8 numbers to remember this 4th of July

As the United States celebrates its 236th birthday, here's a selection of numbers to give a little context to America's birthday:

313.9 million

America's population today. The U.S. population was about 2.5 million on the day it was founded, July 4, 1776.

$3.6 million

Dollar value of American flags imported into the U.S. in 2011 ($3.3 million worth of which came from China.)

$232.3 million

Dollar value of fireworks imported from China last year, far and away the largest source of fireworks used in the U.S.

$107.1 billion

Dollar value of trade between the U.S. and the United Kingdom last year. America's former colonial overlords are now the nation's sixth-largest trading partner.

31

U.S. towns that have the word "liberty" in their name. Another 35 have "eagle," 11 have "independence" in their place name, and nine contain the word "freedom". Patriot, Indiana is the only town in America with the word "patriot" in the title, and surprisingly, only five municipalities contain the word "America" in their name.

138

The popularity of the surname of America's first president, George Washington, among Americans born in the last census year. His successor John Adams has the 39th most popular last name, but Washington is far more prevalent than the names of his successors Thomas Jefferson (which came in at 594th) or James Monroe at 1,209.

1 in 3

Odds that a hot dog or pork sausage consumed on a barbecue in America today originated in Iowa. There is a 1 in 6 chance that a beef product such as a burger or steak came from Texas.

$22.07

The cost of ingredients for a typical barbecue this year, according to Bloomberg. The news agency recently calculated that the price tag for a basket containing lean ground beef, white bread, a packet of American cheese, a head of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, ice cream and potato chips increased 1.8 per cent over the past year.

Unless otherwise noted, the datacame from the U.S. census bureau and were compiled by BMO strategist Andrew Busch in a light-hearted research note this week.