USA Facts

 

Explore the special report we created for Congress — and for informed citizens like you

To find solutions to national challenges, everyone — from everyday Americans to top policymakers — needs clear, nonpartisan data to understand how the government is serving the people.   This week, the USAFacts team is in Washington, DC, sharing the comprehensive America in Facts 2025: A Data-Driven Report for Congress report with lawmakers. Because no matter which side of the aisle you're on, you need solid data as a starting point for policy. This annual report is the result of years of interactions and conversations with Congressmembers and staffers. The final product: Nearly 100 pages of clear, accessible government data. What’s in the report? Here’s a fact-filled preview:  What the government spends The federal budget has three types of spending: mandatory, discretionary, and paying interest on the debt. Mandatory spending must be funded as the law requires, unless Congress changes the rules or laws regarding the programs themselves.   Of the $4.1 trillion in mandatory spending in FY 2024, the largest program was Social Security, accounting for 35%, or at $1.5 trillion.   Medicare accounted for $865.3 billion, or 21% of mandatory spending. Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program spending reached $637.7 billion, or 16%.   Congress can alter discretionary spending each year through the appropriations process. These changes are often due to shifting national priorities. In FY 2024, discretionary spending comprised 27% (or $1.8 trillion) of the budget overall.   National defense was the largest category at $850.7 billion or 47% of discretionary expenditures.   The government pays debt interest in the same way someone pays interest on a credit card bill. These payments change based on the size of the debt and interest rates. In FY 2024, the government spent $879.9 billion in debt interest. That’s equivalent to 13% of total government spending, the highest share spent on debt interest since 1999.   The total debt owed by the federal government reached $36.2 trillion by the end of 2024. About 80% of the debt was owned by the public, meaning individuals, businesses, banks, the Federal Reserve, and foreign entities. Immigration   About 2.9 million authorized immigrants entered the US in FY 2023, up 15% from FY 2022. That’s the highest number of authorized immigrants since at least 1997.  Refugee admissions reached 100,000 in FY 2024, the most since at least 2001.   There were 3.9 million pending immigration court cases in FY 2024, the highest on record.   Afghan Asylees have increased after the US withdrawal: 110 asylees in FY 2021 to 1,240 in FY 2022 to 14,470 in FY 2023. That's the most of any country, nearly triple the number of asylees from second-place China. After you read America in Facts, be sure to watch this video for even more on immigration. The border   The US removed about 330,000 people in FY 2024, up 86% from the year before. There were 2.9 million border enforcement actions in FY 2024, which counts people refused at ports of entry and apprehended for illegal crossing, down from a record high of 3.2 million in FY 2023. About 2.1 million, or 74%, happened along the southwest border.   US Border Patrol (USBP) and the Office of Field Operations (OFO) performed about 25,000 enforcement actions in June 2025, down 88% from June 2024. And enforcement action can be either an encounter with USBP between legal ports of entry or being turned away from legal points of entry by OFO. Another 15% of enforcement actions occurred at airports, 7% at the northern border, and 4% at coastal borders.   Wages  The nation’s median annual wage was $49,440 in 2024.  Massachusetts, Washington, and Alaska had the highest median wages, each over $59,000.   Six states — Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama, and Oklahoma — had median wages under $44,000.   After adjusting for inflation, median wages decreased by 0.3% from 2023 to 2024, following declines in the two previous years.  Explore the full report  That’s just the start. America in Facts has more on these topics, plus deep dives into the American population, tax data, and poverty rates, and dozens of visuals to back them up.  Explore the report we made for Congress right here.   USAFacts goes to Washington  While USAFacts will be talking data in the halls of Congress this week, we’ll also be on the grounds of the Washington Monument, bringing facts to the people. If you’re in the area on September 18, you could snag a copy of America in Facts, or maybe a USAFacts shirt to rep your favorite source of nonpartisan data. We'll be hanging out by something so big you might say it’s...inflated.  Data behind the news We’ve noticed an uptick in search interest in our data on Utah crime rates and deaths from gun deaths in Utah following the assassination of Charlie Kirk. We have those numbers, plus numbers for every other state, on our site.  On Friday, the Congressional Budget Office released new economic projections for the next three years. The projections are an update to the outlook it had released in January. These projections include a rising inflation rate. Sudoku. Wordle. Weekly fact quiz.  One last fact Federal spending rose 2.9 times from FY 1980 to FY 2024 (after adjusting for inflation).  Want to see how government revenue has changed since then? America in Facts has you covered. In fact, the charts in the report are so detailed and, well, cool, that we suggest you get out of your inbox and into the data. (This nifty chart in particular is on page 7 of the federal finances section.)

