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

Apart from its political makeup, the new Congress differs from prior ones in other means, including its demographics. Hither are seven charts that evidence how the demographic contour of Congress has changed over time, using historical data from CQ Coil Call, the Congressional Research Service and other sources.

To determine the demographics of the 117th Congress, nosotros pulled data from recently published Pew Inquiry Center analyses and other earlier piece of work. Because not all members of the 117th Congress were seated on Jan. 3, 2021, and considering some then-filled seats are at present empty or changed hands since that time, previously published data comes from several dates. For more than information 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 3. Data is drawn from the U.S. Congress Biographical Directory and, when relevant, other official biographies and news reports.

All data points reflect only voting members of Congress, except for the analysis of women in the legislature.

Growing racial and ethnic diversity in Congress

The electric current Congress is the most racially and ethnically diverse always. Overall, 124 lawmakers place as Blackness, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American – making up 23% of Congress, including 26% of the Firm of Representatives and 11% of the Senate. By comparison, when the 79th Congress took role in 1945, non-White lawmakers represented just 1% of the Business firm and Senate.

Despite this growing racial and indigenous multifariousness, Congress remains less diverse than the nation equally a whole: Not-Hispanic White Americans account for 77% of voting members in the new Congress, considerably more than their sixty% 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 loftier.About a century subsequently Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the get-go woman elected to Congress, in that location 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 correspond the Commune of Columbia and U.S. territories, four of whom are women.)

A record 120 women are currently serving in the House, accounting for 27% of the sleeping room's total. There are 24 women in the Senate, one fewer than the tape 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 just steady growth in the number of women members since the 1920s. Growth in the Senate has been slower: The Senate did not accept more three women serving at any point until the 102nd Congress, which began in 1991. And the share of women in Congress remains far beneath their share in the land 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, 7% of Business firm members, or 31 lawmakers, are Millennials (born betwixt 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), upwardly from 27% two Congresses earlier.

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

This twelvemonth saw the swearing-in of the first Millennial senator: Democrat Jon Ossoff of Georgia. The number of Gen 10 senators has gradually ticked up from xvi in the 115th Congress to 20 this yr.

While younger generations take increased their representation in Congress in recent years, older generations yet account for the majority of lawmakers across both chambers. Baby Boomers (built-in betwixt 1946 and 1964) make upwards 53% of the House'due south voting membership, in addition to 68 of the 100 senators.

The ranks of the Silent Generation (built-in between 1928 and 1945) have 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 upward but remains well below historical highs.There are 18 foreign-born lawmakers in the 117th Congress, including 17 in the House and only ane in the Senate: Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat who was built-in in Nihon.

Foreign-born share of Congress remains below historical highs

These lawmakers business relationship for 3% of legislators, slightly higher than the share in other recent Congresses only 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 strange-born lawmakers in Congress is besides far beneath the strange-born share of the U.S. as a whole, which was 13.6% as of 2019.

While the number of strange-born lawmakers in the current Congress is minor, more members have at least one parent who was born in another country. Together, immigrants and the children of immigrants account for at least 14% of the new Congress, a slightly higher share than in the terminal Congress (xiii%).

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

Fewer veterans in Congress

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

Looking at the longer term, in that location has been a dramatic subtract in members of Congress with military feel since the late 20th century. Between 1965 and 1975, at least 70% of lawmakers in each legislative chamber had military experience. 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 accept military machine experience, an fifty-fifty smaller share of Americans do. In 2018, well-nigh seven% of U.Due south. adults had military feel, down from 18% in 1980, not long after the terminate 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 college degree has steadily increased over time. In the 117th Congress, 94% of House members and all senators have a bachelor'south degree or more education. Two-thirds of representatives and iii-quarters of senators have at least one graduate degree, too. In the 79th Congress (1945-47), past 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 3rd (36%) of American adults ages 25 and older said they had completed a bachelor'south caste or more educational activity, according to U.S. Demography Bureau information.

Congress has get slightly more than religiously diverse over time.The current Congress includes the commencement two Muslim women ever to serve in the House and has the fewest Christians (468) in 12 Congresses analyzed past Pew Research Centre dating back to 1961. Despite this decline, Christians are however overrepresented in Congress in proportion to their share of the public: Near nine-in-10 congressional members are Christian (88%), compared with 65% of U.S. adults overall.

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

Changes in the religious makeup of Congress

Note: This is an update to a post originally published on Feb. two, 2017.