How America Has Changed Since the First Census in 1790

2000: Census takes to the internet

• U.S. resident population: 281,421,906
• Number of official states: 50
• Median age of population: 35.3
• Immigrants obtaining legal resident status: 841,002
• Biggest cities: New York, NY (Population: 8,008,278), Los Angeles, CA (3,694,820), Chicago, IL (2,896,016)

Respondents to the 2000 census were able to use the Internet to submit their answers to the short form, which was the shortest census questionnaire since 1820 at only seven questions.

Seventy thousand households took this option. The internet was also the main medium for dissembling 2000 census data: Tables could be purchased on CD-ROM and DVD or viewed through an online database called the American FactFinder, which is still the name of the census database today.