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

Autonomously from its political makeup, the new Congress differs from prior ones in other ways, including its demographics. Here are seven charts that show how the demographic profile of Congress has changed over time, using historical data from CQ Roll Call, the Congressional Research Service and other sources.

To determine the demographics of the 117th Congress, we pulled information from recently published Pew Research Center analyses and other earlier piece of work. Because not all members of the 117th Congress were seated on Jan. 3, 2021, and because some then-filled seats are at present empty or changed hands since that fourth dimension, previously published data comes from several dates. For more than data on the methodology of previously published posts, please visit the original links, which are in the text of this post.

Information on the educational attainment of members of Congress includes the 532 voting members of the legislature as of March three. Data is drawn from the U.S. Congress Biographical Directory and, when relevant, other official biographies and news reports.

All data points reflect 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 various ever. Overall, 124 lawmakers identify equally Blackness, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American – making up 23% of Congress, including 26% of the House 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 diverse than the nation as a whole: Non-Hispanic White Americans account for 77% of voting members in the new Congress, considerably more than their threescore% share of the U.Due south. 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-fourth dimension high.About a century after Republican Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first 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 six nonvoting House members who represent the District of Columbia and U.South. territories, four of whom are women.)

A tape 120 women are currently serving in the Firm, accounting for 27% of the bedchamber's full. At that place 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, downwardly 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 not accept more iii women serving at any point until the 102nd Congress, which began in 1991. And the share of women in Congress remains far below their share in the land every bit 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 House lawmakers, or 144 members, are Gen X (born from 1965 to 1980), upward from 27% ii Congresses earlier.

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

This yr saw the swearing-in of the outset Millennial senator: Democrat Jon Ossoff of Georgia. The number of Gen X senators has gradually ticked up from 16 in the 115th Congress to xx this year.

While younger generations have increased their representation in Congress in recent years, older generations still account for the majority of lawmakers across both chambers. Infant Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) make upward 53% of the House's 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 ten%, or 42 members, at the showtime of the 115th Congress to vi%, or 27 members, in the current Congress.

The share of immigrants in Congress has ticked up merely remains well beneath historical highs.There are xviii foreign-born lawmakers in the 117th Congress, including 17 in the House and just 1 in the Senate: Mazie Hirono, a Hawaii Democrat who was born in Japan.

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 merely beneath the shares in much earlier Congresses. In the 50th Congress of 1887-89, for instance, 8% of members were born away. The current share of foreign-built-in lawmakers in Congress is besides far below the strange-born share of the U.S. every bit a whole, which was thirteen.6% as of 2019.

While the number of strange-born lawmakers in the electric current Congress is small, more members take at least one parent who was built-in in another country. Together, immigrants and the children of immigrants account for at to the lowest degree fourteen% of the new Congress, a slightly higher share than in the last Congress (13%).

Far fewer members of Congress now have direct military experience than in the by. In the current Congress, 91 members served in the military at some point in their lives – the lowest number since at to the lowest degree World State of war Two, according to Military Times. There are more than than twice as many Republican veterans (63) in the new Congress as Democrats (28). Equal shares of senators and representatives (17%) accept served in the military machine.

Fewer veterans in Congress

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

Looking at the longer term, in that location has been a dramatic subtract in members of Congress with military experience since the late 20th century. Between 1965 and 1975, at least seventy% of lawmakers in each legislative bedchamber had military experience. The share of members with war machine 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 military experience, an even smaller share of Americans do. In 2018, about seven% of U.South. adults had military experience, downwardly from 18% in 1980, not long later the end of the war machine 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 caste has steadily increased over time. In the 117th Congress, 94% of House members and all senators have a available'south degree or more than education. Two-thirds of representatives and iii-quarters of senators have at to the lowest degree i graduate caste, too. In the 79th Congress (1945-47), by comparing, 56% of Business firm members and 75% of senators had available's degrees.

The educational attainment of Congress far outpaces that of the overall U.S. population. In 2019, around a third (36%) of American adults ages 25 and older said they had completed a bachelor'southward degree or more education, according to U.Due south. Demography Bureau data.

Congress has become slightly more religiously diverse over time.The 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 Heart dating back to 1961. Despite this turn down, Christians are still overrepresented in Congress in proportion to their share of the public: Nearly nine-in-ten congressional members are Christian (88%), compared with 65% of U.South. adults overall.

Past dissimilarity, religious "nones" are underrepresented in Congress in comparison with the U.S. population. While 26% of Americans say they are atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular," merely 1 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 mail service originally published on Feb. 2, 2017.