The State of the Union is an annual address presented before a joint session of Congress and held in the House of Representatives chamber at the U.S. Capitol. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the president to outline his legislative agenda and national priorities to the United States Congress. The report has occurred in January (except for the occasion of a new president's entrance into Office, whereupon he gives his first address in February) since 1934.

Sometimes, especially in recent years, newly inaugurated presidents have delivered speeches to joint sessions of Congress only weeks into their respective terms, but these are not officially considered State of the Union addresses. The address is most frequently used to outline the president's legislative proposals for the upcoming year.

Modeled after the monarch's Speech from the Throne during the State Opening of Parliament in the United Kingdom, such a report is required by the United States Constitution. While the Constitution requires such a report, it does not require that the report take the form of a speech, although virtually every president since Woodrow Wilson has made the State of the Union report in the form of a speech delivered personally before a joint session of Congress. By tradition, the President makes this report annually, even though the clause "from time to time" leaves the matter open to interpretation: