puritans of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony which saw various banishments applied to enforce conformity, including the
branding iron, the
whipping post, the
bilboes and the
hangman's noose. The persecuting spirit was shared by
Plymouth Colony and the colonies along the
Connecticut river.
Mary Dyer was one of the four executed
Quakers known as the
Boston martyrs, and her death on the Boston gallows marked the beginning of the end of Puritan
theocracy and New England independence from English rule; in 1661 Massachusetts was forbidden from executing anyone for professing Quakerism.
Anti-Catholic sentiment appeared in New England with the first
Pilgrim and Puritan settlers. The Pilgrims of New England held radical Protestant disapproval of
Christmas. Christmas observance was outlawed in
Boston in 1659. The ban by the Puritans was revoked in 1681 by an English appointed governor; however, it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became common in the Boston region. The
colony of Maryland, founded by the Catholic
Lord Baltimore in 1634, came closest to applying freedom of religion. Modeling the provisions concerning religion within the
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the framers of the
United States Constitution rejected any religious test for office, and the
First Amendment specifically denied the central government any power to enact any law respecting either an establishment of religion or prohibiting its free exercise. In the following decades, the animating spirit behind the constitution's
Establishment Clause led to the disestablishment of the official religions within the member states. The framers were mainly influenced by secular,
Enlightenment ideals, but they also considered the pragmatic concerns of minority religious groups who did not want to be under the power or influence of a
state religion that did not represent them.
Thomas Jefferson, author of the
Declaration of Independence said, "The priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot."
Gallup polls during the early 2020s found that about 81% of Americans believe in some conception of a
God and 45% report
praying on a daily basis. According to their poll in December 2022, "31% report attending a church, synagogue, mosque or temple weekly or nearly weekly today." Around 6% of Americans claim a non-Christian faith; the largest of which are
Judaism,
Islam,
Hinduism, and
Buddhism. The United States either
has the first or second-largest Jewish population in the world, and the largest outside of
Israel. "
Ceremonial deism" is common in American culture. Around 30% of Americans describe themselves as having
no religion. According to Gallup, trust in "the church or organized religion" has declined significantly since the 1970s. According to the 2022
Cooperative Election Study, younger Americans are significantly less religious. Among
Generation Z, a near-majority consider themselves
atheist,
agnostic, or
nothing in particular.
Social class and work ,
Shelby County Courthouse,
Memphis, Tennessee, United States Though the majority of Americans in the 21st century identify themselves as
middle class, American society has experienced increased
income inequality. Social class, generally described as a combination of
educational attainment,
income and occupational prestige, is one of the greatest cultural influences in America. commonly identify education and being cultured as prime values, similar to the upper class. Persons in this particular
social class tend to speak in a more direct manner that projects authority, knowledge and thus credibility. They often tend to engage in the consumption of so-called mass luxuries, such as
designer label clothing. A strong preference for natural materials, organic foods, and a strong health consciousness tend to be prominent features of the upper middle class.
American middle-class individuals in general value expanding one's horizon, partially because they are more educated and can afford greater leisure and travel. Working-class individuals take great pride in doing what they consider to be "real work" and keep very close-knit kin networks that serve as a safeguard against frequent economic instability. Working-class Americans and many of those in the middle class may also face occupation alienation. In contrast to upper-middle-class professionals who are mostly hired to conceptualize, supervise, and share their thoughts, many Americans have little autonomy or creative latitude in the workplace. As a result, white collar professionals tend to be significantly more satisfied with their work. In 2006,
Elizabeth Warren presented her article entitled "The Middle Class on the Precipice", stating that individuals in the center of the income strata, who may still identify as middle class, have faced increasing economic insecurity, supporting the idea of a working-class majority. Additionally, working-class Americans who work in the public sector, excluding politicians, are respected and generally respected in the culture, notably postal workers. in
Midtown Manhattan is the most expensive shopping street in the world. Political behavior is affected by class; more affluent individuals are more likely to vote, and education and income affect whether individuals tend to vote for the Democratic or Republican party.
Income also had a significant impact on health as those with higher
incomes had better access to health care facilities, higher
life expectancy, lower
infant mortality rate and increased health consciousness. This is particularly noticeable with black voters who are often socially conservative, yet overwhelmingly vote Democratic. In the United States, occupation is one of the prime factors of
social class and is closely linked to an individual's identity. The average workweek in the U.S. for those employed full-time was 42.9 hours long with 30% of the population working more than 40 hours a week. The Average American worker earned $16.64 an hour in the first two quarters of 2006. In 2000, the average American worked 1,978 hours per year, 500 hours more than the average German, yet 100 hours less than the average
Czech. Overall, the U.S. labor force is one of the most productive in the world, largely due to its workers working more than those in any other post-industrial country, except for South Korea. Americans generally hold working and being productive in high regard. having a strong
work ethic,
competitiveness, and
altruism are among the most cited American values. According to a 2016 study by the
Charities Aid Foundation, Americans donated 1.44% of total GDP to charity, the
highest in the world by a large margin.
Race, ancestry, and immigration showing immigrants at
Ellis Island in
New York Harbor, historically the major entry point for European
immigration into the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. in
Queens,
New York City has become the present-day global epicenter receiving
Chinese immigration as well as the international control center directing such migration, as Asian immigration has surpassed European immigration to the U.S. in the late 20th into the 21st century. The United States has an
ethnically diverse population, and 37 ancestry groups have more than one million members.
White Americans with ancestry from Europe, the Middle East or North Africa, form the largest
racial and
ethnic group at 57.8% of the U.S. population.