COINING THE WORD UNICORN: Private VC-Backed Start-Ups Busting-The-Charts and Gouging-On-The-Feeding Frenzy

According to a report in Wired [ https://www.wired.com/story/earths-unicorn-population-is-exploding/  ] yesterday by Arielle Pardes, "When the venture capitalist Aileen Lee coined the term unicorn, in 2013, there were 39 of them—roughly four minted every year.

So far in 2021, 264 companies in the United States have reached such valuations. Around the world, multiple startups turn into unicorns every single day. . ."

Let's pause - and take a look a look back at the year 2018 five years after that name UNICORN was coined

THE STUFF OF LEGENDS (Earlier post on this blog from February 2018)

From the Crunch Network

Unicorns gorge as investors dish up bigger rounds, more capital

Posted 4 hours ago by Gené Teare (@geneteare), Joanna Glasner 

According to this report, during the course of last year, investors put a record amount of capital into members of the Crunchbase Unicorn Leaderboard, a list of private venture-backed companies valued at more than $1 billion.

Globally, a staggering $66 billion went into unicorn companies in 2017, up 39 percent year-over-year, according to an analysis of Crunchbase data.

The ride-hailing space was the single largest recipient of investor dollars, with several rivals in the space raising billions. Investors also poured copious sums into co-working, consumer internet and augmented reality.

 

More of the  Crunchbase data can be accessed by going to this site > https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/03 

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BLOGGER INSERT FLASH-FORWARD TO Q3 2021

“We’re looking at $240 billion invested in VC-backed companies this year, which would have seemed outrageous a few years ago,” says Kyle Stanford, a senior analyst at Pitchbook.

“There is more capital and more interest in the venture space than there has ever been.”

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2017

"Newcomers also joined the unicorn club for the first time in 2017, albeit at a slightly slower pace than the preceding two years.

> For all of 2017, 60 new startups were added to the unicorn list.

> This compares to 66 newly minted unicorns in 2016 and the record-setting 2015 with 99 newcomers.
Below, we break down the leading locations for (1) new and existing unicorns, (2) top sectors for investment capital, (3) exits and a few other trends affecting the space. . .

Geographic breakdown

The vast majority of unicorns are headquartered in either the U.S. or China, and that’s also the case for newcomers to the Unicorn Leaderboard.

The newcomers were a pretty diverse bunch, spanning industries from

• agtech to enterprise software, including no-cost stock buying platform Robinhood,
• online education provider VIPKID 
• cryptocurrency buying and selling platform Coinbase.

 

Sectors

Unicorn investors showed a particularly strong appetite, however, for companies in a handful of sectors.

Ridesharing, in particular, had a strong funding year, with companies in the space taking more than 10 percent of all unicorn investment.

Bike-sharing was also big. Two new entrants onto the unicorn list came from that space: Ofo and Mobike.

Other recipients of really substantial funding rounds, even by unicorn standards, include U.S. co-working giant WeWork and China-based consumer internet players Toutiao and Koubei.

 

Exiting the board

So a lot of unicorns are raising big rounds. But is there any sign members of the group will eventually produce returns for investors?

Overall, 2017 provided some modestly positive news for unicorn exit watchers.

• Fifteen venture-funded companies with private valuations of a billion dollars or more went public last year, more than double 2016 levels and the highest total since Crunchbase began tracking the asset class.
• Unicorn IPOs weren’t just more common in 2017. Performance was often quite good, too. Many of last year’s newly public companies sustained market caps far higher than their last private valuations.

Lately, going public seems to be a better option for investor returns.

 

Averages point to more exits ahead

> For the 45 unicorn companies that have gone public, the average time to go public has been 26 months after first being valued at $1 billion.

> For the 25 companies that have been acquired, the average time to get acquired is 24 months after first being valued at $1 billion.

