YouTube Is Used by 84% of US Adults, More Than Any Other Platform

Key social media usage stats

Here are the numbers at a glance:

• 84% of US adults use YouTube (Pew Research Center)
• 71% use Facebook (Pew Research Center)
• 50% use Instagram, up from 40% in 2021 (Pew Research Center)
• 37% use TikTok, up from 21% in 2021 (Pew Research Center)
• 21% use X, 8% use Threads and 4% use Bluesky (Pew Research Center)

Let's break them down.

The platforms US adults use

Here's each platform Pew asked about, and the share of US adults who use it:

Source: Pew Research Center, Americans' Social Media Use 2025.

YouTube and Facebook are the only platforms most Americans use. Instagram reaches half.

Which platforms are growing

Four platforms grew since 2021, while YouTube and Facebook held steady:

Source: Pew Research Center.

The youngest adults lead the shift: 8 in 10 adults aged 18 to 29 use Instagram.

Where creators show up instead

The creators in my creator directory live somewhere else. It's a list I curate, mostly creators in business, marketing and AI.

Here's how they compare with all US adults:

Source: Pew Research Center, and my creator directory (359 creators), counted 2026-09-29.

X is used by 21% of US adults but 76% of these creators. TikTok is the reverse: 37% of adults, 18% of these creators.

82% of them are also on LinkedIn, which isn't in Pew's 2025 survey.

How to use these numbers

When you pick where to build:

• Go where your audience is, not where other creators are
• Treat YouTube as the widest reach, with 84% of US adults
• Test TikTok and Instagram if your audience is under 30
• Keep a profile on X and LinkedIn if you sell to other professionals

The biggest audience and the busiest creator crowd aren't in the same place.