How America Has Changed Since the First Census in 1790

1930: The census and the Great Depression

• U.S. resident population: 123,202,624
• Number of official states: 48
• Median age of population: 29
• Immigrants obtaining legal resident status: 241,700
• Biggest cities: New York, NY (Population: 6,930,446), Chicago, IL (3,376,438), Philadelphia, PA (1,950,961)

The 1930 census reflected growing American consumerism: it was the first to ask a question about a consumer item, through inquiring whether respondents owned a “radio set.”

But this census also reflected concerns about economic turmoil, coinciding with the beginning of the Great Depression, through more detailed questions about respondents’ employment or lack thereof.

In fact, academics and statisticians were so intent on analyzing nationwide unemployment data, they pressured the Census Bureau into conducting a special unemployment census in January 1931.