The Federal Reserve publishes an annual report that includes information on what adults think of the US economy. And the latest data shows that Americans are generally feeling a little less positive than they did the year before.

• In 2025, 26% of American adults felt that the national economy was in good or excellent shape, down from 29% the year prior. In 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic, 50% of adults had “good” or better feelings.

• Meanwhile, 45% of adults rated their local economy as good or excellent in 2025, down slightly from 46% one year earlier. That’s another drop from 2019, when 63% of adults rated their local economy as good or excellent.
   

• Both sentiments were at their lowest in 2022, down to 18% for the national economy and 38% for local economies.
   

• Feelings regarding local economies in 2025 were mostly similar regardless of where people lived. Sentiment spanned from 41% of respondents reporting good/excellent in the West, to 44% in the South, to 46% in the Northeast, to 48% in the Midwest. Midwest sentiment was the same as last year, while the feelings in other regions were down 1 to 4 percentage points.
   

• In 2025, 46% of metropolitan respondents thought the economy was doing at least good (down 3 points from 2024). Thirty-seven percent of nonmetropolitan respondents said their economy was good or better, up 6 points.

How many visas does the US issue?

Travel and business are the top two reasons people get US visas. But people also arrive in the US for education, family, and safety, and there are visas for all these situations. We now have data on 83 visa types on our site, so here’s a look at who’s coming to America (on a visa).

• The US issued 11 million visas in fiscal year 2024, the most recent year for which data is available. Compare that with the average number of visas issued annually from 2013 (the first year of available data) to 2019: 9.68 million.
   

• The number of issued visas fell 68.0% from 8.7 million in 2019 to 2.8 million in 2021. By 2023, the number was back to 10.4 million, on par with pre-pandemic levels.
   

• Twenty-two percent of visas, the highest share issued in FY 2024, went to Mexican nationals, totaling 2.41 million recipients. The next-highest visa-holding groups were from India (1.37 million or 12.5%) and Brazil (1.17 million or 10.7%).
   

• Examples of work visas include the H-1B (specialty occupations) or H-2A (temporary agricultural workers). Tourism/business visas are for short-term travel, medical care, or business meetings. The most common is the B1/B2 visitor visa.
   

• Safety visas are for certain crime victims. The US did issue these in FY 2024, but at rates so low they don’t read on the chart above. For example, it issued 155 U-1 visas, which are for people who have agreed to cooperate with law enforcement after being victims of certain crimes that violated federal law or occurred in the US.
   

• Visas themselves don’t include permanent residency cards or applications for asylee or refugee status.

Crave government spending data, but find a 285-page PDF intimidating? We’ve created a ChatGPT-powered explorer so you can have a conversation with the 2026 USAFacts Government 10-K report instead of flipping through virtual pages. Just type a question in plain English to get started. (Note: Like any AI tool, it can make mistakes, so be sure to check your facts.)

Several states are in the process of mid-cycle redistricting for the House of Representatives. The Tennessee state legislature enacted a new congressional map, Virginia’s Supreme Court struck down a voter-approved map, and South Carolina’s state Senate just halted voting on altering districts. See House districts by party representation as of May 7.

Did you study for the weekly fact quiz?  

In 2024, airline pilots, copilots, and flight engineers had the highest annual median wages for occupations that typically require a bachelor’s degree. Their average wages were highest overall in Kentucky at $413,070 annually.

Chief executives in New Jersey had the highest average CEO wage: $465,040 a year.

Last week’s newsletter stated that World War II was the deadliest conflict for the US. The American Civil War actually had the most soldier deaths: 498,332. WWII had the highest number of soldiers who were killed or wounded.