How America Has Changed Since the First Census in 1790

1980: Advertising campaign seeks more robust response rates

•  U.S. resident population: 226,542,199
• Number of official states: 50
•  Median age of population: 30
• Immigrants obtaining legal resident status: 524,295
• Biggest cities: New York, NY (Population: 7,071,639), Chicago, IL (3,005,072), Los Angeles, CA (2,966,850)

A campaign in 1978 sought to increase public awareness and ensure more people filled out and returned their questionnaires. California became the first state to have a population of 20 million (that number today exceeds 39.5 million).