how many people watched the state of the union

About 32 million people watched the most recent State of the Union–style address on U.S. television, depending on which year and president you mean.

Quick Scoop

• For President Joe Biden’s 2024 State of the Union, Nielsen estimated about 32.2 million TV viewers across 14 U.S. networks.

• That was up from roughly 27.3 million viewers for his 2023 address.

• Biden’s most-watched address so far was about 38.2 million viewers in 2022.

• In March 2025, President Donald Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress (functionally filling the same prime-time slot) drew about 36.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

• These figures are TV-only ; total reach is higher when you add YouTube, news apps, and other livestreams, but those online numbers are not consistently tracked by an independent auditor.

Who was watching?

• The 2024 State of the Union skewed older: roughly three‑quarters of the audience was 55+, under one‑fifth was 35–54, and only a small slice was 18–34.

• Around 56% watched on broadcast (CBS, NBC, PBS, etc.), while 44% watched on cable news channels.

Trend snapshot

Across recent years, audiences have bounced in a band from the high‑20‑millions to the high‑30‑millions on TV:

• 2022: about 38.2 million viewers (Biden).

• 2023: about 27.3 million viewers (Biden).

• 2024: about 32.2 million viewers (Biden).

• 2025: about 36.6 million viewers (Trump joint address).

So if you’re asking “how many people watched the State of the Union,” the best current ballpark for the latest big address is roughly mid‑30‑million TV viewers, plus uncounted millions more streaming online.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.