Roaring Up To July 4th Weekend With Factoids

The U.S. Census tracks important data for the federal government and use the data to distribute funding. Layers of local American government use the information for many other purposes too.

But computer slicing and dicing of the gathered census information can't help but reveal some fun facts.

For Independence Day, or July 4th (coming up this 3-day weekend) we learn that Missouri has the biggest cities in the U.S. with the words liberty and independence. The northern border state of Iowa is right behind.

5) Thirty-one places in the U.S. have "liberty" in their names. The most populous as of April 1, 2010:

• Liberty, MO (pop. 29,149) 
• Iowa has more places than any other state with the word liberty: 
• Libertyville
• New Liberty 
• North Liberty
• West Liberty.

4) Eleven places have "independence" in their names. The most populous:

• Independence, MO (pop. 116,830)

3) Nine places have "freedom" in their names. The most populous one:

• New Freedom, PA (pop. 4,464)

2) Five places have "America" in their names. The most populous:

• American Fork, Utah (pop. 26,263)

1) One place with "patriot" in the name.

• Patriot, IN (pop. 209)

Happy Independence Day to all you patriots in America who are thinking only of liberty and freedom!

Source:  American FactFinder www.census.gov