 

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"When the venture capitalist Aileen Lee coined the term unicorn, in 2013, there were 39 of them—roughly four minted every year.

> So far in 2021, 264 companies in the United States have reached such valuations.

> Around the world, multiple startups turn into unicorns every single day.

The staggering rate at which companies reach billion-dollar valuations is just one of the ways that venture capital has busted charts this year.

“We’re looking at $240 billion invested in VC-backed companies this year, which would have seemed outrageous a few years ago,” says Kyle Stanford, a senior analyst at Pitchbook.

“There is more capital and more interest in the venture space than there has ever been.”

Earth’s Unicorn Population Is Exploding

It’s not a fantasy: VC valuations and spending on startups in 2021 are off the charts, and the year isn’t over yet.

Between July and September, more than $82 billion poured into American startups—about as much as venture capitalists spent in all of 2017.

[ Photograph: Adrienne Bresnahan/Getty Images ]

Arielle Pardes

Wired

"Between July and September, more than $82 billion poured into American startups, according to a new report on Q3 data from Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association. That’s about as much as venture capitalists spent in all of 2017—which was, at the time, the high-water mark for venture capital spending since the dotcom boom of the early 2000s. Globally, Crunchbase found the Q3 total was $160 billion, a new record high for any quarter in history. Deal sizes have also gone up: The average early-stage deal in the US is now $20 million.

This money is pouring into all parts of the startup world, from angel investments to late-stage deals, from enterprise software to financial technology.

> More interest is coming from what Pitchbook calls “nontraditional” investors: those in private equity, hedge funds, or corporations, which have deeper pockets than the average fund on Sand Hill Road.

These investors have elbowed their way into venture capital to try to get a piece of the excellent profits. Across the market, exit value—the amount a company is worth once it goes public or gets acquired—is at an all-time high, surpassing $500 billion for the first time in a single year (with one quarter still to go). That’s already double the record from last year.

 

. . .Plenty of founders are enjoying the spoils of the funding frenzy, though.

> This year has set new records for “mega-deals,” or funding rounds in excess of $100 million.

> There have already been nearly 600 such deals in 2021, with 207 of them happening in the last three months.

With three months left to go, there are no signs of slowing down."

The City of Mesa "Mulls" Drafting New Rules For Threats and Risks To Public Safety 10 Months After They Were Visible??

Hey! How long does it take for the city officials to get a grip on threats and risks and dangers to public safety from conditions they allowed here to benefit Vulture/Venture start-ups making billions on the collection or personal data from unsuspecting users of e-bikes and e-scotters dumped on the sidewalks of downtown??
Your MesaZona blogger first reported on this abuse of the public right-of-way months ago.
In fact that was first on February 15, 2018 - the bikes were clearly visible right across Main Street from City Hall.
Any reasonable person might ask if the people whose salaries are paid by taxpayers even bother to get-out-of-their-bubble?
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15 February 2018

Bike-Share War Here in Downtown Mesa???

NO, dear readers, IT'S PREMATURE OVERKILL! These self-propelled two-wheeled machines, funded by privately-owned Chinese VCs [venture capitalists[ are getting free parking on the public sidewalks - or maybe we should call it "foreign direct investment" in our hyper-local "Donut-Hole" where we now see more bikes than people who might use them on the streets of our downtown community where not everyone is affluent enough to own a Smartphone to download the app on these bikes to pay to rent them                         

Now seeing a second and third company dumping on public sidewalks here this time dockless bikes that you can find all around to use and drop off any time and anywhere you like - if you use a Smartphone there's an app you can download to rent the bike. What they don't tell you is that you rent at the same a GPS tracker that can track everything you do and collect your data: that's the money-maker to get "big data" - your data - start-ups can capitalize on in the new Sharing Economy to deliver back dollars to initial funding investors. It's got to be on an a big scale-up quickly, ca-chinging transactions and getting your data. Oro bikes, seen in the image to the right, is offering free rent for February. 

They just need your butt on the seat . . .

READ MORE > Tim Mello on MesaZona

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There are more posts published on this blog that readers can access below after this report from KJZZ yesterday . . . that's 10 months after my reporting right here!

They might vote on some regulations next year.

