5 Things You Should Know Today - July 4, 2011

Everybody's off today, so we thought we'd start your day with five facts you may not have known about the 4th of July, courtesy the U.S. Census Bureau:

1. U.S. Population: 1776

In July 1776, an estimated 2.5 million people lived in newly formed United States. Today's population: 311.7 million. My, how we've grown.

Source: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970

2. United States Flags

The U.S. imports $3.2 million worth of flags every year, the vast majority from China. We export $486,026 worth of American flags, mostly to Mexico.

Source: Foreign Trade Statistics

3. Hot Dog!

If you're eating pork hot dogs or sausages at a 4th of July cookout, they probably came from Iowa, home to 19.0 million hogs and pigs on March 1, 2011. That is one-fourth of the nation's estimated total.

Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service

4. What's in a name?

The name of our first president, George Washington, was the 138th most popular among names tabulated in the 2000 Census. Other early presidential names on the list: Adams (39th), Jefferson (594th), Madison (1,209th) and Monroe (567th).

Source: Census 2000 Genealogy

5. Patriot-ism

In all of these United States, only one place has “patriot” in its name: Patriot, IN, population 209.

Source: American FactFinder