America in the 2000s captured on camera

A new era

As implausible as it might seem to our sense of self, the new millennium actually started over a quarter of a century ago. For the United States, the end of 1999 brought with it enormous cultural and geopolitical change.

We’ve taken a look at the photo archives from this transformative decade and, in the process, pulled together 30 remarkable images that capture the sense of a nation finding its feet in the 21st century.

Scroll on to see the most fascinating photographs of the USA between 2000 and 2009… 

2000: New York welcomes the new millennium

New year celebrations in New York are always special, but being the start of a whole new millennium made this one feel extra significant.

Taken in the instantly recognizable Times Square district this image captures the beginning of a decade where, for this city in particular, things were about to change forever... 

2000: The Experience Music Project opens its doors

Founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen at the start of the millennium, the Experience Music Project (now known as the Museum of Pop Culture, or MoPOP for short) is a non-profit attraction in Seattle dedicated to contemporary popular culture.

The eye-catching building, which opened its doors in 2000, was designed by legendary architect Frank Gehry. 

2000: The Bush vs. Gore election stirs up controversy

Even by the United States’ standards, the presidential election of 2000 was a ludicrously close-run thing. Ultimately, it was the Republican George W. Bush who followed in his father’s footsteps and won the keys to the Oval Office.

But not before a recount in Florida – a Supreme Court decision – and fiery debates over voting systems, ballots, and democratic legitimacy had brought the process into the glare of global media coverage.

2001: The president learns his country is under attack

Taken on one of the darkest days in the history of the United States, this photograph of President George W. Bush being informed about the 9/11 terrorist attacks by his Chief of Staff Andrew Card speaks a thousand words.

The powerful image was captured during a school visit in Sarasota, Florida. 

2001: The iPod changes music forever

When Apple launched the first iPod on October 23, 2001, nobody could have known just what an enormous impact it would have on the music industry. Suddenly, fans could carry around all their favorite sounds by their favorite recording artists in their pocket.

Introduced to the world by Steve Jobs, the portable media player could store 1,000 songs.

2001: The Strokes become the kings of cool

When The Strokes came along at the start of the 21st century, guitar music was at something of a low point. With their effortless cool, and irresistible tracks like Last Night, the New York rock band fronted by Julian Casablancas kick-started a cultural revolution.

This photo of the five-piece was taken backstage at historic music venue the Fillmore in San Francisco. 

2002: Salt Lake City welcomes the world

Nothing stirs the soul quite like an opening ceremony for the Olympics. Captured in February 2002 at Rice-Eccles Stadium, this photo serves up an epic view of the event that kicked off the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

On an emotional and deeply symbolic evening for the US, eight American athletes displayed a tattered Stars and Stripes that had flown at the World Trade Center on 9/11. 

2002: U2 perform at the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl halftime show and stadium rock band U2 go together like burgers and French fries. This feeling in your gut stems from the sheer showmanship of the Irish group's frontman Bono, and the sense you get that performing on the biggest occasions is what he relishes the most.

Taking place at the Louisiana Superdome, the memorable gig saw Bono wear a "Stars and Stripes" lined jacket and pay tribute to victims of the 9/11 attacks. 

2002: The Towers of Light shine bright

Serving as a powerful reminder of the devastating 9/11 attacks, the Towers of Light memorial is seen here lighting up the skies of New York City a year on from that fateful morning.

Looking towards the iconic Manhattan skyline, the photo was taken from the Empire Fulton Ferry Landing.

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2003: Tampa Bay Buccaneers win their first Super Bowl

At the end of January 2003, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Oakland Raiders 48-21 to win their first-ever Super Bowl championship.

Pictured here, we can make out their coach, Jon Gruden, holding the iconic Lombardi Trophy in San Diego, California. 

2003: A summer blackout in New York City

In the sweltering August of 2003, 50 million people across the US and Canada suffered the effects of a colossal electricity grid failure. For residents of New York, the United States' largest city, and other major metropolitan areas, everyday life came to an abrupt standstill.

As this photo taken in Manhattan shows, the lights well and truly went out. 

2003: The Walt Disney Concert Hall opens in Los Angeles

Designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, the utterly unique Walt Disney Concert Hall is one of Tinseltown's most recognizable buildings.

This photo, captured in October 2023, shows the building being lit up by fireworks following a performance by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

2004: The Return of the King wins big at the Oscars

What began as four hobbits leaving The Shire on a quest to rid the world of evil ended in glorious victory at the 76th Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles, California.

Across a star-studded evening at the Kodak Theater in February 2004, the final leg of The Lord of the Rings trilogy won a remarkable 11 Oscars. Pictured here (central), we can see Peter Jackson, the saga's triumphant director.  

2004: The world says goodbye to Friends

They'd made us laugh. They'd made us cry. They'd taken us on a journey. Still widely accepted as the world's most loved sitcom, Friends came to an end in May 2004.

Pictured here, fans gather for a final episode showing at Universal City in Los Angeles, California. 

2004: The Curse of the Bambino comes to an end

Wherever you stand on baseball, there's no denying that the Curse of the Bambino is a remarkable tale. Ever since the storied Boston Red Sox had sold all-time great Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees, they'd somehow managed to go 86 years without winning a World Series.

