What Is The Demographic Makeup Of Congress?

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

Apart from its political makeup, the new Congress differs from prior ones in other means, including its demographics. Here are vii charts that evidence how the demographic profile of Congress has changed over time, using historical data from CQ Scroll Call, the Congressional Inquiry Service and other sources.

To determine the demographics of the 117th Congress, we pulled data from recently published Pew Research Centre analyses and other earlier work. Considering not all members of the 117th Congress were seated on January. 3, 2021, and because some then-filled seats are at present empty or changed hands since that time, previously published data comes from several dates. For more information on the methodology of previously published posts, please 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 as of March 3. Data is drawn from the U.S. Congress Biographical Directory and, when relevant, other official biographies and news reports.

All information points reflect only 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 most racially and ethnically diverse always. Overall, 124 lawmakers identify equally Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American – making up 23% of Congress, including 26% of the Business firm of Representatives and 11% of the Senate. Past comparison, when the 79th Congress took office in 1945, non-White lawmakers represented just one% of the Business firm and Senate.

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

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

The number of women in Congress is at an best high.Almost a century after Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the get-go adult female elected to Congress, there are 144 women in the national legislature, bookkeeping for a record 27% of all members across both chambers. (This includes 6 nonvoting House members who correspond the District of Columbia and U.South. territories, four of whom are women.)

A record 120 women are currently serving in the House, bookkeeping for 27% of the sleeping room'south total. There are 24 women in the Senate, one fewer than the record number of seats they held in the last 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 non have more than iii women serving at whatsoever bespeak until the 102nd Congress, which began in 1991. And the share of women in Congress remains far below their share in the country as a whole (27% vs. 51%).

The number of Millennials and Gen Xers in Congress has risen slightly in recent years. In the current Congress, vii% of Business firm members, or 31 lawmakers, are Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996), up from 1% in the 115th Congress. A third of Firm 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 beginning Millennial senator: Democrat Jon Ossoff of Georgia. The number of Gen Ten senators has gradually ticked up from 16 in the 115th Congress to twenty this year.

While younger generations have increased their representation in Congress in recent years, older generations still business relationship for the majority of lawmakers across both chambers. Infant Boomers (built-in between 1946 and 1964) brand up 53% of the Business firm's voting membership, in addition to 68 of the 100 senators.

The ranks of the Silent Generation (built-in between 1928 and 1945) accept decreased in recent years, from ten%, or 42 members, at the outset of the 115th Congress to half dozen%, or 27 members, in the current Congress.

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

Foreign-born share of Congress remains below historical highs

These lawmakers account for 3% of legislators, slightly higher than the share in other contempo Congresses but below the shares in much earlier Congresses. In the 50th Congress of 1887-89, for example, 8% of members were born abroad. The current share of foreign-born lawmakers in Congress is besides far below the strange-born share of the U.S. equally a whole, which was xiii.six% as of 2019.

While the number of foreign-born lawmakers in the electric current Congress is small, more members have at least one parent who was born in another land. Together, immigrants and the children of immigrants account for at least 14% of the new Congress, a slightly higher share than in the last Congress (13%).

Far fewer members of Congress now have direct war machine experience than in the by. In the current Congress, 91 members served in the military at some point in their lives – the everyman number since at least World War II, according to Military Times. At that place are more than than twice as many Republican veterans (63) in the new Congress every bit 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 have decreased, the newly elected freshman form includes 15 such lawmakers.

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

While relatively few members of Congress today have military feel, an fifty-fifty smaller share of Americans practise. In 2018, about 7% of U.South. adults had war machine feel, down from 18% in 1980, not long after the end of the military draft era.

Almost every member of Congress now holds a college degree

The vast majority of members of Congress have college degrees. The share of representatives and senators with a higher degree has steadily increased over time. In the 117th Congress, 94% of Business firm members and all senators have a bachelor'southward caste or more than education. Two-thirds of representatives and three-quarters of senators have at least one graduate caste, too. In the 79th Congress (1945-47), by comparison, 56% of House 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 bachelor's degree or more than teaching, according to U.Southward. Census Agency information.

Congress has go slightly more religiously diverse over time.The electric current Congress includes the beginning two Muslim women always to serve in the House and has the fewest Christians (468) in 12 Congresses analyzed by Pew Enquiry Middle dating back to 1961. Despite this decline, Christians are however overrepresented in Congress in proportion to their share of the public: Well-nigh nine-in-x congressional members are Christian (88%), compared with 65% of U.Southward. adults overall.

By contrast, religious "nones" are underrepresented in Congress in comparison with the U.Due south. population. While 26% of Americans say they are atheist, agnostic or "nothing in item," just 1 lawmaker – Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. – says she is religiously unaffiliated.