Have you ever wondered about the origin of WordPress? In 2002, a blog software called b2\/cafelog was discontinued. This inspired users Mike Little and Matt Mullenweg to give new life to the code. They called their version WordPress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since then, it\u2019s become the most popular CMS in the world. WordPress powers all types of websites, ranging from personal blogs<\/a>, portfolios<\/a>, eCommerce<\/a> and news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to W3Techs, WordPress has grown an average of 2.96% each year<\/a> for the past decade. Despite being the world\u2019s most popular blogging platform and website builder<\/a>, WordPress is still increasing its dominant market share in the CMS market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each month, WordPress sites produce 70 million new posts and receive<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n U.S. English is the most widely used language on WordPress at 44.2%<\/a>, while Japanese and Spanish are a far second at 5.9% each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of the most popular brands that use WordPress include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress isn\u2019t just a great platform for bloggers. It\u2019s also used to create websites for educational institutions, government agencies, eCommerce, nonprofits and health care. Let\u2019s explore some of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 2021 report from eQAfy found that WordPress has a 40.8% market share<\/a> of U.S. higher education institution websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The study looked at December 2020 data from the National Center for Education Statistics\u2019 IPEDS database<\/a>, which contained 4,000 active institutions. From there, eQAfy was able to find the CMS of 3,359 websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress\u2019 dominance isn\u2019t limited to just the education sector. It led the pack among all types of institutions, sizes and year levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress also powers many government agency websites. These include The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Embassy websites for the UK, Australia, Japan and China. Plus, the most high-profile U.S. government website uses WordPress: WhiteHouse.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The White House\u2019s website switched from Drupal to WordPress in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Government agency websites have major requirements for security and scale \u2014 which WordPress can fulfill. WordPress\u2019 enterprise platform, WordPress VIP, has been awarded FedRAMP ATO status<\/a>. That means it meets the U.S. government\u2019s security standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did you know WordPress has a special theme designed specifically for government websites? It\u2019s called GovPress<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress\u2019 open source nature aligns with nonprofits. By making its code free and accessible to the public, WordPress gives organizations a low-cost way to build their own websites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress also supports nonprofit-specific functions such as fundraising and managing donations with plugins like Charitable<\/a> and GiveWP<\/a>. There are also hundreds of themes made for nonprofits, such as the Charity Foundation<\/a> and Act<\/a> themes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Check out some examples of nonprofit sites using WordPress<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress\u2019 Five for the Future<\/a> program asks companies to donate 5% of their resources to invest in WordPress\u2019 continued development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The WordPress community is an inclusive and diverse one. Its parent company, Automattic, has almost 2,000 employees<\/a> speaking 123 languages in 97 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Below are some of WordPress\u2019 community activities and initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordCamps<\/a> are WordPress\u2019 flagship events, organized by volunteers. These gatherings are nonprofit \u2014 speakers don’t get paid. Ticket prices are low and used to cover venue, food and other costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordCamps were born from WordPress meetups \u2014 small in-person gatherings between WordPress fans. Currently, WordPress\u2019 official account on Meetup<\/a> has over half a million members in 114 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Matt Mullenweg organized the first WordCamp in San Francisco in 2006. As of writing, there have been 1,151 <\/a>WordCamps<\/a> in 385 cities within 65 countries across six continents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you miss a WordCamp, you can:<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress is available in 208 locales<\/a>. There are language packs for 130 of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your locale is one of the 78 without a language pack, the Polyglots team<\/a> is probably translating WordPress in your language. You can join the Polyglots team<\/a> to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As of writing, 55 of these locales have translation projects that are more than 50% complete. 72 locales are less than 50% along the way and eight don’t have a WordPress project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress has been celebrating WordPress Translation Day<\/a> on Sept. 28 since 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The WordPress community is committed to making the internet as inclusive and accessible as possible for all users. This means any user\u2019s device or ability should have the chance to share or access content on WordPress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Accessibility Team<\/a> checks whether WordPress themes conform with WordPress\u2019 Accessibility Coding Standards<\/a>. Those standards mean all WordPress code must comply with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines<\/a> 2.1 at level AA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress has contributed heavily to the global and digital economy. Many people have gotten jobs, made a career and started businesses from the WordPress ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WP Engine<\/a>, Vanson Bourne<\/a> and the Institute of Management Studies (IMS) at Goldsmiths, University of London<\/a> did research to measure the impact of the WordPress economy. They found it was worth an estimated $596.7 billion in 2020 and projected to be worth $635.5 billion in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the WordPress economy was a company, it would rank seventh among the larg<\/a>est market caps in the world<\/a>. That\u2019s larger than Meta and Tesla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s look at how WordPress has impacted the digital economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Digital Acce collected data from Indeed and Glassdoor and found out what the most available and in-demand WordPress jobs<\/a> are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress software doesn\u2019t work on its own. To create a website<\/a>, you need web hosting<\/a>, domains, themes and plugins \u2014 all of which contribute to the WordPress economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress hosting<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n According to market share, the most popular WordPress website<\/a> hosts<\/a> are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some web hosting companies, such as Bluehost, offer hosting specifically for WordPress<\/a>. That\u2019s a specialized type of hosting that optimizes for a WordPress website\u2019s speed and security needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress hosting often comes with SSL certificates and a domain name, which other hosting providers might sell separately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you need web hosting, WordPress considers Bluehost one of its most trusted providers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress plugins<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress plugins add functionality to websites. You can choose from over 60,000 free and premium plugins in the WordPress plugin directory<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most popular WordPress plugins<\/a> of all time include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress themes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress themes are templates and stylesheets that define how the website will visually appear. There are more than 10,000 free themes available in the theme directory<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress\u2019 latest default theme is Twenty Twenty-Three<\/a>. It\u2019s block-based and works well with the platform\u2019s Full Site Editing<\/a> feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Users can also buy premium WordPress themes on marketplaces like ThemeForest<\/a>. Among the top one million websites, the most commonly-used themes<\/a> are Divi, Astra and Elementor\u2019s Hello. But the most popular WordPress theme of all time is Avada<\/a>, which has over 890,000 users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress is built on PHP and MySQL. It\u2019s licensed under the GPLv2, which means it\u2019s free to use and modify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n WordPress has advanced a lot since it started in 2003. Let\u2019s look at the evolution, security and updates of WordPress software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Security is crucial because WordPress sites process and store millions of people\u2019s data. It\u2019s generally a secure platform, but it\u2019s not without its share of security issues. Because it\u2019s the most widely-used CMS, it\u2019s also the most targeted for attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wordfence<\/a> estimates its plugin blocked 90 billion malicious WordPress login attempts<\/a> in 2020. That averages 2,800 attacks each second.