The United States is a fascinating place. Although, the history books won’t tell you everything. There are all kinds of extremely interesting facts that even lifelong citizens of the country have no idea about.
We’ve gathered 60 of the most surprising ones to share with you today. These are all of the little tidbits that they never taught you in school, but if you want to call yourself an American, you need to be aware of. You’ll likely be amazed by just how much you don’t know about the country.
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sos8_6
1. The deadliest job in America is being President.
In the United States, no position is riskier than that of the President. Out of 45 presidents that have graced our nation throughout the years, four have been assassinated. That’s almost a 9% chance of death.
Source:
U.S. Embassy New Delhi
2. There is no official language.
You might suspect that English is the official language of the US. However, technically, it is just the most commonly spoken one. The US is one of the most diverse countries in the world with hundreds of different dialects being spoken at any given moment.
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Tumisu
3. The US flag was designed by a 17-year-old.
Everyone knows all about the 50 stars and stripes and their associated meanings. However, not many people realize who actually designed the flag. The most recent version was created by Robert G. Heft in 1958 as part of a school project.
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Free Stock Photos
4. George Washington didn’t live in the White House.
The White House wasn’t completed until the year 1800, and the second president, John Adams, was the first to live in it. George Washington didn’t even reside in Washington D.C. at all. During his presidency, he lived in a mansion in Philadelphia.
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AgnosticPreachersKid
5. One in eight people have worked at McDonalds.
It is one of the country’s biggest employers, hiring about 1 million people every year in the US. As many as one in eight Americans have been employed by the company at some point.
Source:
Mike Mozart
6. The great lakes are unbelievably massive.
In Lake Superior alone, there is enough water to cover entire continents. If all of the water in the lake was spread out over both North and South America combined, it would still be one foot deep.
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Andrea Chynoweth
7. Independence Day wasn’t actually on July 4th.
Surprising, isn’t it? The vote to free the country from British rule was made by Congress on July 2, 1776, two days prior to when we now celebrate the holiday. July 4th was the day that the first signatures were gathered on the Declaration of Independence.
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U.S. National Archives
8. United States bought Alaska from Russia for two cents an acre.
It’s the country’s largest state and contains an incredible amount of natural resources, but that doesn’t mean it cost a fortune to acquire. In fact, it ended up being dirt cheap, coming in at a grand total of $7.2 million.
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Wikimedia Commons
9. There are multiple Declaration of Independence documents.
Congress saw fit to make hundreds of copies of the document in order to spread the word around as much as possible. Only 26 copies are known to still survive today. Most are kept in museums and libraries.
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Good Free Photos
10. Not all states observe daylight savings time.
Because of their remote locations, Alaska and Hawaii choose not to observe the annual time change. The practice first began during World War I and continues to this day in all of the other 48.
Source:
Mike Licht
11. Every day, 100 acres worth of pizza are consumed.
Pizza is one of the most popular foods in the country. Some fans of the tasty pies even eat pizza for every single meal. If you took all of the slices sold every day in restaurants across the country and laid them flat, they would cover 100 acres.
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Max Pixel
12. The average American disposes of 4.4 lbs of trash daily.
It might not sound like that much, but over time, it really adds up. When multiplied by population numbers, it comes out to something like 1.4 billions pounds of trash thrown away every year in the nation. It’s a statistic that’s unfathomable.
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Peakpx
13. In Montana, there are more cows than people.
Montana is home to some of the USA’s largest cattle ranches. Cows outnumber people three to one in the state! It’s known as big sky country and has a plethora of wide-open spaces for the animals to roam.
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NOAA Photo Library
14. The US Air Force is the largest in the world.
It might not come as that much of a shocker, really. The United States is well-known for its military prowess and overseas entanglements. There are currently over 320,000 active duty US airmen.
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mldestefano
15. Abraham Lincoln was the tallest president.
Lincoln was 6 foot 4 inches tall (193 centimeters). He towered over most of his colleagues, yet that still wasn’t enough for the 16th president. He often wore high top hats to make himself stand out even more.
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Wikimedia Commons
16. In most countries, college sports aren’t popular.
Americans might find this fact hard to believe — the US is pretty much the only country where college sports are regarded so highly. The popularity of events like March Madness is simply unfathomable to Europeans.
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D. Myles Cullen
17. Some of the worlds oldest rivers flow through the US.
The US is home to three out of five of the oldest rivers in the world. They include the Susquehanna, French Broad, and the New. They are all hundreds of millions of years old and date back to ancient times.
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Aaron Harrington
18. The Statue of Liberty isn’t located in NYC.
The Statue of Liberty is a symbol that has become synonymous with the Big Apple over the years. Officially, though, it’s not even located in the same state! The statue actually belongs to Jersey City, New Jersey.
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Pixabay
19. Forty percent of babies are born to unmarried women.
The US is leading the charge in the new trend. It’s a statistic that is starkly different than how things were in the past. In 1940, only 3.8% of babies were born to unmarried women. By 1969, the number had risen to around 10%.
