1790 United States census

The **United States Census of 1790** was the first United States Census.  It recorded the population of the United States as of August 2, 1790. In the First Census, the population of the United States was 3,929,214.

Data was collected from all thirteen states (Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia), and districts and territories that would become Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maine.

## Reaction

Both Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and President George Washington didn't fully believe in the results. They believed that there were more people in the United States than what the census said. A reason why there may be more people would be because of the people living farther apart, bad roads that would go to where people may live, limited technology, and people simply not giving any information.

## Loss of information

The records for many states were lost sometime between 1790 and 1830. Almost one third of the original census data have been lost or destroyed since the original census.  These include some 1790 data from: Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont. The data can still be proven in many secondary sources about the first census.

## Data

Census data included the name of the head of the family. They put people into these categories: free white males at least 16 years old (to figure out the country's industrial and military potential), free white males under 16 years old, free white females, all other free persons (reported by sex and color), and slaves. The Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson told marshals to get data from all thirteen states (Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia), and from the Southwest Territory.

17.8% of the people were slaves. This is the highest percentage of slaves in any American census.

|State|Free white males of 16 years and upward, including heads of families|Free white males under 16 years|Free white females, including heads of families|All other free persons|data-sort-type="number"|Slaves|data-sort-type="number"|Enslaved % of state population|data-sort-type="number"|Total|data-sort-type="number"|% of US population|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Vermont||22,435||22,328||40,505||255||16||0.02%||85,539||2.2%|
|New Hampshire|36,086|34,851|70,160|630|158|0.1%|141,885|3.6%|||||||||
|Maine|24,384|24,748|46,870|538|0|0.0%|96,540|2.5%|||||||||
|Massachusetts|95,453|87,289|190,582|5,463|0|0.0%|378,787|9.7%|||||||||
|Rhode Island|16,019|15,799|32,652|3,407|948|1.4%|68,825|1.5%|||||||||
|Connecticut|60,523|54,403|117,448|2,808|2,764|1.2%|237,946|6.1%|||||||||
|New York|83,700|78,122|152,320|4,654|21,324|6.3%|340,120|8.7%|||||||||
|New Jersey|45,251|41,416|83,287|2,762|11,423|6.2%|184,139|4.7%|||||||||
|Pennsylvania|110,788|106,948|206,363|6,537|3,737|0.9%|434,373|11.2%|||||||||
|Delaware|11,783|12,143|22,384|3,899|8,887|15.0%|59,094|1.5%|||||||||
|Maryland|55,915|51,339|101,395|8,043|103,036|32.2%|319,728|8.2%|||||||||
|Virginia|110,936|116,135|215,046|12,866|292,627|39.1%|747,610|19.2%|||||||||
|Kentucky|15,154|17,057|28,922|114|12,430|16.9%|73,677|1.9%|||||||||
|North Carolina|69,988|77,506|140,710|4,975|100,572|25.5%|393,751|10.1%|||||||||
|South Carolina|35,576|37,722|66,880|1,801|107,094|43.0%|249,073|6.4%|||||||||
|Georgia|13,103|14,044|25,739|398|29,264|35.5%|82,548|2.1%|||||||||
|**Total**|807,094|791,850|1,541,263|59,150|694,280|17.8%|3,893,635|99.9%|||||||||

## City rankings

|Rank|City|State|Population|Region (2016)|Population (2010)|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|01|New York|New York|33,131|Northeast|1,585,873 [Manhattan only]|
|02|Philadelphia|Pennsylvania|28,522|Northeast|1,526,006|
|03|Boston|Massachusetts|18,320|Northeast|617,594|
|04|Charleston|South Carolina|16,359|South|120,083|
|05|Baltimore|Maryland|13,503|South|620,961|
|06|Northern Liberties|Pennsylvania|9,913|Northeast|N/A|
|07|Salem|Massachusetts|7,921|Northeast|41,340|
|08|Newport|Rhode Island|6,716|Northeast|24,672|
|09|Providence|Rhode Island|6,380|Northeast|178,042|
|10|Marblehead|Massachusetts|5,661|Northeast|19,808|
|11|Southwark|Pennsylvania|5,661|Northeast|N/A|
|12|Gloucester|Massachusetts|5,317|Northeast|28,789|
|13|Newburyport|Massachusetts|4,837|Northeast|17,416|
|14|Portsmouth|New Hampshire|4,720|Northeast|21,233|
|15|Sherburne|Massachusetts|4,555|Northeast|10,172|
|16|Middleborough|Massachusetts|4,526|Northeast|23,116|
|17|New Haven|Connecticut|4,487|Northeast|129,779|
|18|Taunton|Massachusetts|3,804|Northeast|55,874|
|19|Richmond|Virginia|3,761|South|204,214|
|20|Albany|New York|3,498|Northeast|97,856|
|21|New Bedford|Massachusetts|3,313|Northeast|95,072|
|22|Beverly|Massachusetts|3,290|Northeast|39,502|
|23|Plymouth|Massachusetts|2,995|Northeast|56,468|
|24|Norfolk|Virginia|2,959|South|242,803|
|25|Rochester|New Hampshire|2,857|Northeast|29,752|
|26|Petersburg|Virginia|2,828|South|32,420|
|27|Alexandria|Virginia|2,748|South|139,966|
|28|Hartford|Connecticut|2,683|Northeast|124,775|
|29|Londonderry|New Hampshire|2,622|Northeast|24,129|
|30|Gilmanton|New Hampshire|2,613|Northeast|3,777|
|31|Hudson|New York|2,584|Northeast|6,713|

## Infobox (census)

- **name**: 1790 United States Census
- **logo**: Seal of the United States Census Bureau.svg
- **logo caption**: Seal of the United States Census Bureau
- **image**: 1790a-01-page-001.jpg
- **image caption**: Title page of 1790 United States Census
- **country**: United States
- **population**: 3,893,635
- **region type**: state
- **most populous**: Virginia
747,610
- **least populous**: Delaware
59,094
- **next census**: 1800 United States Census
- **next year**: 1800