Special Report

The Most Amazing Things About America Today

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The United States is a nation like no other. Over the course of its history, the USA and its citizens have accomplished a staggering number of incredible feats.

How about: The U.S. is notable among all other countries for its military power, affluence, diverse population, and impact on the worldwide cultural landscape, among many other attributes.

To provide a small taste of America’s more interesting features, 24/7 Tempo compiled a list of 52 outstanding achievements, impressive facts, and historic accomplishments related to the United States.

Much of what makes the U.S. remarkable comes from the land and climate itself. Americans are lucky to have beautiful beaches, towering mountains, dense forests, and vast deserts in their home country. It also has vast natural resources of oil and food.

The United States wields a tremendous amount of economic power, and a huge share of the world’s largest companies are American. It is the country with the greatest number of extremely wealthy individuals, spread out all over the country. Here is the city in every state with the most billionaires.

Click here to see the 52 most amazing things about America today

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1. The US is big

The United States is the third largest country in the world by landmass — nearly as big as the entire continent of Europe.

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2. World class athletes

American athletes have won more Olympic medals than athletes from any other country.

3. Climate diversity

The United States is the only country that has all of Earth’s five climate zones: tropical, dry, temperate, continental, and polar.

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4. Magnet for international tourism

The United States is the third most visited country by international tourists after Spain and France.

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5. Fresh water supply

Lake Superior, on the United States-Canada border, is the largest body of freshwater in the world by surface area. The lake covers 31,700 square miles.

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6. Office space

The Pentagon — the headquarters of the Department of Defense — is the world’s largest office building by floor area.

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7. Space exploration

The only people to have walked on the moon’s surface were Americans.

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8. Immigration destination

The United States is home to nearly 45 million immigrants — more than any other country in the world.

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9. Music central

Much of the music the world listens to — jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, hip-hop, country, folk, R&B, soul, and gospel — comes out of the United States.

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10. Hollywood is dominant

The U.S. film industry is the largest, oldest, and most profitable in the world. According to film data platform The Numbers, American films grossed over $12.1 billion worldwide in 2021 – more than every other country combined.

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11. Slice of heaven

More than nine in every 10 Americans have eaten pizza in the last month. According to some estimates, Americans consume the equivalent of about 100 acres of pizza every day.

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12. Government property

Nearly one-third of all land in the United States — or about 640 million acres — is federally owned.

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13. Fast food nation

On any given day in the United States, about 84.8 million adults — 37% of the adult population — consume fast food, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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14. America does not entirely belong to Americans

According to the USDA, foreign investors own at least 28.3 million acres of U.S. farmland, an area about the size of Ohio.

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15. President

The United States was the first nation to use the title of “President” for its head of state.

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16. Inventions

The United States is at the center of global invention. Airplanes, computers, cellphones, potato chips, and the light bulb are just a few examples of American ingenuity.

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17. Americans love dogs

There are an estimated 76.8 million dogs in the United States, more than double the number in Brazil, the country with the second most dogs.

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18. The US economy is massive

Though the United States is home to less than 5% of the world’s population, it accounts for approximately 25% of global economic output.

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19. Oil production

The country produced 18.6 million barrels of oil per day in 2020, or about 20% of the world’s total. This is well above the daily production of Saudi Arabia, the world’s second-biggest oil producer. Oil includes crude oil, all other petroleum liquids, and biofuels.

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20. Oil consumption

The United States is also the world’s largest consumer of oil. Gasoline, distillate fuel oil, hydrocarbon gas liquids, and jet fuel consumption combine for a total of 20.5 million barrels of oil consumed daily.

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21. US flag

The current iteration of the American flag was designed by a high school student.

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22. Second Amendment

There are more guns than people in the United States — about 120.5 for every 100 people, according to the Small Arms Survey. The country with the next highest ownership rate is Yemen, where there are 52.8 guns for every 100 people.

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23. German influence

Approximately 40.4 million Americans identify as ancestrally German, more than any other nationality.

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24. Imperial system of measurement

The United States is one of only three countries that have not officially switched to the metric system. Liberia and Burma are the other two.