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the best and simplest ways to keep WordPress secure is by regularly updating your plugins, themes and core.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two or three times a year, WordPress releases a major update named after a jazz musician. The latest version is WordPress 6.2<\/a>, called Dolphy, released in March 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As of writing, over 50% of <\/a>WordPress users<\/a> are using version 6.2. The remaining half have not yet updated their WordPress core.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around 3% of WordPress websites are still running WordPress 4.9 or earlier. That means they don\u2019t have access to the Gutenberg<\/a> block-based editor<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Want to stay in the loop about all things WordPress? Check out the Bluehost blog for monthly WordPress updates and news roundups<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gutenberg is a block-based web design editor first introduced in 2018, appearing on WordPress 5.0<\/a>. Since then, there have been 80.8 million active installations<\/a> and 281.8 million posts written \u2014 it\u2019s common that over 200 thousand posts are written daily using Gutenberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most popular Gutenberg block is the paragraph, used 56.5% of the time<\/a>. Here are the rest of the top 10 Gutenberg blocks used on WordPress:<\/p>\n\n\n\n WooCommerce<\/a> is a popular eCommerce plugin used to build over 3.9 million online stores<\/a>, including 23% of the top one million eCommerce sites<\/a>. It has a 38.74% market share<\/a> of leading eCommerce platforms and software worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the 2020 pandemic hit, the majority of small businesses had to shift to an online platform. Many were able to adapt, thanks to WordPress\u2019 and WooCommerce\u2019s ease of use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Mullenweg\u2019s 2020 State of the Word<\/a> address, WooCommerce facilitated $20 billion in sales that year alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These WordPress statistics show how impactful it\u2019s been over the last 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter what industry you\u2019re in, when you\u2019re looking to build a blog, portfolio, company website or eCommerce site, WordPress has you covered<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re ready to build your WordPress site, you\u2019ll need a reliable web hosting solution like Bluehost. With secure features, a variety of plans and a price you can\u2019t beat, you\u2019ll see why WordPress<\/a> highly recommends Bluehost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a>WordPress facts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/a>WordPress usage statistics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"WordPress](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/WordPress-usage-statictics-CMS-market-share.png\")
![\"WordPress](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/WordPress-usage-growth-2013-2023.png\")
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![\"Stats](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/WordPress-monthly-usage-stats.png\")
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Educational institutions using WordPress<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"WordPress](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/WordPress-market-share-higher-education.png\")
![\"WordPress](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/WordPress-top-CMS-among-higher-education.png\")
<\/a>Government agencies using WordPress<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/The-Whitehouse-website-using-WordPress.png\")
![\"GovPress](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/GovPress-WordPress-Theme.png\")
Nonprofits using WordPress<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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![\"CURE](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/CURE-International-WordPress-website.png\")
<\/a>WordPress community<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>WordCamps<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"WordPress\u2019](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/WordPress-official-Meetup-profile.png\")
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<\/a>WordPress translation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"WordPress](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/WordPress-Translation-Day.png\")
<\/a>Accessibility<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>WordPress economy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
WordPress job opportunities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Top](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Top-WordPress-job-opportunities.png\")
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Dev salaries<\/a> range from $24,000 to $150,000 (depending on experience level). WordPress development requires specialized skills in programming languages such as PHP, JavaScript<\/a>, HTML and CSS.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Content creators make up 21% of WordPress jobs<\/a> and earn an average salary of $51,000. If you want to be a WordPress content creator, brush up on skills such as writing, video editing and search engine optimization<\/a> (SEO).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
WordPress designers make up 8% of the platform\u2019s jobs<\/a> and have an average salary of $50,000. Their skill set isn’t as common as that of devs. Designers are more concerned with web design and user experience (UX).<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Support specialists comprise 4% of WordPress jobs<\/a> and their average salary is $47,000.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Project managers make up only 2% of WordPress jobs<\/a> but are among the highest paid at $68,000 per year because their skill set is rare. They need to know a bit about everything related to WordPress.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nWordPress ecosystem<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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![\"Market](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/web-hosting-companies-market-share.png\")
![\"Bluehost](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Bluehost-WordPress-most-trusted-hosting.png\")
![\"There](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/WordPress-plugin-directory.png\")
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![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/WordPress-theme-directory.png\")
![\"Themes](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/WordPress-Theme-Usage-Distribution.png\")
<\/a>WordPress software<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>WordPress security<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>WordPress core updates<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"WordPress](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/WordPress-Version-Update-Chart.png\")
Gutenberg facts and stats<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/most-popular-Gutenberg-blocks.png\")
WooCommerce facts and stats<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"WooCommerce](\"https:\/\/www.bluehost.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/WooCommerce-facts.png\")
<\/a>Final thoughts: WordPress statistics and facts that show its impact (2023)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n