USA by the Numbers: 40 Key Statistical Insights

In spite of the fact that only 9.7% of Americans don't use seatbelts, 47% of those killed in car accidents weren't wearing seat belts.

On average, Americans consumed 90 bottles of whiskey in the 1800s, or about 1.7 bottles every week. Whiskey's low price of 25 cents a gallon back then made it more affordable than other alcoholic beverages (including wine, beer, tea, coffee, and even milk).

On average, the happiest people in the U.S. are rich people who live in wealthy neighborhoods in poor counties.

Los Angeles experienced almost one bank robbery every 45 minutes in 1992. There were 17,106 robberies at 3,500 retail bank branches in Los Angeles between 1985 and 1995. There were 2,641 heists in 1992 alone.

Around 96% of Americans use automatic cars, compared to 80% of Europeans who drive manual.

Three pieces of information—a person's ZIP code, birth date, and sex—are sufficient to identify 87 percent of Americans.

With lawns covering about 2% of the United States' land area, turf grass has surpassed corn as the country's most important irrigated crop.

Florida voters passed a constitutional amendment in 2006 that increased the threshold for constitutional amendment approval from 50% to 60%. Following that amendment's 57% approval in 2006, 60% approval is now needed for any further alterations.

Among the nation's largest cities, San Francisco has the smallest proportion of children, with only 13.4 percent of residents being minors.

Most Americans (almost 90%) live less than 10 minutes away from a Walmart.