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US population over 13
Executive Summary
The claim "US population over 13" lacks a single, directly quoted figure in the provided materials; available government products require calculation from age-by-year tables. The supplied analyses point to recent Census outputs (population clock and age/sex estimates) that allow an estimate but do not present a precomputed "population over 13" number (p1_s1, [3], [1], [6]–[5], [6]–p3_s3).
1. What proponents actually asserted and what the sources say — a short audit
The central claim under scrutiny is a straightforward numerical assertion: the count of US residents older than 13. None of the supplied source notes contain a verbatim figure for "population over 13"; instead, authors point to Census products that provide totals and age distributions from which the metric must be derived. The US Population Clock gave a near-real-time total (342,770,156 on November 4, 2025) but did not break out the population by the "over 13" cutpoint [1]. Vintage and estimate tables labeled "Population by Age and Sex" and "Population Estimates by Age and Sex" cover single-year age cohorts and would produce an exact answer if summed for ages 14 and up, but the provided summaries stop short of performing that aggregation [2] [3] [4].
2. Why the data exists but is not presented as a ready-made answer
The US Census Bureau routinely publishes single-year-of-age estimates and QuickFacts summary percentages (under-18, under-5, 65+) that are designed for standard policy thresholds; a 14+ cut is nonstandard and therefore rarely given as a headline number. The analyses reference datasets that do include the necessary rows—single-year ages and vintage estimates as of mid-2023 and 2024—but the supplied excerpts and summaries do not include the computed sum for ages 14 and older [4] [3]. The population clock uses short-term projection methodology anchored to 2020 Census counts and is updated continuously, yet those projections are not disaggregated by custom cutpoints in the snapshot summaries [1].
3. A method to produce the number from cited Census products
To obtain a verifiable count for "population over 13," one must download the Census single-year-of-age tables (e.g., "Population Estimates by Age and Sex" or Vintage 2024 tables) and sum the population counts for ages 14 through the oldest cohort. The supplied analyses explicitly indicate that those tables exist and cover 2020–2024 vintage series and July 1, 2023 estimates, which are sufficient to compute an exact figure when accessed directly [3] [4]. The QuickFacts outputs offer complementary summary percentages useful for cross-checks but do not eliminate the need to aggregate single-year counts for a precise 14+ total [5].
4. What approximate estimates the summaries imply and their limits
One supplied analysis attempts an inference from QuickFacts: using 2024 total population approximations and under-18/under-5 percentages to estimate a share over 13 as roughly 83.7% of the population, producing a ballpark number when applied to a ~340 million baseline [5]. This approach relies on assumptions of uniform distribution across childhood age bands and coarse rounding; it yields a plausible approximation but is not equivalent to summing single-year cohorts. The analysis acknowledges uncertainty and the need for direct dataset aggregation to avoid bias in age-group shape, migration effects, and cohort-specific fertility changes that distort uniformity assumptions [5].
5. Contrasting sources and the most recent timestamps — what to trust
The most recent specific timestamps in the supplied analyses point to vintage estimates through 2024 and a population clock reading from November 4, 2025 [3] [1] [4]. The 2023 and 2022 “Age and Sex Composition” reports are useful background but are older and less precise for a current mid-2025 snapshot [6] [7]. The correct, authoritative pathway is to use the latest Census single-year age tables (Vintage 2024 or July 1, 2023 release depending on availability) and the population clock for context; the supplied materials consistently point to those official Census datasets as the primary sources [2] [3] [4].
6. Bottom line and recommended next steps to resolve the claim definitively
The claim cannot be affirmed or refuted from the summaries alone; the underlying Census tables cited in the materials contain the data needed to compute the exact "population over 13" figure. For a definitive answer, download the latest single-year-of-age population file from the Census (Vintage 2024 or the most recent release) and sum ages 14+. That computed total can then be cross-checked against the population clock and QuickFacts percentages to confirm consistency. The analyses included here provide the roadmap and highlight that the absence of a precomputed "over 13" headline is the reason for current ambiguity [3] [1] [4].