The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-06-21
DENSITY OE POPULATION.
Some Figures Revealed by the Census..-.
Drift Toward the Cities.

Duluth News-Tribune
The density of the population of the
United States, past and present, is ex-
haustively considered in statistics re-
Gently given out by the census bureau.
In 1890, the year of the first census
the country had an area of 1927, S44
square miles The population was 4. 9
to the square mile. By natural increase
this arose to &C. in the census of 1900
In 1904 came the addition of 1899, 775
to our territory by the Louisiana pur-
chase, and greatly reduced the popula-
tion per square mile, which fell to 3. Z by
the census OF 1910. In 1910 the cession of
the Floridas by Spain and the extension
of the census to new and sparsely settled
territory could not prevent inhabitants
per square mile from rising to As in
1920, and in 1880 they stood at 6. f.
Ten years later this average had ad-
vanced to S.4, but in 1850 it dropped
back to 10 on account of the acquisi-
tion of vast territory from Mexico,
which increased our total to 2, $50, 500
square miles. The Gadsden purchase in
1858 increased the area to 3,025, 600
square miles, which constitutes the
present area of the country, exclusive
of the territories of Alaska and Hawaii.
The territorial changes since 1850 have
not been soficient to prevent con-
slant increase in the figures as to den
sity, and we find that the number of
inhabitants per square mile increased
from T. in 1860 to los in 1860, Is. 3
in 1870, 17.3 in 1880, 21.2 in 1890, and
% 6 in 1900.
Leaving out of account the District
of Columbia, which in effect COM
prises the city of Washington, the most
densely settled state in the Union is
Rhode Island, which in 1900 had 4O7
inhabitants to the square mile Massa-
chusetts comes second, with $40; New
Jersey, with little more than $50,
being third, and Connecticut. with
somewhat more than 1877, being fourth.
Only four other states had more than
100 inhabitants to the square mile,
namely, New York, with 1876 in
habitants; Pennsylvania, with 40. l !;
Maryland, with 1905, and Ohio, with
102 to the square mile. At the other
extreme are to be found such states
and territories as Idaho, with only
1.9 Inhabitants to the square mile
Montana, with II New Mexico, with
1.6; Arizona, With. 1; Wyoming. with
not quite one person to the square
mile; Nevada, with but four tenths of
one; and Alaska, with only tenth
of one. Hawaii, with an average of
not quite "a persons to the square mile,
is, it will be seen, not very far from
the average for the United States as
whole.
The drift of population to the cities
is shown to continue by the twelfth
census. The combined population of
municipalities amounts to 3s, $40, SIC,
which is forty-seven per cent of the
whole number of people in the coun-
try. Three cities, New York, Chicago
and Philadelphia, have more than
million inhabitants each. The state
of New York has the greatest percent
age of urban population, n per cent of
its people living..in incorporated towns
and villages The other extreme is
Mississippi, where only Is per cent of
the population lives in towns. In six
states besides New York more than
two-thirds of the population are in
habitants of incorporated places,
namely, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Massa-
chusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island
and Colorado.
If the drift to cities and towns keeps
on at the same rate, more than half
our people will be of urban character
in 1910.