What Was the Population of the U.S. Throughout Its History?

The population of the United States has continued to increase since independence. A census has been conducted at the beginning of each decade since 1790. The numbers are acquired in a variety of ways including door-to-door polling, but the Census Bureau never has counted every individual. In addition to general population information, the Census Bureau also collects other data ranging from ethnicity to income to housing.
U.S. population growth is attributable to a positive difference between immigration and emigration (net international migration) and to the birth rate exceeding the death rate (natural increase). Over half of recent increases are due to natural increase.
The Census Bureau also provides projections for the future, but these are highly speculative. We have shown their 'middle estimates' extending to 2100.
year | population | |
2100 | 570,954,000 | ![]() |
2090 | 533,605,000 | ![]() |
2080 | 497,830,000 | ![]() |
2070 | 463,639,000 | ![]() |
2060 | 432,011,000 | ![]() |
2050 | 403,687,000 | ![]() |
2040 | 377,350,000 | ![]() |
2030 | 351,071,000 | ![]() |
2020 | 324,928,000 | ![]() |
2010 | 299,862,000 | ![]() |
2000 | 281,422,000 | ![]() |
1990 | 248,710,000 | ![]() |
1980 | 226,542,000 | ![]() |
1970 | 203,302,000 | ![]() |
1960 | 179,323,000 | ![]() |
1950 | 151,325,000 | ![]() |
1940 | 132,164,000 | ![]() |
1930 | 123,203,000 | ![]() |
1920 | 106,022,000 | ![]() |
1910 | 92,228,000 | ![]() |
1900 | 76,212,000 | ![]() |
1890 | 62,980,000 | ![]() |
1880 | 50,189,000 | ![]() |
1870 | 38,558,000 | ![]() |
1860 | 31,443,000 | ![]() |
1850 | 23,192,000 | ![]() |
1840 | 17,069,000 | ![]() |
1830 | 12,866,000 | ![]() |
1820 | 9,638,000 | ![]() |
1810 | 7,240,000 | ![]() |
1800 | 5,308,000 | ![]() |
1790 | 3,929,000 | ![]() |
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Discussion Comments
I'm pretty sure your future population is incorrect because a lot of immigrants come in every year and a lot of babies are being born nowadays. I'm only 15, but i know for a fact that your data is incorrect.
I can't believe these numbers. 2010 is way-off. What is your logic?
The population from the 1800's on can be expressed roughly as.
3rd degree Polynomial Fit:
Population =a+bx+cx^2+dx^3
Where x = the year
Coefficient Data:
a = 5.0147136e+010
b = -69931767
c = 31278.694
d = -4.3908914
What was average number of children per family in early 1800's?
LAH
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