THE STATE OF THE UNION, IN 3 CHARTS
By Jenna Cohen, @JennaRCohen
Roy W. Howard Fellow
Hannah Grabenstein
General Assignment Reporter, Digital
Before President Joe Biden gives his
2023 State of the Union speech tonight, what does data show about the past year and where the country stands?
Biden used his 2022 address to lay out his top concerns and priorities, including responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, revitalizing American infrastructure and combating COVID-19. This year,
Biden is expected to tout accomplishments like the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the improving economic indicators (inflation rate down, jobs numbers up) as he prepares to run for reelection. He may also call for greater bipartisanship as he confronts a combative GOP-led House.
When we look back at many of these key data points, the overall picture may offer more of a national portrait than a presidential report card. Though Biden and his administration can craft policy and executive actions to address many issues, there are many others that neither the president nor Congress can do much about, such as controlling gas prices.
Here are three ways America has changed — or stayed the same — over the last year.
Inflation
For many families, inflation was one of the most pressing challenges in 2022, as they watched the prices of everyday items spike compared to the year before. The cost of eggs at the grocery store
increased 60 percent in 2022.
COVID-19
The number of people dying in the U.S. from COVID-19 every week dropped substantially over the course of 2022. However, the year had a weekly average of more than 4,500 deaths during the period of late January 2022 to late January 2023.
Despite the updated bivalent COVID vaccines available for eligible patients aged 6 months and older, only
15.7 percent of the U.S. population has received the latest booster.
Police killings
At least 88 people were killed by police in January 2023, according to
Mapping Police Violence, including
Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who was beaten by five Black police officers in Memphis, Tennessee. More than 1,100 people were killed by police officers in 2021 and again in 2022.
