The Associated Press’ top photos of 2025 from the US
A resident of a senior center is rushed into a vehicle while evacuating as the Eaton Fire approaches, Jan. 7, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File)
Amid upheaval across the U.S. in 2025, Associated Press photographers captured images of heartache and hope, celebration and despair and flickering moments of wonder.
They took us inside the infernos that devastated Los Angeles and swept through a historic California Gold Rush town, and found a sliver of joy in the form of a solitary blue van amongst the ashes.
AP’s photographers documented the power of a towering wall of dust rolling across Arizona and the breathtaking sights within a springtime storm on the Oklahoma plains. They found beauty in a Florida freshwater spring threatened by climate change and in a seagull flying above the prison ruins on San Francisco’s notorious Alcatraz Island.
Their photographs put us in the heart of the nation’s debate over immigration — in courthouses where families struggled to stay intact and on city streets and freeways where protesters stood face to face with police in riot gear.
Images of military troops deployed to Washington showed how neighborhood life was being reshaped in the nation’s capital.
AP’s photographers laid bare the anguish after catastrophic flooding swept away campers and killed more than 130 people across Texas, and the grief following the collision of a jetliner and military helicopter that left 67 dead in the Potomac River.
Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani, left, greets supporters upon arriving to participate in a mayoral debate, Oct. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis, File)A young girl runs past crosses at a make-shift memorial honoring flood victims, July 13, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)President-elect Donald Trump dances with The Village People at a rally ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration, Jan. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)A giant dust storm approaches the Phoenix metro area as a monsoon storm pushes the dust into the air, Aug. 25, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY A flash bomb explodes on the 101 Freeway near the metropolitan detention center of downtown Los Angeles, June 8, 2025, following an immigration raid protest the night before. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)A woman from Peru signals through the barred and tinted windows of a bus after she was detained following an appearance at immigration court, June 23, 2025, in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)A child watches as officers with the Drug Enforcement Administration patrol along the National Mall, Aug. 13, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)The northern lights fill the sky behind the Saint Joseph the Woodworker Shrine, Nov. 11, 2025, near Valley Falls, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is placed under arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and FBI agents outside federal immigration court, June 17, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova, File)A plane takes off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport as Roberto Marquez of Dallas places flowers at a memorial of crosses he erected for the 67 victims of a midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines jet, Feb. 1, 2025, in Arlington, Va. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)A U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to the Carter detail places his hand on the hearse containing the casket of former President Jimmy Carter at Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Ga., Jan. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool, File)People react as they inspect an area outside sleeping quarters at Camp Mystic along the banks of the Guadalupe River after a flash flood swept through the area, July 6, 2025, in Hunt, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)People hold up signs during a memorial for conservative activist Charlie Kirk, Sept. 21, 2025, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)Protesters confront police on the 101 Freeway near the Metropolitan Detention Center of downtown Los Angeles, June 8, 2025, following an immigration raid protest the night before. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)A Volkswagen bus sits among burned out homes, Jan. 9, 2025, in Malibu, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)A protester is arrested by California Highway Patrol near the federal building in downtown Los Angeles, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)A man walks past a fire-ravaged business after the Eaton Fire swept through, Jan. 8, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope, File)A cart with a Target logo sits in the parking lot of a Target store in the early morning hours in La Habra, Calif., April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)Armed officers prepare to place handcuffs on a man from within an apartment complex, Aug. 19, 2025, in the Petworth neighborhood of northwest Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)A family swims in Royal Spring, July 15, 2025, in Suwanne County, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File)Miguel Laboy smokes cannabis, Oct. 3, 2025, in Brookline, Mass. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Aug. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)A bird flies above Alcatraz Island, May 4, 2025, in the San Francisco Bay, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)A supporter for independent mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo watches election night returns during a watch party for Cuomo, Nov. 4, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Heather Khalifa, File)Guests mingle as the Liberty Ball gets underway before President Donald Trump arrives, during the 60th Presidential Inauguration, Jan. 20, 2025, at the Washington Convention Center in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)Former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., departs Manhattan federal court after his sentencing on a bribery conviction, Jan. 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)The Project ICECHIP command vehicle drives toward an approaching rainstorm with a rain shaft during an operation, June 3, 2025, near Tipton, Okla. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)Federal agents detain Carlos Javier Lopez Benitez, center, from Paraguay as they pull away his American sister, left, outside immigration court at the Jacob K. Javits federal building, July 16, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)Residents work to stop flames from a burning home from spreading to a neighboring house as the 6-5 Fire burns through the Chinese Camp community of Tuolumne County, Calif., Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
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