Labels: #MesaAZ, bike-sharing, limebike, ofo

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Mesa Mulls Dockless Bike, Scooter Regulations

By Mariana Dale    Published: Tuesday, December 4, 2018 - 5:07pm

Updated: Tuesday, December 4, 2018 - 5:08pm

Valley cities are increasingly looking at new rules for scooters and bicycles you rent with a smartphone.
Mesa council told staff this week to draft regulations for the vehicles that could be voted on in early 2019.
Mesa Transportation Department Director RJ Zeder says where the vehicles are parked when someone isn't riding them can be the source of problems.
“Because it’s dockless, literally folks could leave the bikes and now scooters anywhere,” Zeder said. . .

The rules could include an annual license and fees for having to relocate or impound the vehicles.
“We’re not looking to make money off the scooter companies,” Zeder said.

The money would pay to help manage the vehicles within the city.
Zeder says companies such as Lime and Bird have been cooperative with the city.
See the report from KJZZ > click here 
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RELATED CONTENT ON THIS BLOG:

9 months ago, the City of Mesa tried to put the blame on the companies, shirking any responsibilities at all for allowing these VCs to dump dockless bikes and scooters in the public rights-of-way.
Here's the announcement dated March 22, 2018 from MesaNow about what started on February 14, 2018: THIS IS ALL THE CITY'S NEWSROOM HAS TO SAY:

Dockless Bicycles in Mesa

March 22, 2018 at 2:31 pm

"Dockless bike share companies have begun operations in Mesa and have placed bicycles around the city. These bike share companies are privately owned and operated and are not affiliated with the City of Mesa. The companies and their customers are responsible for obeying all state laws and city ordinances when using and parking bikes. If you have a concern about a bike's location, it's best to contact the appropriate company directly. Below is contact information for the companies currently operating in Mesa, or they can also each be contacted through their associated smartphone app:
LimeBike (Green bikes with yellow fenders)support@limebike.com
Call or text: 888-546-3345
Ofo (Yellow bikes)support@ofobike.com
The Mesa City Code states "no person shall park a bicycle upon a street other than upon the roadway against the curb or upon the sidewalk in a rack to support the bicycle or against a building or at the curb in such manner as to afford the least obstruction to pedestrian traffic." (Title 10, Chapter 1, Section 14). "

Link to source > http://mesanow.org/news/public/article/2065 

 

This is OUTRAGEOUS:

Why are these bikes getting dumped downtown now in February? It's Spring Training season for a few weeks. The bikes might be rented to get from bus stops or Valley Metro Light Rail station platforms to get to Sloan Park . . .  

LimeBike is a bicycle-sharing company headquartered in San Mateo, California. It operates dockless bicycle-sharing systems in several cities and college campuses across the United States, using a mobile app for reservations. The founders are Brad Bao, Toby Sun who re-tweeted this just hours ago - they just got $70,000,000 more bucks yesterday! 

LimeBike Retweeted

Toby Sun‏ @tobysun 3h3 hours ago

Thrilled to announce $70M series B extension round on Valentine's day and Lunar New Year! Look forward to partnering with leading real estate focused fund Fifth Wall Venture to bring more @limebike family products to more users!

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20 October 2018 

Threats To Public Safety Here in Downtown Mesa: Dumping E-Scooters On Public Sidewalks

Don't know about you, dear readers, but your MesaZona keeps his eyes open walking around our shared public spaces and sidewalks downtown.
There were some obstacles in the way the other day in what was otherwise a wonderful day: 2 e-scooters.
Where  did they come from and why are they here? They didn't look  like personal property with corporate logos, attached gizmos and "Start for Only $1". 

 

Some money-making scheme under the guise of furthering personal freedom, mobility and protecting the environment?
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That's exactly what it is, once again - 'a foil' disguised as a good thing.The first question any reasonable person might ask is if the city government had knowledge in advance of these plans (not just one but two companies) and approved their dockless distribution and dumping on downtown sidewalks without any evaluation or any kind of public information or public notice ahead of time.
Each and every one of them are endangering the health, safety and welfare of riders, pedestrians and the general public.  
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Typical of way too many things in a city where the public is not engaged, people in other cities are taking action:
INNOVATIONS
Class-action lawsuit accuses e-scooter companies of ‘gross negligence’ 

READ MORE > https://mesazona.blogspot.com/2018/10/threats-to-public-safety-here-in.html