Miss USA vs. Miss America: How to tell the difference between the two biggest pageants

Do you know the difference between Miss USA and Miss America?

They’re the two biggest pageants in the country, and both involve a sash and crown. But that’s where most of their similarities end.

From eligibility requirements and prize packages to swimsuit versus talent competitions, here are all the differences between Miss America and Miss USA.

How did the Miss America and Miss USA pageants begin?

Miss America predates Miss USA by 31 years. The first pageant — held in September 1921 — was part of a strategy to bring tourists to Atlantic City after Labor Day, according to the Miss America website. It was won by a 16-year-old named Margaret Gorman, who was competing as Miss Washington, DC.

The Miss America website states that the pageant also featured a “bathing beauty review,” which was an “act of rebellion during a time when women weren’t permitted to wear swimsuits in public.”

Miss USA began because of a very different act of rebellion. In 1951, the new Miss America winner, Yolande Betbeze, refused to pose for pictures in a swimsuit. Catalina, a swimwear company sponsoring the competition, was upset by her decision, so it decided to create its own pageants.

In 1952, Jackie Loughery was crowned the first Miss USA, and Armi Kuusela from Finland became the first Miss Universe. Nine American women have won Miss Universe since its inception — the most of any country.

What are Miss USA and Miss America’s different eligibility requirements?

To be eligible to compete in Miss America, contestants must be between the ages of 18 and 28. Women between 14 and 17 can compete in Miss America’s Teen, its sister pageant.

Miss America contestants cannot be married or have children. It’s a rule that past winners, including Grace Stanke and Camille Schrier, defended in interviews with Business Insider.

The Miss America pageant also previously had a strict “anti-boyfriend” rule. Madison Marsh, who won Miss America in January 2024, told Business Insider at the time that the policy had changed under CEO Robin Fleming.

“She has been saying it’s a new day at Miss America, and she really meant that,” Marsh said. “There are a lot of outdated rules that have gone away, one being that you can’t be engaged and be Miss America.”

Current Miss America Abbie Stockard told Business Insider in January that it was an “amazing” shift for the competition, and a “good way to boost recruitment.”

Miss USA has significantly changed its eligibility rules in the past two years. The pageant began allowing married women and mothers to compete in 2023, and 2024 was the first year that all women 18 and over were eligible (the previous cutoff age was 28). Women between 14 and 19 can compete at Miss Teen USA.

How are Miss USA and Miss America judged?

Miss USA contestants are judged on three rounds: swimsuit, evening gown, and interview.

All three rounds previously held equal weight in the contestants’ final scores. But under the leadership of Laylah Rose, who became president and CEO in 2023, the interview now makes up 50% of the total score, while the evening gown and swimsuit rounds are each 25%. Rose also decided to remove questions involving politics, sex, or religion from the interview round.

Unlike Miss USA, Miss America features a talent competition. It also has evening wear, interview, and fitness rounds. The pageant removed its swimsuit round in 2018, announcing that it would no longer judge contestants based on their “outward physical appearance.”

What are the different prizes for Miss America and Miss USA?

According to its website, Miss America was one of the first organizations in the country to offer college scholarships to women, which it began doing in 1945.

Instead of offering scholarships, the Miss USA Organization has typically paid the winner a salary for their yearlong reign. In past years, the prize package has included an apartment in New York or Los Angeles for their time as Miss USA.

Why are Miss USA and Miss America controversial?

The Miss USA and Miss America pageants have had their share of scandals throughout their long histories.

Sam Haskell ran the Miss America Organization for 12 years before he stepped down in 2017 after his vulgar and offensive internal emails about past Miss America winners were leaked to the press.

In the 2023 A&E docuseries “Secrets of Miss America,” Mallory Hagan, who won in 2013, said Haskell repeatedly spread false rumors about her sex life. Haskell said Hagan slept with more than 25 men in one of the emails, which were leaked to The Huffington Post.

Haskell resigned from the organization days after the emails were published. In a statement included in the docuseries, he said that much of what was reported was “dishonest, deceptive, and despicable” and “based on private emails that were stolen by ex-employees.”

Fox News host and Miss America 1989 Gretchen Carlson took over the pageant at the beginning of 2018, but her reign was short-lived. Carlson resigned in June 2019 after Cara Mund, who was Miss America at the time, spoke out against her leadership.

Trouble continued to brew for Miss America as the current CEO, Robin Fleming, found herself in a legal battle with Glenn F. Straub over who owns the pageant just weeks before the 2025 competition. The case remains ongoing, with a jury trial set to begin in March 2026.

Meanwhile, Miss USA made headlines in October 2022 when then-president Crystle Stewart was suspended after contestants said that year’s pageant had been rigged. The Miss Universe Organization, which oversees Miss USA, said it found no evidence of rigging during its investigation, though Stewart and the organization parted ways.

The pageant was back in the headlines after Miss USA Noelia Voigt and Miss Teen USA UmaSofia Srivastava gave up their crowns in May 2024. It was the first time in the pageant’s 72-year history that a woman had given up her title.

Both pageant queens said they could not share details publicly due to nondisclosure agreements, but their mothers, Jackeline Voigt and Barbara Srivastava, told Business Insider in an interview in May 2024 that their daughters experienced “eight months of torture and abuse” while working with Rose — allegations that Rose has denied.

After Voigt and Srivastava relinquished their titles, Miss Colorado Arianna Lemus resigned in solidarity, and Miss Teen USA first runner-up Stephanie Skinner refused to assume Srivastava’s title. Paula Miles and Kimberly Nicewonder — who both ran state pageants for the Miss USA organization for over three decades — also resigned in 2024 due to Rose’s leadership, as they told Business Insider.

After Voigt and Srivastava resigned, the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA 2024 pageants went on as usual. In their first joint interview together since their resignations, Voigt and Srivastava told Business Insider they hoped stepping down would send a message that they no longer believed in the Miss USA organization — but little seemed to change.

“We thought it would have more of an impact,” Srivastava said during the August 2025 interview. “It stopped a lot of girls from competing, but it didn’t fully put an end to what the issue was. We wish it had done more.”

Rose and representatives for Miss USA did not respond to requests for comment on the resignations and Voigt and Srivastava’s statements.

The Miss America 2025 pageant will take place in Orlando on September 7. The next Miss USA pageant has yet to be announced.

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