As the nation approaches its250th anniversary, its population is larger and significantly older, more racially and ethnically diverse and likelier to be foreign-born than it was at the time of the nation'sbicentennial, according to a report compiled by the Pew Research Center.
The U.S. population has grown to 340 million over the past 50 years, an increase of more than 120 million people, the center said. Much of that growth, it said, has been driven by immigrants, longer life spans, and an increase in Asian andHispanic Americans.
As the 1970s got underway, theBaby Boom generationwas still between 6 and 24 years old, noted Ken Johnson, a professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire not connected to the report.
"It was the first generation where many women went to college," Johnson said. "Older generations were relatively small, having been born during the war and Great Depression. And immigration was picking up, but it had been modest for decades before."
The Baby Boom generation was the first to have many women with higher education, Johnson said. The resulting opportunities led many women to marry later and have fewer children, patterns that would endure in later generations.
That bears out in thePew analysisof U.S. Census data, which shows Americans today less likely to be married and women more likely to have college degrees.
However, economic gaps have widened, the center said, despite many people being better off financially than they were a half-century ago.
With the Baby Boom cohort now ranging from 62 to 80 years old, the share of Americans aged 65 or older has nearly doubled from 10% to 18%, the center said. While the nation's median age has risen across racial and ethnic groups, the increase is sharpest among White Americans (from 30 to 45 years old) and Black Americans (from 21 to 36 years old).
Immigrants carve out a niche
Since 1970, the center said, non-Hispanic White Americans have formed an increasingly smaller share of the U.S. population, falling from 83.5% to 56.3%. Meanwhile, Asian Americans have climbed from less than 1% to 6% today, while Hispanics, just 4.4% of the population in 1970, now comprise 20%.
The share of foreign-born people in the U.S. has more than tripled since 1970, rising from an all-time low of 4.7% to 14.8% in 2024, the center said. The numbers are highest among Asian and Hispanic Americans and most concentrated in the West and Northeast United States.
Johnson noted that White Americans are largely older and no longer having children, while many immigrants are of younger, childbearing age with above-average fertility rates.
"The diversity of the U.S. population is greatest for young children and least for the oldest part of the population," he said.
Census Bureau datareleased this week shows immigration has slowed throughout the country, with nine out of 10 U.S. counties experiencing lower immigration levels between July 2024 and July 2025 compared to the year before.
Meanwhile, the Pew Center analysis found America's population has shifted geographically as well, moving toward Southern and Western states.
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In 1970, it said, less than half of the U.S. population lived in the American South (31%) and West (17%). Today, more than six in ten people live in the Sunbelt, with White Americans comprising about half or less of the population there.
Division over diversity's benefits
The center said Americans largely view the nation's racial and ethnic diversity, and efforts to promote it in the workplace, as positive. However, it found Americans divided along racial, ethnic and party lines about its impact on American culture and about DEI efforts on a fair society.
The Pew Center gauged those sentiments late last year and released thesurvey resultsin conjunction with its half-century analysis.
Three-quarters of U.S. adults – including 86% of Democrats and 66% of Republicans – view racial and ethnic diversity as good for the country, the center said.
While 62% of the nearly 14,000 respondents surveyed in late 2025 said diversity positively American culture, they were sharply divided among party lines: Just 45% of Republicans said diversity had a positive impact, compared to 82% of Democrats.
Nearly two-thirds said it was very or somewhat important for U.S. companies and organizations to promote diversity, down from 75% in a Pew survey conducted in 2019. With the share of Democrats edging up a point to 87%, the decline was mostly among Republicans: Just 40% of Republicans said such efforts were important, compared to 61% in 2019.
Likewise, Americans were divided on whether such efforts lead to a fairer society: While 65% of Democrats say diversity efforts have made society fairer, just 18% of Republicans felt the same.
Respondents broke along racial and ethnic lines as well. Only 38% of White adults said diversity efforts in workplaces and schools have made society fairer, compared to 53% of Black adults, 48% of Asian adults and 46% of Hispanic adults.
America's altered households
The American family has changed substantially in the last half-century, the center said. Americans now marry and have children later in life than they once did, and while U.S. women averaged about three children in 1970, the number has hovered closer to two over the last several decades.
About half of American adults are married today, down from 69% in 1970, with the decline steeper for adults without a four-year college degree. While the portion of adults aged 50 and older who have never been married has risen from 7% to 10%, the share has tripled for Black adults, from 7% to 21%.
Children in the U.S. are much less likely to live with two married parents than they were a half-century ago, the center said, with the share falling from 82% to 63%. The decline has taken place across racial and ethnic groups – except for households headed by Asian adults, which fell only slightly from 87% to 83%.
Meanwhile, 22% of Americans now live in multigenerational households, the center said, compared to 13% in 1970. The increase has been highest among Black, Hispanic and Asian Americans, climbing to 30% for those groups compared to 16% for White Americans.
"A lot of Asian Americans still live in high-cost housing markets," said Melany de la Cruz-Viesca, deputy director of the Asian American Studies Center at the University of California Los Angeles. "If they live in California or New York, it's more likely they feel comfortable living together. There's a lot of stigma around risky spending, and a belief that it's better to save and not be in debt than to be on your own."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Report card on America at its 250th birthday: How have we changed?
