America's Population

America's Population Growth

On this page I will have population totals per census year for each state then totaled for all states per census. And Each census will have a link to a map showing the state boundaries and population totals (for those of you who like seeing rather than reading).

Depending on what web site you visit, or what library you frequent, or what books you have, you will soon discover that census data differs between them, sometimes drastically. The site I got this information from is the University of Virginia, Geospatial and Statistical Data Center (link at the end of this article). It's an amazing web site. You can also create maps based on many variables, like age, employment, farming, dwellings, race, sex, education and many more.

The whole point I wish to make on this page is that genealogy research is not wading through a few documents to find Ma and Pa Kettle. It is using innumerable documents, web sites, libraries, you name it, all in hopes of reconstructing what never should have been forgotten.

European immigration to America/USA started a few decades after Columbus' discovery in 1492, and was mainly composed of Spaniards. And of course, our census data starts in 1790, but the first cities to be founded were Pensacola, FL in 1559 by the Spaniards, Fort Caroline in 1564 by the French, and St Agustine, FL by the Spaniards in 1565. Even further out west, in the Rio Grande valley, Spaniards founded Santa Fe, NM in 1607-1608 and Albuquerque, NM in 1706. Okay, that brings us 84 years shy of the first census still.

But what we do know is from pre-1492 to 1790 the population for America was . . . are you ready for this? The population was nearly FOUR million. The Southern Colonies were mainly dominated by the wealthy slave-owning planters in Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina who owned massive estates that were worked by African slaves. Of the 650,000 inhabitants in the South in 1750, about 250,000 or 40 percent, were slaves. And keep in mind, that the first 20 slaves were brought in by the Dutch in 1619, to Jamestown, VA. But this article isn't about slavery.

And we've heard so many times about what immigrants came to what areas, but did you know that in 1728 the first Jewish Colonists in New York, built the first American Synagogue? It seems to me that the hate mongers in America are far more ignorant than most people realize. After all, there were Blacks and Jews in America probably before most people would imagine. For example, my Norwegian family (my grandma) came from Norway in 1870. That means that slaves were here 251 years before my family, and the Jews were here 142 years before us. Wow. That means they are more American that I am, if you want to look at it that way. So, I can't help but always wonder when America is going to realize that we are a land of immigrants, and emigrants, and what's going on right now with the Mexican situation is nothing more than what's been going on since day one.

Back to population. The first time I was really affected by America's wars was when I lived in Annapolis, MD. I remember my disbelief when I read that there were 3,213,363 soldiers in the Civil War. I thought WHAT? Back in 1860? For some reason I didn't think there were that many able bodied men (and some sneaky women) in the USA back then. If you scroll down to 1860 you will see that the population for America was 31,183,744. That really puts it into perspective for me.

I won't ramble on. Just please, scroll down and take a look at the figures. I hope they impress you as well as amaze you. And if you have time, I have made fast loading maps for each census period so you can see the numbers graphically.

I am only providing census data and maps from 1790 through 1930, because 1930 is as far as census data is publicly available.

1790 Population

Connecticut 59,096
Delaware 59,096
Georgia 82,548
Kentucky (Territory) 73,677
Maine (Territory) 96,643
Maryland 319,728
Massachusetts 378,556
New Hampshire 141,899
New Jersey 184,139
New York 340,241
North Carolina 395,005
Pennsylvania 433,611
Rhode Island 69,112
South Carolina 249,073
Vermont (Territory) 85,341
Virginia 747,550
Total— 3,715,315