How America Has Changed Since the First Census in 1790

1880: Women become enumerators

• U.S. resident population: 50,189,209
• Number of official states: 38
• Median age of population: 22
• Immigrants obtaining legal resident status: 457,257
• Biggest cities: New York, NY (Population: 1,206,299), Philadelphia, PA (847,170), Brooklyn, NY (566,663)

1880 marks the first census in which women were able to serve as enumerators (those gathering data on behalf of the U.S. Census Bureau).

Five categories on that year’s census were “Agriculture,” “Manufacturing,” “Mortality,” “Population,” and “Social Statistics.”