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Vera Kratochvil
20. The most entrepreneurial president was Lincoln.
Not only was Lincoln the tallest, but he was also quite the businessman. He was the only president to ever get a patent approved (a machine for lifting a boat over a sandbar). In addition, he also owned a successful saloon.
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US Defense Department Science Blog
21. The world’s longest boardwalk is in Atlantic City.
The Atlantic City boardwalk was built in 1870 and was the first in the country. It runs right along the beach and is now lined by numerous casinos, restaurants, and shops. In total, it is about 4.5 miles long.
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Silveira Neto
22. One in three people is obese.
Obesity in America is getting a little out of control. One out of every three people in the country are now classified as obese based on BMI charts. Close to two-thirds are classified as overweight. It’s a shockingly large statistic.
Source:
Tony Alter
23. One of the nation’s presidents was an executioner.
His name was Grover Cleveland — the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. Before he ran for office, Cleveland worked as a sheriff in Erie County, New York. It was during this time period that he also hung a murderer.
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US National Archives
24. The state animal of California doesn’t exist in the state.
Their state animal is the grizzly bear. Originally, there were tons of them living in California, but by 1922, almost every single one had been exterminated. People moving to the state during the gold rush didn’t want to deal with the aggressive bears.
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State of California
25. Children are legally allowed to smoke.
They can’t buy cigarettes in a store until they are 18, and it’s also a crime to provide an underage person with smokes. But if the kids manage to acquire some cigarettes on their own somehow, there is no law preventing them from smoking them.
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ernestoeslava
26. One in ten citizens are related to the pilgrims.
It’s a pretty surprising statistic, especially when you consider that the original pilgrims were made up of just 102 individuals. They arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 and landed at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts.
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Pilgrim Hall Museum
27. The first capital of the US was Philadelphia.
Following the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Philly was officially named the capital of the US. The city’s dominance lasted just 10 short years from 1790 to 1800. The capital was then changed to Washington D.C.
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National Park Service
28. The state of Virginia spawns a surprising amount of presidents.
Eight of the nation’s presidents were born in Virginia. They include James Monroe, George Washington, William Henry Harrison, James Madison, John Tyler, Thomas Jefferson, Woodrow Wilson, and Zachary Taylor. We imagine it has something to do with the state’s proximity to the capital.
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Famartin
29. One in three have their fingerprints on file with the feds.
The FBI is always watching. In fact, one in three American’s fingerprints are included in the agency’s files. We don’t even want to think about what all other information they have on us.
Source:
Federal Bureau of Investigation
30. Harvard was the first US university.
The school is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was founded in 1636. It has a proud and long history, and to this day, is considered one of the most important institutions in the country.
Source:
Joseph Williams
31. Not being in debt immediately puts you ahead of 15% of Americans.
Even if you only have a couple of dollars to your name, you are automatically wealthier than the 15% of Americans whose accounts are deep in the negative. The US as a whole has a lot of debt, and its citizens own a sizable portion of it.
Source:
Tumisu
32. Americans are the most giving people.
The World Giving index states that out of every country in the world, Americans are the most likely to give to a stranger. As a whole, the US is one of the most charitable nations on the planet.
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mohamed_hassan
33. Each citizen’s share of the National Debt is $54,000.
If you divide the US National Debt by the total population, it equals greater than $50,000 apiece. It’s a number that is constantly going up with no signs of stopping anytime soon. The total debt is currently over 22 trillion.
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Rilsonav
34. Most people spend an average of 4.4 years at the same job.
It used to be higher in the past when people were much more likely to stay at the same job for most of their life. It’s much more common to switch companies or even make total career changes these days.
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geralt
35. Firefighters are mostly volunteers.
The brave men and woman who work for the various fire departments across the country are largely volunteers. As many as 69% of firefighters are currently risking life and limb for zero pay.
Source:
US Air Force
36. Paul Revere didn’t shout “The British are coming!”
We’ve all heard of Revere’s legendary ride through the towns warning of the incoming troops. However, the shouting part is more of an urban legend than a historical fact. While he did ride around warning people, it was done much more stealthily than the story goes.
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brianfakhoury
37. New York City contains more people than most entire states.
Currently, 8.6 million people live in NYC. That’s more people in one city than 40 other states have in total population. The vast majority of the US countryside has a very low population density.
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Needpix
38. The highest court in the country is a basketball court.
Not just any basketball court though. It’s located on the fifth floor of the Supreme Court building and is known as “the highest court in the land”. Try and wrap your head around that one for a minute.
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US Air Force
39. During Prohibition, the government poisoned people.
The US government tried to inspire people to quit drinking by poisoning industrial alcohols manufactured in the country. At the time, bootleggers were stealing the alcohols from factories. The government poisoning project ultimately killed an estimated 10,000 people.
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Orange County Archives
40. Kansas grows enough wheat yearly to feed the world for two weeks.
The fields of wheat in Kansas stretch as far as the eye can see. Farming is one of the number one industries in the state, and every year, they produce enough wheat to feed the entire world for two weeks.
