296.5 million
Projected number of U.S. residents on this July 4th. Back in July 1776, there were about 2.5 million people living in the colonies. (2005 population from unpublished data; 1776 population from Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970.)

Patriotic-Sounding Places
30
Number of places nationwide with “liberty” in their name. The most populous one is Liberty, Mo. (27,982). Iowa, with four, has more of these places than any other state: Libertyville, New Liberty, North Liberty and West Liberty.
Eleven places have “independence” in their name. The most populous of these is Independence, Mo., with 112,079 residents.

Five places adopted the name “freedom.” Freedom, Calif., with 6,000 residents, has the largest population among these.

There is one place named “patriot” — Patriot, Ind., with a population of 196.

And what could be more fitting than spending the Fourth of July in a place called “America”? There are five such places in the country, with the most populous being American Fork, Utah, population 22,876.

The Fourth of July Cookout
150 million
Number of hot dogs (all varieties) expected to be consumed by Americans on the Fourth. (That’s one frankfurter for every two people.) There’s about a 1-in-4 chance that the hot dogs made of pork originated in Iowa, as the Hawkeye State had a total inventory of 16.2 million hogs and pigs on March 1, 2005. This represents more than one-fourth of the nation’s total. (Data on hot dog consumption courtesy of the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.) Data on hogs and pigs at <http://www.usda.gov/nass/>.
7.3 billion pounds
Total production of cattle and calves in Texas in 2004. Chances are that the beef hot dogs, steaks and burgers on your backyard grill came from the Lone Star State, which accounted for over one-sixth of the nation’s total production.

6
Number of states in which the revenue from chicken broilers was $1 billion or greater in 2004. There is a good chance that one of these states — Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, North Carolina, Mississippi or Texas — is the source of your barbecued chicken.

Better than 50-50
The odds that the beans in your side dish of baked beans came from North Dakota, Michigan or Nebraska, which produced 58 percent of the nation’s dry, edible beans in 2004. Another popular July 4th side dish is corn on the cob. California and Florida together accounted for about 45 percent of the value of sweet corn produced nationally in 2004.

One-half
Amount of the nation’s spuds produced in Idaho or Washington in 2004. Potato salad and potato chips are also popular food items at July 4th barbecues.

Nearly 69 million
Number of Americans who said they have taken part in a barbecue [PDF] during the previous year. It’s probably safe to assume a lot of these events took place on Independence Day.

Flags
$5.2 million
The dollar value of U.S. imports of American flags in 2004; the vast majority of this amount ($4.8 million) was for U.S. flags made in China.
$851,000
Dollar value of U.S. flag exports in 2004. Mexico was the leading customer, purchasing $312,000 worth.

$349 million
Annual dollar value of shipments of fabricated flags, banners and similar emblems by the nation’s manufacturers, according to the latest published Economic Census (2002) data

Coming to America
34 million
The number of foreign-born residents in the United States in 2004; they accounted for 12 percent of the nation’s total population. Another 30 million Americans were “second- generation,” meaning that at least one of their parents was born abroad.
53%
Percentage of the nation’s foreign-born population born in Latin America, as of 2004.

706,000
Number of immigrants granted legal permanent residence in the United States during fiscal year 2003. One in four settled in California, and 1-in-10 in the New York metro area.

463,000
Number of people who became naturalized U.S. citizens during fiscal 2003 [PDF]. Mexico contributed the highest number of naturalized citizens in 2003 (56,100), followed by India (29,800), the Philippines (29,100), Vietnam (26,000) and China (24,000).

Source of information: US Census Bureau (www.census.gov)