Civics question 21 of 128
How many U.S. senators are there?
Official answer
- One hundred (100)
Source: official USCIS question list for the 2025 version of the civics test. This site is independent and not affiliated with USCIS.
Background
There are one hundred U.S. senators, two from each of the fifty states. The number rises only when a new state joins, which last happened in 1959 with Alaska and Hawaii. Because representation in the Senate is equal rather than proportional, a state with under a million residents carries the same weight there as one with tens of millions, which is exactly what the small states insisted on in 1787. Senators were originally chosen by state legislatures; the Seventeenth Amendment moved to direct election by voters in 1913. Terms run six years and are staggered so that about a third of the seats are contested at each general election, which means the Senate never turns over all at once.
This background section is written by US Citizenship Test Practice to explain the civics fact. It is not part of the USCIS question list, and the official answer above is the one to give at the interview.
Where this question sits
It is part of System of Government, inside the American Government section of the test.
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