The 117th U.Due south. Congress took function 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 seven charts that prove how the demographic profile of Congress has changed over time, using historical data from CQ Roll Call, the Congressional Inquiry Service and other sources.

To decide the demographics of the 117th Congress, nosotros pulled data from recently published Pew Inquiry Center analyses and other earlier work. Because not all members of the 117th Congress were seated on Jan. 3, 2021, and because some then-filled seats are now 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 equally of March 3. Information is drawn from the U.S. Congress Biographical Directory and, when relevant, other official biographies and news reports.

All data points reverberate simply 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 e'er. Overall, 124 lawmakers identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American – making upward 23% of Congress, including 26% of the House of Representatives and 11% of the Senate. By comparing, when the 79th Congress took office in 1945, not-White lawmakers represented only 1% of the Firm and Senate.

Despite this growing racial and ethnic diversity, Congress remains less diverse than the nation every bit a whole: Non-Hispanic White Americans account for 77% of voting members in the new Congress, considerably more than their 60% 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 best loftier.About a century after Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the showtime woman elected to Congress, there are 144 women in the national legislature, accounting for a record 27% of all members across both chambers. (This includes half-dozen nonvoting House members who represent the District of Columbia and U.South. territories, four of whom are women.)

A record 120 women are currently serving in the House, accounting for 27% of the bedroom's total. There are 24 women in the Senate, one fewer than the record number of seats they held in the last Congress. In 4 states – Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire and Washington – both senators are women, downwardly from six states in the previous Senate.

The Business firm has seen slow merely steady growth in the number of women members since the 1920s. Growth in the Senate has been slower: The Senate did not have more than three women serving at any bespeak until the 102nd Congress, which began in 1991. And the share of women in Congress remains far below their share in the state 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 Firm members, or 31 lawmakers, are Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996), up from 1% in the 115th Congress. A third of Business firm lawmakers, or 144 members, are Gen X (built-in from 1965 to 1980), up from 27% two Congresses before.

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

This year saw the swearing-in of the showtime Millennial senator: Democrat Jon Ossoff of Georgia. The number of Gen 10 senators has gradually ticked upward from 16 in the 115th Congress to 20 this year.

While younger generations have increased their representation in Congress in contempo years, older generations notwithstanding business relationship for the majority of lawmakers across both chambers. Baby Boomers (born betwixt 1946 and 1964) make up 53% of the Business firm's voting membership, in addition to 68 of the 100 senators.

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

The share of immigrants in Congress has ticked up but remains well below historical highs.There are eighteen foreign-born lawmakers in the 117th Congress, including 17 in the House and but 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 college than the share in other recent Congresses just below the shares in much earlier Congresses. In the 50th Congress of 1887-89, for example, 8% of members were born away. The current share of foreign-built-in lawmakers in Congress is likewise far below the strange-born share of the U.S. as a whole, which was thirteen.6% as of 2019.

While the number of strange-built-in lawmakers in the current Congress is pocket-size, more members have at least i parent who was built-in in another country. Together, immigrants and the children of immigrants account for at to the lowest degree xiv% of the new Congress, a slightly higher share than in the final Congress (xiii%).

Far fewer members of Congress now take direct military experience than in the past. In the electric current Congress, 91 members served in the military at some betoken in their lives – the everyman number since at least World War Ii, 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 military.

Fewer veterans in Congress

While the number and share of veterans in Congress overall take decreased, the newly elected freshman form includes 15 such lawmakers.

Looking at the longer term, there has been a dramatic subtract in members of Congress with military machine 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 armed services experience peaked at 75% in 1967 for the House and at 81% in 1975 for the Senate.

While relatively few members of Congress today have armed services experience, an even smaller share of Americans exercise. In 2018, about 7% of U.South. adults had military experience, down from 18% in 1980, not long after the terminate of the armed forces draft era.

Almost every member of Congress now holds a college degree

The vast majority of members of Congress take college degrees. The share of representatives and senators with a college degree has steadily increased over time. In the 117th Congress, 94% of Firm members and all senators have a bachelor's degree or more education. Two-thirds of representatives and 3-quarters of senators have at least i graduate caste, too. In the 79th Congress (1945-47), by comparing, 56% of Business firm members and 75% of senators had bachelor's degrees.

The educational attainment of Congress far outpaces that of the overall U.South. population. In 2019, around a third (36%) of American adults ages 25 and older said they had completed a available's caste or more than education, according to U.S. Census Agency data.

Congress has become slightly more religiously diverse over time.The current Congress includes the first two Muslim women ever to serve in the Firm and has the fewest Christians (468) in 12 Congresses analyzed by Pew Research Middle dating back to 1961. Despite this decline, Christians are still overrepresented in Congress in proportion to their share of the public: Virtually nine-in-x 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.South. population. While 26% of Americans say they are atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular," just 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. 2, 2017.