Population articles
What is infrastructure and what does the government have to do with it?
The federal government has a long history of investing in infrastructure — facilities, structures, and utilities intended for long-term use —at least as far back as 1806 when Congress authorized the construction of the first highway built entirely with federal money. In the decades since, federal, state, and local governments have spent trillions of dollars on the networks and facilities the country needs to function. Infrastructure includes transportation systems such as bridges, highways, and railways, as well as energy assets like power plants and electric grids. It can also include drinking water and wastewater systems, broadband access, and public buildings like schools. Funding for building and maintaining it comes from the government, the private sector, or a combination.How much does the US spend on infrastructure annually? In 2020, government at all levels, and the private sector spent a combined $865 billion on infrastructure, the highest sum since infrastructure spending tracking began in 1947. The federal government spent $15.9 billion, or 1.8% of all infrastructure spending. State and local governments spent $300.6 billion, 34.8% of the total. The remaining 63.4% of funding came from the private sector.
Who funds the FAA? You, whenever you fly
The majority of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) budget comes from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF), established by the Treasury Department in 1970 to support American aviation infrastructure. It collects revenue by taxing domestic flight tickets, international arrivals and departures, air cargo, plane fuel, and travelers’ purchases in loyalty and frequent flier programs.Passenger taxes are applied at the time of ticket purchase. Domestic passenger tickets were taxed at 7.5% in 2025. Flights between the continental US and Hawaii or Alaska added another $11.40 per passenger. These taxes contribute to the FAA’s budget.
How many pedestrians and cyclists are killed by cars in America?
A record number of pedestrians and cyclists were killed in car crashes in 2020, according to the most recent data available from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.This historical high occurred along with increases in fatal car crashes overall, despite a decrease in vehicle miles traveled for the year.Making streets more accessible to walking and biking can improve community health, increase interactions between residents, and improve local economies. However, without infrastructure to support pedestrians and cyclists alongside drivers, walking and biking can be dangerous.In the most recent National Household Transportation Survey, 10.5% of trips in the US were walked, and 1% were biked. However, pedestrian deaths made up around 16% of traffic crash victims, and cyclists made up 2.4% of traffic crash victims.How do pedestrian and cyclist deaths compare over time?In 2020, 6,516 pedestrians died in traffic crashes, and 938 cyclists died. Those figures were about a 4% increase in pedestrian and cyclist deaths from the previous year. This increase occurred despite a 12% decrease in vehicle miles traveled in 2020.
What is walkability? What does the government spend on it?
Walkability is often an intuitive concept. If cities, small towns, or neighborhoods are built with activity-friendly routes that connect people to everyday destinations, that’s a “walkable” community. This is typically a local government issue, but the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocated $6.1 billion for walkable communities.What is walkability and why does it matter?The National Highway Transportation Safety Board encourages people to assess the walkability of their neighborhoods through a self-assessment checklist. Questions include:Did you have room to walk?Was it easy to cross streets?Did drivers behave well?Was your walk pleasant?The Environmental Protection Agency’s National Walkability Index provides an additional framework. It scores places from most to least walkable based on the density of intersecting streets, a mix of occupied housing and businesses, and proximity to transit stops. By these metrics, cities tend to be more walkable than rural or suburban places.
How many homeless people are in the US? What does the data miss?
Around 23 out of every 10,000 Americans — 771,480 people — experienced homelessness in January 2024 according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) annual point-in-time report, which measures homelessness across the US on a single night each winter. That’s an 18% increase from the same report in 2023.