All about America
It has the world’s biggest economy, is the third-largest country by population, and has produced many of the films, TV shows and celebrities people around the world love. But how well do you really know the United States of America?
You might associate the country with shows like Friends and singers like Taylor Swift, but you might not know the story behind its flag or how much pizza the average American consumes each year.
Fear not – below are 10 fun facts BBC Bitesize has pulled together about the US and its 50 states.
1. The American flag was designed by a high school student
It’s an iconic image, but the American flag didn’t always look like the one we know today.
You might already know that the first flag, created in 1777, had 13 stars and 13 stripes to represent the original 13 colonies. As the United States expanded, the flag changed, with new stars added for new states.
There have been 27 versions of the flag in total. The one we know today, with 50 stars and 13 stripes, has been used since 1959 when Alaska and Hawaii became US states. It is widely credited to a 17-year-old student called Robert G. Heft who submitted a similar design as a school project.
Heft’s teacher actually gave the project a B-, promising to change it to an A if the design was adopted by Congress – which it was.
2. Over 400 languages are spoken in America
With a population of over 340 million, there’s bound to be some linguistic diversity. But did you know there are around 430 different languages spoken in the United States?
The country had no official language set by the government until March 2025, when President Donald Trump declared it was English. After English, the most-spoken languages in the US are Spanish, Chinese and Tagalog, the primary language spoken in the Philippines.
Of these 430 languages, 177 are indigenous – meaning they are languages spoken by peoples and societies who existed in America before European colonial settlers arrived from the late 15th century. There are over 570 indigenous tribes recognised by the American government.
3. In some states, there are more cows than people
There are over 86 million cattle and calves in the United States – and in nine different states, they outnumber people.
For example, the state of Montana has a human population of around one million and a cow population of over two million. In Nebraska, there are three cows for every person, and South Dakota boasts the highest cow-to-person ratio with four cows for every human.
4. And in one state, cherry pie with ice cream was once illegal
You might have heard of Prohibition – the national ban on making, selling and transporting alcohol in the US from 1920 to 1933. It was believed this would reduce crime and improve people’s morals.
But some individual states have banned other unusual things. In 1905, Kansas banned restaurants from serving cherry pie with ice cream in a bid to make people less greedy and more modest. Although the law was rarely enforced, it was only overturned in 2004.
In Glendale, Arizona, it is said to be illegal to let your donkey sleep in your bathtub after seven o’clock at night. In 1924, a local dam broke which caused major flooding. A merchant’s donkey, asleep in his bathtub, was washed away and the town spent time and money rescuing it. The law was passed soon after.
5. Most of the world's tornadoes happen in America
The US has a very diverse climate, with 26 different climate types encompassing everything from tropical rainforests in Hawaii to Arctic tundra – vast, extremely cold treeless plains – in Alaska.
The country also has the highest number of tornadoes of anywhere in the world, with over 1,100 on average each year. Part of the US, including Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas and South Dakota, has been dubbed ‘Tornado Alley’ because of this.
The combination of cold, dry air from Canada and warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico means the conditions in this area are perfect for tornadoes, particularly from April to June, though they can happen at any time of year.
Meanwhile, Southern California has about 10,000 earthquakes every year, though most are so small they can’t be felt.
6. The biggest library in the world is in America
Washington, D.C. is famous for the White House – but it’s also home to the Library of Congress. Holding more than 178 million items including books, photographs and sound recordings, it’s the largest library in the world.
It also holds the world’s biggest publicly available collection of comic books, with over 165,000 individual print issues dating back to the 1930s. The British Library in London is also one of the largest libraries in the world, holding around 200 million items including the Magna Carta.
However, the Library of Congress was built in 1800, so it’s not the oldest one in the world. That title belongs to the St Catherine’s Monastery Library in Egypt, which has operated continuously since the 6th century AD.
7. You can thank America for jazz and rock
Some of the world’s most popular genres of music originated in the United States, including country, hip-hop and blues.
New Orleans, Louisiana is the birthplace of jazz music. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, African American communities mixed West African traditions such as call-and-response with European ones like brass bands. Jazz exploded in popularity during the Roaring Twenties. The decade is also called the Jazz Age, with musicians including Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington defining the era.
Another combination of existing genres created rock 'n’ roll, which took off in the 1950s among young people looking for rebellion after the Second World War. African American R&B and gospel music was blended with country and western, with artists such as Jackie Brenston, Chuck Berry and Little Richard helping shape the genre before Elvis Presley became one of its most famous stars.
8. New York City has more people than 30 individual states
It has been the iconic setting of films and TV shows like Friends, Succession and The Devil Wears Prada. But did you know New York City has a higher population than most American states?
The city’s five boroughs have a population of more than 8.5 million. Just 12 states have populations higher than that, including California, Texas and Virginia. More than 200 languages are spoken in the city, which was originally a Dutch colony called New Amsterdam. It was renamed in 1664 in honour of the Duke of York after the British gained control of it.
New York City became known as the Big Apple in the 1920s, when a sports journalist heard African American stable hands describe the city that way because of the big horse-racing prizes on offer there.
9. Nebraska has a town with just one person
From a city of millions to a town of just one.
Monowi in Nebraska once had a population of 150, but it’s now considered the smallest town in the world. Elsie Eiler is the only resident left. She’s now in her 90s and serves as the mayor, librarian and tavern owner.
Because the town is incorporated – meaning it has its own local government and the power to levy taxes – Elsie has to hold annual elections. She hangs up a public notice in the tavern, votes for herself and is re-elected.
10. Most of the world's pizza is eaten in America
One thing many of us associate with the United States is food, especially fast food. America has the highest fast food consumption in the world, spending an estimated $160 billion on it each year.
Another popular food is cheese. On average, Americans eat about 19 kilograms per person per year, double the figure from 1975. Perhaps not surprisingly, France takes the crown for the world’s highest cheese consumption at more than 26 kilograms per person. But you might be surprised to know the US isn’t even in the top 10!
One food contest America does win is pizza, with the average American eating 46 slices each year.