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25. Job tenure

The typical wage or salary worker in the United States has been with his or her current employer for 4.3 years.

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26. Green currency

The government chose to color U.S. currency green as an anti-counterfeiting strategy. When the color was adopted in the 19th century, cameras could only take black and white photographs, making imitation bills difficult to produce.

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27. Population concentration

Over half of the U.S. population lives in just nine states: California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Georgia, and North Carolina.

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28. Americans like to travel

The number of U.S. passports issued in 2021 totalled 15.5 million.

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29. Belief in the individual

According to a recent Pew Research Center study, 57% of Americans believe that individuals control their own success in life, the largest share of any country surveyed.

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30. Americans like to move

The United States is one of the most mobile nations on Earth. According to a Gallup poll, 24% of U.S. adults reported moving within the country in the past five years.

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31. Tornadoes

Three out of every four tornadoes in the world occur in the United States.

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32. Nobel Prizes

The United States was awarded more Nobel Prizes than any other country.

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33. Biodiversity

The United States ranks among the top 10 countries in the world for the number of mammal, reptile, fish, and vascular plant species.

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34. Forest

The United States has nearly 1.3 million square miles of forest land, the fourth most after Canada, Brazil, and Russia.

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35. Americans love football

Super Bowl LVI in 2022 drew in 112.3 million viewers, making it one of the highest viewed Super Bowl broadcasts ever.

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36. Minority white

New Census Bureau projections predict the United States will be “minority white” – 49.7% – by 2045.

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37. America is connected

An estimated 93% of Americans use the internet, compared with about 60% of the global population.

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38. Plenty of coastline

The United States has about 95,439 miles of coastline, more than all but eight other countries worldwide.

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39. Home of the world’s largest employer

Founded in Arkansas in 1962, Walmart is the world’s largest private sector employer, employing 2.2 million people.

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40. Manhattan’s Chinatown

Manhattan’s Chinatown is home to more Chinese residents than anywhere else in the Western Hemisphere.

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41. Higher education

The United States has the world’s most popular higher education system for foreign students, drawing over a million international students a year, the most of any country.

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42. Breweries

Good news for beer lovers. The Brewers Association said the number of brewers in the United States climbed to 8,884 in 2020 from just 89 in 1978, fueled by the craft beer surge.

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43. American companies dominate

Seven of the 10 largest companies in the world by market capitalization are based in the United States. Most of the top 100 companies by market cap (59) are American.

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44. Native American influence

More than half of the states — 26 — have names with native American origins.

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45. Americans love hot dogs

Americans bought 944.3 million pounds or about $2.8 billion worth of hot dogs in supermarkets in 2020. Los Angeles is top dog for franks, consuming about 30 million pounds a year.

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46. Belief in God

A Pew Research Center study found that about 41% of Americans said religion was very important in their lives, and 33% said it was somewhat important.

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47. Basketball

While baseball may be America’s national pastime, it borrows heavily from the British game of cricket. Similarly, football is based largely on the British sport of rugby. Invented in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891, basketball is the most popular uniquely American game.

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48. Longest border

The United States shares the world’s longest land border with its neighbor to the north, Canada, at over 5,500 miles. The border is split between the northern edge of the lower 48 states, and the eastern border of Alaska.

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49. Agricultural powerhouse

The United States produces more corn than any other country in the world, accounting for over 383 million metric tons in the 2018-2019 season. The next closest country, China, trailed U.S. corn production by over 100 million metric tons.

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50. Business hub

Of the 2,000 world’s largest companies, 590 are U.S.-based, according to Forbes. China and its special administrative region of Hong Kong are home to 291 of the 2,000 biggest businesses.

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51. Golf hotspot

Being such a large country, the United States has plenty of room to build top-of-the-line golf courses. Of Golf Advisor’s top 100 golf courses in the world, 52 are located in the United States.

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52. Most billionaires

The New York Times reported the United States is home to far more billionaires than any other country, with 745. Eight of the world’s 10 richest people are American.

 

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