How America Has Changed Since the First Census in 1790

1870: The census in a post-Civil War America

• U.S. resident population: 38,558,371
• Number of official states: 37
• Median age of population: 20.2
• Immigrants obtaining legal resident status: 387,203
• Biggest cities: New York, NY (Population: 942,292), Philadelphia, PA (674,022), Brooklyn, NY (396,099)

Just five years after the end of the Civil War and the national emancipation of slaves, the 1870 Census was updated and the slave questionnaire was removed. Instead, the results provided an in-depth look at the African-American population.

Additionally, this was the first census that included nativity questions and recorded the origins of foreign-born residents, as well as the cities with the largest migrant populations.