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Home Life
Holidays
4th
of July
Fun Facts & Trivia
4th
of July by the Numbers
On this day
in 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental
Congress, starting the 13 colonies on the road to freedom as a sovereign
nation. As always, this most American of holidays will be marked
by parades, fireworks and backyard barbecues across the country.
Patriotic
Places
30
Number of places nationwide with "liberty" in their name. The most
populous one is Liberty, Missouri
(26,232). Iowa has more of these places than any other state: four
(Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty).
- Eleven places
have "independence" in their name. The most populous of these
is Independence, Missouri, with 113,288 residents.
- Five places
adopted the name "freedom." Freedom, California,
with 6,000 residents, has the largest population among these.
- There is
one place named "patriot" — Patriot, Indiana,
with a population of 202.
- And what
could be more fitting than spending the day in a place called
"America"? There are five such places in the country, with the
most populous being American Fork, Utah,
with 21,941 residents.
Fourth
of July Barbecue
Cookout
As with many
holidays, the 4th of July celebration includes food,
drink and the realization of how fortunate we are as a nation.
More
than 66 million
Number
of Americans who said they have taken part in a barbecue during
the previous year. It's probably safe to assume a large number of
these events took place on the Fourth.
Although we
do not have a fixed menu for the celebration of the Fourth, you
can almost count on traditional favorites such as hamburgers and
hot dogs, chicken, ribs, garden salads, potato salad, chips and
watermelon. Following is a summary of where these foods come from:
- There's a
1-in-6 chance the beef on your backyard grill came from Texas.
The Lone Star State is the leader in the production of cattle
and calves.
- The chicken
on your barbecue grill probably came from one of the top broiler-producing
states: Georgia,
Arkansas,
Alabama,
North
Carolina and Mississippi.
- The lettuce
in your salad or on your hamburger probably was grown in California,
which accounts for nearly three-quarters of USA lettuce production.
- Fresh tomatoes
in your salad most likely came from Florida or California, which,
combined, produced more than two-thirds of U.S. tomatoes. The
ketchup on your hamburger or hot dog probably came from California,
which accounted for 95 percent of processed tomato production
last year.
- As to potato
salad or potato chips or fries, Idaho
and Washington
produces about one-half of the nation's spuds.
- For dessert,
six states — California, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Arizona
and Indiana — combined to produce about 80 percent of watermelons
last year.
Fourth
of July Fireworks
$128.8
million
The value of fireworks imported from China,
representing the bulk of all U.S. fireworks imports ($135.6 million)
in 2002. U.S. exports of fireworks, by comparison, amounted to $13.5
million, with Germany
purchasing more than any other single country ($5.0 million).
Imports of U.S.
Flags
$7.9
million
The dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags in 2002;
more than half of this amount ($5.2 million) was for U.S. flags
made in China. This was down from the 2001 dollar value of U.S.
flag imports ($51.7 million), but still considerably higher than
the total for 2000 ($747,800). That was the last full year prior
to 9/11.
$646,452
Dollar value of exports of U.S. flags in 2002. Japan
was the leading customer, purchasing $86,189 worth.
125,000
Number of U.S. flags flown over the U.S. Capitol last year at the
request of House and Senate members. On July 4 alone, 1,200 were
flown over Washington,
D.C. (From the U.S. Capitol Flag Room.)
$272
million
Annual dollar value of shipments of fabricated flags, banners
and similar emblems by the nation's manufacturers, according to
the latest economic census (1997) for which there is published data.
Coming to America
32.5
million
The number of foreign-born residents in the United States in 2002;
they accounted for 11.5 percent of the nation's total population.
- More than
1-in-3 foreign-born residents were naturalized U.S. citizens.
- Six states
had estimated foreign-born populations of 1 million or more: California
(8.8 million),
New York
(3.6 million), Florida
(2.8 million), Texas
(2.4 million), New
Jersey (1.2 million) and Illinois
(1.2 million).
- Among the
foreign-born population, 52 percent were born in Latin
America, 26 percent in Asia,
14 percent in Europe and the remaining 8 percent in other regions
of the world, such as Africa
and Oceania.
State
Park Lakes
&
Beaches
66
million
Number of visits in a recent year to our national parks —
a particularly scenic locale for a July 4th picnic. There
were 766 million visits in a recent year to another popular picnic
venue — state parks or recreation areas. Those in California
(80 million), Ohio (59 million), New York (56 million), Washington
(48 million) and Illinois (44 million) recorded the highest number
of visits.
You may or may
not be able to picnic there, but a visit to a national historical
site is a particularly fitting way to celebrate our nation's heritage.
In a recent year, about 72 million people flocked to national historical
sites and 24 million to national monuments.
The
British are Coming!
"The British
are coming! The British are coming!" These days, this cry applies
to tourists rather than "redcoats." Nearly 5 million tourists from
the UK visited the United States in a recent year, more than from
any other country except Japan.
$74
billion
Dollar volume of trade last year between the United States and the
United Kingdom, making the U.K., our adversary in 1776, our sixth-leading
trading partner today.
Source:
U.S. Census Bureau
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