How Is The Demographic Makeup Of Congress Different From That Of The Rest Of The United States?

The 117th U.S. Congress took office in January, with Democrats holding narrow majorities in the Business firm and Senate.

Autonomously from its political makeup, the new Congress differs from prior ones in other ways, including its demographics. Hither are seven charts that show how the demographic profile of Congress has changed over time, using historical information from CQ Roll Telephone call, the Congressional Research Service and other sources.

To determine the demographics of the 117th Congress, we pulled information from recently published Pew Inquiry Middle analyses and other earlier work. Because not all members of the 117th Congress were seated on Jan. 3, 2021, and because some then-filled seats are now empty or changed hands since that fourth dimension, previously published data comes from several dates. For more data on the methodology of previously published posts, delight visit the original links, which are in the text of this post.

Data on the educational attainment of members of Congress includes the 532 voting members of the legislature equally of March iii. Data is fatigued from the U.Southward. Congress Biographical Directory and, when relevant, other official biographies and news reports.

All data points reverberate merely voting members of Congress, except for the assay of women in the legislature.

Growing racial and ethnic diversity in Congress

The current Congress is the almost racially and ethnically diverse e'er. Overall, 124 lawmakers identify as Blackness, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American – making up 23% of Congress, including 26% of the House of Representatives and eleven% of the Senate. Past comparison, when the 79th Congress took office in 1945, non-White lawmakers represented just 1% of the Business firm and Senate.

Despite this growing racial and ethnic diversity, Congress remains less diverse than the nation as a whole: Non-Hispanic White Americans account for 77% of voting members in the new Congress, considerably more than their 60% share of the U.S. population.

Women make up more than a quarter of the 117th U.S. Congress' membership

The number of women in Congress is at an all-time high.Almost a century later Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman elected to Congress, there are 144 women in the national legislature, accounting for a record 27% of all members across both chambers. (This includes six nonvoting House members who represent the District of Columbia and U.S. territories, 4 of whom are women.)

A record 120 women are currently serving in the House, accounting for 27% of the chamber'south total. At that place are 24 women in the Senate, one fewer than the record number of seats they held in the terminal Congress. In four states – Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire and Washington – both senators are women, down from six states in the previous Senate.

The House has seen slow but steady growth in the number of women members since the 1920s. Growth in the Senate has been slower: The Senate did not have more 3 women serving at any signal until the 102nd Congress, which began in 1991. And the share of women in Congress remains far beneath their share in the country as a whole (27% vs. 51%).

The number of Millennials and Gen Xers in Congress has risen slightly in contempo years. In the current Congress, vii% of House members, or 31 lawmakers, are Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996), up from 1% in the 115th Congress. A third of House lawmakers, or 144 members, are Gen X (born from 1965 to 1980), up from 27% two Congresses earlier.

Younger generations make up an increasing share of the U.S. Congress

This year saw the swearing-in of the first Millennial senator: Democrat Jon Ossoff of Georgia. The number of Gen X senators has gradually ticked upwards from xvi in the 115th Congress to twenty this twelvemonth.

While younger generations have increased their representation in Congress in recent years, older generations withal account for the bulk of lawmakers across both chambers. Babe Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) make up 53% of the House'southward voting membership, in improver to 68 of the 100 senators.

The ranks of the Silent Generation (born betwixt 1928 and 1945) take decreased in recent years, from 10%, or 42 members, at the start of the 115th Congress to 6%, or 27 members, in the current Congress.

The share of immigrants in Congress has ticked upwards but remains well below historical highs.There are 18 strange-born lawmakers in the 117th Congress, including 17 in the House and just one in the Senate: Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat who was born in Nippon.

Foreign-born share of Congress remains below historical highs

These lawmakers account for 3% of legislators, slightly college than the share in other contempo Congresses merely below the shares in much earlier Congresses. In the 50th Congress of 1887-89, for example, eight% of members were born abroad. The current share of foreign-built-in lawmakers in Congress is also far below the foreign-built-in share of the U.Southward. as a whole, which was 13.6% as of 2019.

While the number of foreign-built-in lawmakers in the current Congress is small, more members have at least one parent who was built-in in another country. Together, immigrants and the children of immigrants account for at least xiv% of the new Congress, a slightly higher share than in the terminal Congress (xiii%).

Far fewer members of Congress now take direct military machine experience than in the past. In the current Congress, 91 members served in the armed forces at some indicate in their lives – the lowest number since at least World War 2, according to War machine Times. There are more than than twice as many Republican veterans (63) in the new Congress equally Democrats (28). Equal shares of senators and representatives (17%) have served in the military machine.

While the number and share of veterans in Congress overall accept decreased, the newly elected freshman class includes fifteen such lawmakers.

Looking at the longer term, at that place has been a dramatic decrease in members of Congress with military experience since the late 20th century. Between 1965 and 1975, at least 70% of lawmakers in each legislative chamber had military feel. The share of members with military feel peaked at 75% in 1967 for the House and at 81% in 1975 for the Senate.

While relatively few members of Congress today have military machine experience, an fifty-fifty smaller share of Americans do. In 2018, about 7% of U.Southward. adults had war machine experience, downward from eighteen% in 1980, not long later the end of the armed services draft era.

Almost every member of Congress now holds a college degree

The vast majority of members of Congress take higher degrees. The share of representatives and senators with a college degree has steadily increased over time. In the 117th Congress, 94% of House members and all senators accept a bachelor's caste or more than pedagogy. 2-thirds of representatives and iii-quarters of senators take at least one graduate degree, also. In the 79th Congress (1945-47), by comparison, 56% of Business firm members and 75% of senators had bachelor's degrees.

The educational attainment of Congress far outpaces that of the overall U.S. population. In 2019, around a tertiary (36%) of American adults ages 25 and older said they had completed a available's caste or more education, according to U.Southward. Census Bureau data.

Congress has go slightly more religiously diverse over time.The electric current Congress includes the first two Muslim women ever to serve in the Business firm and has the fewest Christians (468) in 12 Congresses analyzed by Pew Research Center dating back to 1961. Despite this decline, Christians are still overrepresented in Congress in proportion to their share of the public: Nigh nine-in-10 congressional members are Christian (88%), compared with 65% of U.South. adults overall.

Past contrast, religious "nones" are underrepresented in Congress in comparison with the U.S. population. While 26% of Americans say they are atheist, agnostic or "nada in particular," just one lawmaker – Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. – says she is religiously unaffiliated.