They brought the mammoth drought to an end in glorious fashion at the home of the St. Louis Cardinals in Missouri in October 2004. 

2005: Tiger Woods wipes away tears at The Masters

Comfortably the most famous golfer in human history, Tiger Woods was no stranger to winning tournaments in his heyday.

Pictured here at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, we can see the American wiping away the tears after dedicating his fourth Masters victory to his father, Earl Woods. 

2005: The Live 8 concerts are heard around the world

Anyone who knows anything about music will tell you that it was the showmanship of Queen's inimitable frontman who lit up the original Live Aid, back in the summer of 1985. In 2005, 20 years on from that legendary performance, Live 8 was a series of concerts that took place across four continents on the same day in a bid to end extreme poverty in Africa.

Here we see Chester Bennington, the lead singer of nu metal band Linkin Park, working the crowd in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

2005: An Atlantic hurricane season like no other

In 2005, the Atlantic hurricane season had devastating consequences for coastal communities in the United States. This remarkable photo, taken in Key West, Florida, in July 2005, gives you a sense of how extreme the weather got.

It shows a man trying to carry his bicycle across a flooded street after the eye of Hurricane Dennis had passed west of the island. 

2006: Disney Pixar release Cars

What better location for the premiere of the Disney Pixar animated film Cars than Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina?

The popular petrolhead movie follows a prodigious anthropomorphic racer by the name of Lightning McQueen, voiced by Owen Wilson, as he learns some much-needed life lessons (and drives really, really fast). It's since inspired two sequels. 

2006: Borat causes a stir stateside

Anyone who's seen Sacha Baron Cohen's wild, controversial, and – at times – hilarious 2006 mockumentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan will know that it doesn't hold back.

The scene where the movie's protagonist sings a completely made-up national anthem for his country to the tune of The Star-Spangled Banner in front of an increasingly livid real-life rodeo crowd lives long in the memory.  

2006: A sense of renewal at Ground Zero

In the days after 9/11, it was difficult to imagine New York ever truly recovering from what had befallen it.

And while the pain of that day was, of course, still felt by the people who call the Big Apple home half a decade on, there's something vaguely hope-filled about this photo of the Ground Zero reconstruction site taken on a warm summer's day in 2006. 

2007: The final Harry Potter book goes on sale

Those of a certain age will tell you that, during the 2000s, their life was all about the adventures of Harry, Ron, and Hermione at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

This photo, taken at a Barnes & Noble bookshop in Baltimore, Maryland, shows a fan buying Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – the final book of JK Rowling's wildly popular series – from a member of staff dressed in Gryffindor robes. 

2007: San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds breaks the home run record

When San Francisco's Barry Bonds rounded the bases after hitting his 756th career home run, during the fifth inning of a game against the Washington Nationals, he broke a record that baseball fans of a certain vintage thought might be unbreakable.

His huge swing of the bat at the AT&T Stadium (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco put Bonds in first place on the Major League Baseball's list of all-time home run hitters. 

2007: Writers walk the picket line in Los Angeles

The writers, united, shall never be defeated. This was the message sent loudly and proudly during the 100-day writers' strike that ran from 2007 to 2008.

Here we see striking writers marching on the picket line outside Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, demanding fairer payment terms. 

2008: NASA continues its work in space

For Americans enthused about their country's work outside of Earth's atmosphere, there's nothing that brings up a swelling of pride like the sight of the Stars and Stripes on the arm of an astronaut mid-spacewalk.

Taken in February 2008, this photo captures Rex Walheim, crew member of the NASA STS-122 mission, carrying out tasks outside the International Space Station, roughly 250 miles above Earth's surface. 

2008: The Stock Market in the USA crashes

In September 2008, Americans witnessed the biggest one-day stock market drop in history.

This real-life scene of a stunned citizen watching the CNN coverage of the event and its economic fallout would have been repeated up and down the country.

2008: Barack Obama becomes the first Black president in US history

Just under half a century on from Martin Luther King’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington D.C, Barack Obama’s victory in the 2008 presidential election represented a landmark moment in the history of the United States.

His hope-filled campaign slogan “Yes We Can” galvanized his campaign against Republican senator John McCain, and helped take the 47-year-old Democrat to the highest office in the land.

2009: The celebrities take to Twitter

Now known as "X" and owned by the divisive Elon Musk, the world's richest man, the social media platform formerly known as "Twitter" is arguably unrecognizable these days.

Back in 2009, though, when celebrities were flocking to "tweet" out 140-character-limit messages to their followers, it was known for bringing famous folk and their fans together in a witty and community-focused way. 

2009: The Pittsburgh Pirates win the Stanley Cup

Trophies don't get much more enormous than the Stanley Cup, which is awarded annually to the NHL winners. In this photo, taken in September 2009, we see President Barack Obama attempting to lift the cup at a ceremony featuring the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Penguins had defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the best-of-seven series to be crowned champions.

2009: The "King of Pop" passes away

Despite the storm of controversy that swirled around his private life, there's no denying that the death of Michael Jackson (aka the "King of Pop") at the age of 50 was a news story that sent shockwaves around the world.

Occurring at the end of June 2009, fans everywhere mourned the passing of the moondancing singer-songwriter from Indiana. Here, flowers, tributes, and candles adorn Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. 

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