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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 from sea to shining sea ...
Patriotic
Places
31
Number of places nationwide with "liberty" in their name. The most
populous one is Liberty, Missouri
(29,149). 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 116,830 residents. -
Five places
adopted the name "freedom." New Freedom, Pennsylvania with 4,464 residents, has the largest population among these. -
There is
one place named "patriot" — Patriot, Indiana,
with a population of 209.
-
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 26,263 residents.
Fourth
of July Barbecue
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 81 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 accounts for 95 percent of processed tomato production.
-
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.
-
And the apples in your apple pie? They most likely came from Washington or New York, the two top apple producing states.
Fourth
of July Fireworks
$190.7
million
The value of fireworks imported from China, representing the bulk of all U.S. fireworks imports ($197.3 million)
in 2010. U.S. exports of fireworks, came to just $37 million in 2010, with Japan purchasing more than any other country ($6.3 million). .
U.S.
Flags
$3.2
million
The dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags in 2010;
more than half of this amount ($2.8 million) was for U.S. flags
made in China.
$486,026
Dollar value of exports of U.S. flags in 2010. Mexico
was the leading customer, purchasing $256,407 worth.
50
The number of U.S. flags that are flown 24 hours a day at the Washington Monument in Washington DC. Other places where American flags are flown continuously include Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland; the United States Marine Corp Memorial (Iwo Jima) in Arlington, Virginia; on the Battle Green in Lexington, Massachusetts; and over the White House in our nation's capitol.
Lakes
& Beaches
66
million
Number of visits in a recent year to US 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.
Coming to America
 33.5
million
The number of foreign-born residents in the United States in 2003. They accounted for 11.7 percent of the nation's total population.
-
More than
1-in-3 foreign-born residents were naturalized U.S. citizens. -
Among the
foreign-born population, 53 percent were born in Latin
America, 25 percent in Asia, 14 percent in Europe and the remaining 8 percent in other regions
of the world, such as Africa
and Oceania.
 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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