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The state of domestic terrorism

The number of domestic terrorism incidents have risen over the past decade. What are the ideologies behind domestic terrorism attacks, how does the FBI investigate them, and what are the human costs? USAFacts gathered the data to see how the government is tackling this issue.

• According to the FBI, domestic terrorism involves violent acts intimidating or coercing civilian populations, influencing government policy, or affecting government conduct. These acts are driven by political, social, racial, or environmental ideologies.

• The FBI’s number of open domestic terrorism-related cases has grown 357% from 2013 to 2021. This rate rose sharply beginning in 2018. The number of disrupted potential domestic terrorist attacks — interrupting or inhibiting a threat actor from engaging in a criminal act or national security — rose around the same time.

• There were 231 domestic terrorism incidents between 2010 and 2021, resulting in 145 deaths and 370 injuries. Racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism led to the most lethal incidents, accounting for 94 deaths and 111 injuries.

  
  

• The second-largest category of domestic terrorism, anti-government or anti-authority violent extremism, resulted in 15 deaths during the same period.

  
  

• The number of federal defendants charged in domestic terrorism cases remained constant for years but grew in 2020 before doubling in 2021. This was due to an unusually high number of cases filed in Washington, DC.
  
  

Learn more about domestic terrorism events in the United States.

The record level of US household debt

US household debt hit a record $16.9 trillion in the last quarter of 2022 — around $128,824 per household, on average. This rise is due to several factors, many of which can combine and make it difficult for people to pay down loans. Here’s the data on US states with the highest household debt relative to income.

• Total household debt increased by approximately $1.1 trillion (roughly 6.7%) throughout 2022. Inflation grew by 6.4% and kept consumer prices high. The increase in overall debt can be partially attributed to a 4% rise in interest rates by the Federal Reserve in 2022.

  
  

• Despite the record-high household debt at the beginning of 2023, it was below the Q4 2008 peak of $17.4 trillion once adjusted for inflation.

  
  

• Over 70% of current debt is from mortgages. At the end of 2022, it accounted for $11.73 trillion; student loan debt has risen over the past two decades to become the second-largest component of household debt. In Q4 2022, it reached $1.57 trillion.

• As of Q3 2022, Hawaii, Idaho, and Maryland had the highest household debt-to-income ratios, meaning households that carry debt payments more than twice their gross monthly income. For every $1 of income, Hawaiian households had $2.26 in debt.

What’s the household debt-to-income ratio in your state?

Data behind the news

On August 1, one of the country’s three major credit rating agencies announced that it had downgraded the US credit rating from AAA to AA+. USAFacts has info on the current US credit ratings and what downgrades mean.

US scientists recently said that they have repeated a nuclear fusion reaction that produces more energy than is put into it. Learn more about how nuclear fusion works and why the country is investing in it?

Get ready; it’s time for the weekly fact quiz!

One last fact

From 2017 to 2020, milk was the top drink for children 12 and younger. Milk comprised 29% of beverages consumed in childhood, compared to 5% in adulthood. Bottled water was the biggest factor in changing drinking habits: Between surveys conducted from 2005 to 2006 and from 2017 to 2020, bottled water consumption rose 56%.