About 307 million people are legal citizens of the United States, roughly 90 percent of the country’s 341.8 million residents as of mid-2025. That figure combines native-born Americans, people born abroad to U.S. citizen parents, and immigrants who have naturalized. It is an estimate rather than a hard count, because no single federal database tracks citizenship in real time.1U.S. Census Bureau. Population Growth Slows Due to Decline in Net International Migration
The Breakdown Behind the 307 Million
The citizen population sits in two very unequal groups.
Native-born citizens account for the overwhelming majority: an estimated 280 million or more. Anyone born on U.S. soil and subject to its jurisdiction is a citizen under the Fourteenth Amendment, a principle the Supreme Court affirmed in 1898.2Constitution Annotated. Amdt14.S1.1.2 Citizenship Clause Doctrine The category also covers people born in Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, all of whom are citizens at birth under federal statutes specific to each territory.3U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12 Part A – Chapter 2 – Becoming a U.S. Citizen Children born abroad to at least one U.S. citizen parent acquire citizenship at birth as well, under the principle of jus sanguinis, and are counted in the native-born total.4U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12 Part K – Chapter 2 – Certificate of Citizenship
Naturalized citizens make up the rest. As of 2024, about 26 million naturalized citizens were living in the United States, and USCIS welcomed more than 818,000 new citizens during fiscal year 2024 alone.5Congress.gov. Naturalization – Policy Overview and Selected Trends6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Naturalization Statistics The naturalized population grew by roughly 32 percent between 2012 and 2022, making it the fastest-growing slice of the citizen count.
Another 9 million lawful permanent residents currently meet the basic requirements for naturalization but have not applied. They are not citizens today, but any large shift in that group can move the total in future survey years.
How the Number Is Estimated
There is no single roster of American citizens. The 307 million figure is built by combining several federal data sources.
The American Community Survey, run annually by the Census Bureau, is the primary tool. Each year the bureau sends detailed questionnaires to about 3.5 million households, asking respondents to self-report whether they are native-born, naturalized, or non-citizens. Respondents are not asked to show documentation, so the results reflect what people report about themselves. The decennial census sets the broad population count every ten years, and the ACS fills in the annual detail.
USCIS records add another layer. The agency issues a Certificate of Naturalization each time someone completes the process, and it tracks replacement certificates separately.7U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Redesigns Citizenship and Naturalization Certificates Cross-referencing those records with birth registrations and Social Security data lets analysts refine the estimate.
The citizen share of the population has held steady near 90 percent across recent survey cycles, even as immigration levels have shifted. The native-born majority is so large that it anchors the ratio.
What Moves the Count Each Year
Three forces add citizens; two subtract.
Births are the biggest driver. Provisional CDC data recorded about 3.6 million births in 2024, and each of those is a new citizen.8Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vital Statistics Surveillance Report – Births: Provisional Data for 2024 Deaths in an aging population are the main offset, though births continue to outpace deaths in the native-born group.
Naturalizations add roughly 800,000 to 1 million citizens per year in recent cycles.6U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Naturalization Statistics Processing times for the Form N-400 application currently run between about 5.5 and 9.5 months depending on the USCIS field office, so backlogs and staffing shifts create noticeable swings from one year to the next.
Losses of citizenship are rare on the scale of a national count. A citizen can formally renounce by appearing before a U.S. diplomatic or consular officer abroad and making a sworn renunciation; the administrative fee was reduced to $450 effective April 2026.9Federal Register. Schedule of Fees for Consular Services – Fee for Administrative Processing of Request for Certificate of Loss of Nationality Certain other acts, including treason or service in a hostile foreign military, can result in loss of nationality if the person specifically intended to give up citizenship.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1481 – Loss of Nationality by Native-Born or Naturalized Citizen Naturalized citizens can also be denaturalized by a federal court if the government proves their naturalization was obtained through fraud or that they were never legally eligible.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1451 – Revocation of Naturalization The Department of Justice signaled in 2025 that it intends to prioritize civil denaturalization cases going forward, but the numbers involved remain small relative to births and naturalizations.
Who Makes Up the Other 10 Percent
Roughly 34 million U.S. residents are not citizens. This group includes lawful permanent residents holding green cards, people on temporary work or student visas, and undocumented immigrants. They live, work, and pay taxes in the United States, but they cannot vote in federal elections or hold a U.S. passport.12USAGov. Who Can and Cannot Vote
One point of common confusion is worth flagging: holding a green card is not citizenship. Permanent residents are counted in the non-citizen 10 percent until they naturalize, even if they have lived in the country for decades. The same is true of people who hold dual nationality: someone who is a U.S. citizen and also a citizen of another country counts fully as a U.S. citizen in Census data, and federal law does not force a choice between the two.13U.S. Department of State. Dual Nationality