Hispanic and Latino Americans form the second-largest group and are 18.7% of the U.S. population.
African Americans constitute the nation's third-largest ancestry group and are 12.1% of the total U.S. population. According to the
United Nations, the U.S. has the highest
number of immigrant population in the world, with 50,661,149 people. In 2018, there were almost 90 million immigrants and
U.S.-born children of immigrants in the U.S., accounting for 28% of the overall U.S. population. In 2017, out of the U.S. foreign-born population, some 45% (20.7 million) were naturalized citizens, 27% (12.3 million) were lawful permanent residents, 6% (2.2 million) were temporary lawful residents, and 23% (10.5 million) were unauthorized immigrants. The U.S. led the world in
refugee resettlement for decades, admitting more refugees than the rest of the world combined. Race in the U.S. is based on physical characteristics, such as skin color, and has played an essential part in shaping American society even before the nation's conception. The
U.S. Census Bureau currently recognizes five racial groupings: White, African, Native, Asian, and
Pacific Islander. According to the U.S. government, Hispanic Americans do not constitute a race, but rather an ethnic group. During the
2000 U.S. census, Whites made up 75.1% of the population; those who are Hispanic or Latino constituted the nation's prevalent minority with 12.5% of the population. African Americans made up 12.3% of the total population, 3.6% were Asian American, and 0.7% were Native American. With its ratification on December 6, 1865, the
Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery in the U.S. The Northern states had outlawed slavery in their territory in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, though their industrial economies relied on raw materials produced by slaves in the South. Following the Reconstruction period in the 1870s, racist legislation emerged in the Southern states named the
Jim Crow laws that provided for legal segregation. Lynching was practiced throughout the U.S., including in the Northern states, until the 1930s, while continuing well into the civil rights movement in the South. were imprisoned in
Japanese internment camps by the U.S. government following the
attack on Pearl Harbor, an American military base, by Japanese forces in December 1941. Due to exclusion from or marginalization by earlier mainstream society, there emerged a unique subculture among the racial minorities in the U.S. During the 1920s,
Harlem,
New York City became home to the
Harlem Renaissance. Music styles such as
jazz,
blues,
rap,
rock and roll, and numerous folk songs such as
Blue Tail Fly (Jimmy Crack Corn) originated within the realms of African American culture and were later adopted by the mainstream. Asian Americans have
median household income and
educational attainment exceeding that of other races. African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans have considerably lower
income and education than do White Americans or Asian Americans.
Race relations ethnic background in each
county in the U.S. in 2000:
German English Norwegian Dutch Finnish Irish French Italian Mexican Native Spanish American African American Puerto Rican White Americans (
non-Hispanic/Latino and
Hispanic/Latino) are the racial majority and have a 72% share of the U.S. population, according to the 2010 U.S. census. Hispanic and Latino Americans comprise 15% of the population, making up the largest ethnic minority.
Black Americans are the largest racial minority, comprising nearly 13% of the population. The
Second Great Awakening, especially in the period 1800–1840, converted millions to
evangelical Protestantism. In the North, it energized multiple social reform movements, including
abolitionism; in the South,
Methodists and
Baptists proselytized among slave populations. In 1882, in response to Chinese immigration due to the
Gold Rush and the labor needed for the transcontinental railroad, the government signed into law the
Chinese Exclusion Act which banned immigration by Chinese people into the U.S. In the late 19th century, the growth of the Hispanic population in the U.S., fueled largely by Mexican immigration, generated debate over policies such as English as the official language and reform to immigration policies. The
Immigration Act of 1924 established the National Origins Formula as the basis of U.S. immigration policy, largely to restrict immigration from
Asia,
Southern Europe, and
Eastern Europe. According to the
Office of the Historian of the U.S. Department of State, the purpose of the 1924 Act was "to preserve the ideal of U.S. homogeneity". In 1924, Indian-born
Bhagat Singh Thind was twice denied citizenship as he was not deemed white. Marking a radical break from U.S. immigration policies of the past, the
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 opened entry to the U.S. to non-Germanic groups. This Act significantly altered the demographic mix in the U.S. as a result, creating a modern, diverse America. believing that racism mostly stems unconsciously from below the level of cognition.
Transport Automobiles and commuting ": 1965
Ford Mustang "fastback", introduced in September 1964 for the 1965 model year Personal transportation is dominated by automobiles, which operate on a network of of public roads, making it the
longest network in the world. In 2001, 90% of Americans drove to work by car. As of 2022, the United States is the
second-largest manufacturer of motor vehicles and is home to
Tesla, the world's most valuable car company.
General Motors held the title of the world's best-selling automaker from 1931 to 2008. Currently, the U.S. has the world's second-largest automobile market by sales and the
highest vehicle ownership per capita in the world, with 816.4 vehicles per 1,000 Americans (2014). In 2017, there were 255 million non-two wheel motor vehicles, or about 910 vehicles per 1,000 people. Beginning in the 1990s, lower energy and land costs favor the production of relatively
larger cars, leading to a decline in
economy cars. The culture in the 1950s and 1960s often catered to the automobile with
motels and
drive-in restaurants. Outside of the relatively few urban areas, it is considered a necessity for most Americans to own and drive cars. New York City is the only locality in the United States where more than half of all households do not own a car. on the streets of
New York in 1915 The United States emerged as a pioneer of the
automotive industry in the early 20th century.
General Motors Corporation (GM), the company that would soon become the world's largest automaker, was founded in 1908 by
William Durant. The U.S. also became the first country in the world to have a mass market for vehicle production and sales, and mass market production process. == Cultural institutions ==