The league consists of 16 active teams located in the Midwestern United States and Great Plains, for players between the ages of 16 and 21.

The USHL is strictly amateur, allowing former players to compete in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) college hockey.

The USHL is the country's top sanctioned junior hockey league, classified as Tier I.

Starting in 2018–19, non-American goaltenders will count as two import players in a move designed to give more development time to American goalies, who are also exempt from the overage rule.

Players live with local families, who receive a small stipend for food expenses, and either continue school or work part-time jobs.

[2] At the conclusion of the 2014–15 regular season, the USHL has tallied 251 alumni that have played in the NHL and has 347 current players with NCAA college commitments.

The second phase of the draft is open to all players eligible to play junior hockey who are not already protected by a USHL team.

The Rochester Mustangs were the only club to return for the fifth and final season of the American Amateur Hockey League in 1951–52.

Gone were the St. Paul 7-Up/Koppy's, Twin City Fords and the Minneapolis Jerseys, replaced by the St. Paul Saints, Hibbing Flyers, Minneapolis Millers, Eveleth Rangers and the first club based outside of the state of Minnesota, the Sioux City Iowa Sunhawks, which gave the league six clubs for 1951–52, its final season as the American Amateur Hockey League.

Those clubs were the Rochester Mustangs, St. Paul Saints, Minneapolis Millers, Hibbing Flyers and the now called Eveleth-Virginia Rangers.

[15] The USHL welcomed the first female professional hockey player in 1969–70, when the Marquette Iron Rangers signed Karen Koch.

In the summer of 1977, clubs from the recently folded Midwest Junior Hockey League contacted the USHL.

A unique merger was formed, with the three junior teams (Bloomington Junior Stars, Austin Mavericks, St. Paul Vulcans) and three remaining pro teams (Sioux City Musketeers, Waterloo Black Hawks, Green Bay Bobcats) gathered under the USHL banner.

The minor-pro wing of the league folded following the 1978–79 season, providing junior hockey operators with the opportunity to redefine the circuit.