The 10 most-read articles of the year

This year, Americans turned to USAFacts for nonpartisan data to understand the nation’s changing population, the priorities of the Biden administration, and, perhaps most prominently, the ongoing pandemic. Here are the most-read reports of 2021.
 

10.  The summer of the Delta variant

In the first half of 2021, the vaccine rollout meant a drop in cases, states ended mask mandates, and many Americans resumed their old routines. Then came the Delta variant. By mid-August, coronavirus deaths were 150% higher than in early July. USAFacts created six charts on who was most affected by this wave.

9. Cancelling $9.5 billion in student loans

In September, the Biden administration relieved 563,000 people (1.3% of all borrowers) of their student loan debt. The canceled loans were less than 1% of the student debt owed in the US. 

8.  Understanding flu shots 

While awaiting a COVID-19 vaccine, Americans were curious about the uptake of other vaccines. At the start of the 2020 flu season, USAFacts analyzed the data to understand how different age groups got the flu shot — more than half of Americans got a shot during the 2019-2020 flu season.

7.  Biden’s first 100 days

Readers wanted to know how President Joe Biden delivered on his priorities after his first 100 days and have continued to check out this recap ever since, making it the seventh-most read article this year. Those first 100 days included 42 executive actions on immigration, equality, and COVID-19, plus the passage of the American Rescue Plan.
 

6.  The diverse demographics of Asian Americans

USAFacts marked Asian American Heritage Month with a unique demographic breakdown of the nation’s 18.6 million Asian Americans. The latest census data shows that Asian Americans are younger, more likely to be born abroad, and live in higher-income households than the average American. 

5.  Top causes of death for Americans

Heart disease and cancer are the nation's top annual causes of death. COVID-19 joined that list in 2020. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, some COVID-19 deaths might have been misclassified as pneumonia or influenza on 2020 death certificates.
 

4.  How many people die of the flu?

To provide context on the first year of the pandemic, USAFacts contrasted COVID-19 with the seasonal flu. Around 61,000 people died from influenza in the 2017-2018 flu season, one of the deadliest flu seasons of the past 10 years. In contrast, almost 529,000 people died of coronavirus by mid-March 2021.
 

3.  COVID-19 vaccine side effects data

Much-awaited coronavirus vaccines became available in late 2020. Americans wanted to know more about these new vaccines, so USAFacts collected government data on reported side effects. Headaches were the most common side effect among the 0.05% of recipients who reported adverse symptoms at the time of the article. 

2.  Who’s earning the federal minimum wage?

This report on the federal minimum wage provides a detailed look at who earns what by state, industry, age, and has been one of the site's most popular pieces since September 2019. The (eventually scrapped) idea of including a $15 minimum wage in the American Rescue Plan brought new interest to the topic.

For further reading, see this exploration of the earning power of various wages from this summer.

1. Understanding the toll of the first year of the pandemic

The year's top article includes data to compare the first year of the pandemic to the Spanish Flu, gain perspective of the lives lost, and more. These statistics show that there were more than 3.4 million total deaths in the US in 2020 — 20% more than in 2019.

See more about the top 10 articles of the year here.

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