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Lane Pearman
41. Washington’s face wasn’t always on the $1 bill.
The first one-dollar bills were released in 1962 during the Civil War. They featured a man named Salmon P. Chase. He was the Secretary of Treasury during the period and also in charge of designing the bills. Of course, he chose to put his own face on them.
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National Bank Note Company
42. At any given moment, 5000 planes are flying overhead.
The US participates in a lot of air travel. There are constantly thousands of planes flying around in the skies. The task of coordinating all of the different flights is a giant one. Air traffic controllers across the country are very busy.
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Bmurphy380
43. Uncle Sam was an actual guy.
That’s right! The popular American figure isn’t just part of a made-up story. Uncle Sam’s real name was Samuel Wilson. He was a New York meatpacker during the American Revolution who helped to supply the troops.
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Library of Congress
44. There is maze made of Lavender flowers that can be seen from space.
It is called the Lavender Labyrinth and it is located in Michigan on the Cherry Point farm. The field of purple flowers is so enormous that it can actually be spotted from up in orbit. Zoom out all the way on Google Maps and see for yourself.
Source:
Matheus Swanson
45. The Mall of America has Canadian owners.
It’s one of the biggest landmarks in that area of the country. Despite the name though, it’s actually owned by the Edmonton, Canada company Triple Five Group. It should really be called the Mall of Canada in America.
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nostri-imago
46. Michigan offers a unicorn hunting license.
It can be obtained from Lake Superior State University. Although, just because you have the license doesn’t mean you’ll easily be able to find a unicorn to hunt. Publicist W.T. Rabe came up with the idea in 1971 as part of a PR stunt.
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SilviaP_Design
47. Ohio didn’t become a state until 1953.
The state was founded all the way back in 1803. Thomas Jefferson himself approved the new territory. However, due to governmental oversight, it wasn’t officially recognized as a state until 150 years later.
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PublicDomainPictures
48. In some states, unclaimed airline baggage gets sold.
One of those states is Alabama. Over 800,000 shoppers descend on the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, AL every year to bid on passenger’s lost bags and other unclaimed items.
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Chor Ip
49. NASCAR doesn’t require a drivers license.
Since the sport doesn’t take place on a government-built road, even drivers who are currently on a suspended license are allowed to compete. Having a DUI or other moving violation doesn’t disqualify you.
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US Air Force
50. The Hoover Dam contains enough concrete to build a country wide road.
If you took all of the concrete in the dam and laid it out flat, you would be able to build a two-lane highway spanning all the way from San Francisco to New York. The collective weight of the concrete is over 600,000 tons.
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LICKO
51. The Liberty Bell contains a crucial misspelling.
They didn’t just mess up any random word. The creators actually spelled Pennsylvania wrong, the name of the state where the Liberty Bell is located! They only used one N. At the time, there were several different spelling variations that were acceptable.
Source:
Phil Roeder
52. Oregon has a shockingly deep lake.
Its name is Crater Lake and it is now recognized as a US National Park. The lake was created by a volcanic eruption around 6000 to 8000 years ago. It is 1949 feet deep at its maximum depth.
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Zainubrazvi
53. People in Oregon also speak really quickly.
Another fun piece of information about Oregon is that its citizens are the fastest speakers in the country. After analyzing millions of phone call conversations, researchers found that people in Oregon speak six words in the time it takes everyone else to speak five.
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josemiguels
54. Atlanta has over 70 street names that include the word “peachtree”.
This is despite the fact that there are essentially no peach trees there. We’ve all heard of Georgia peaches, but in the city, there are only really a handful of them. However, there are plenty of “peachtree” streets and avenues.
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flockine
55. The worst drivers live in Boston.
According to the Best Drivers Report put out by the Allstate Insurance company, Boston drivers are the worst. Out of 200 cities that were analyzed, Boston comes in last place. Kansas City has the country’s best drivers.
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Sarah Nichols
56. The Library of Congress contains 838 miles of bookshelves.
You could literally spend years wandering around the stacks of the giant library. Contained on the bookshelves are 39 million books. Every day, about 15,000 new times are added to the library’s collection.
Source:
Carol M. Highsmith
57. The Empire State building has its own zip code.
The towering building is one of a kind. It is so massive that city officials back in 1980 decided to give it its own code — 10188. It is the only structure that has that specific zip code.
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Bobby Mikul
58. There’s a town in Pennsylvania that has been on fire for decades.
It’s name is Centralia. A coal mine caught on fire there in 1962 and has been burning ever since. For a while, residents stayed put. Back in the 1980s as many as 1000 people still lived there. By 1990, that number had dropped to around 63.
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Jrmski
59. Texas has a GDP that is unbelievably large.
If it were its own country it would have the 10th largest GDP in the entire world. Due to its immense natural resources, it is one of the wealthiest states. The state with the largest economy is still California though.
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skeeze
60. In Nebraska, there is a town where only one person lives.
The town’s name is Monowi, Nebraska. The resident of the town, Elsie Eiler, is 83 years old and is the only one living there. She considers anyone within a 40-mile radius to be her neighbor.
Source:
Bkell
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