Who is on Twitter (“X”)? Identifying demographic of Twitter users

Twitter (currently known as “X”) has become a prominent platform for public discourse and opinion sharing. However, it is unclear how representative Twitter users are of the broader U.S. population. Here, we analyze a unique large dataset of roughly 300 million minimally politically active Twitter users to infer demographic characteristics including gender, age, political affiliation, and location. We compared these inferred demographics to the U.S. census data. Results indicate that Twitter users are disproportionately younger, more Democratic, and more male compared to the general population. Additionally, Twitter users overrepresent individuals from the South and West census regions. Our results have important implications for researchers, marketers, policymakers and others seeking to understand trends and activity on Twitter, and how they relate to the general US population.