The 1880 United States census, conducted by the Census Office during June 1880, was the tenth

United States census The United States census (plural censuses or census) is a census that is legally mandated by the Constitution of the United States. It takes place every ten years. The first census after the American Revolution was taken in 1790 United States ce ...

.1880 Census: Instructions to Enumerators
from

IPUMS IPUMS, originally the ''Integrated Public Use Microdata Series'', is the world's largest individual-level population database. IPUMS consists of microdata samples from United States ''(IPUMS-USA)'' and international ''(IPUMS-International)'' cens ...

, a website of the

Minnesota Population Center The Minnesota Population Center (MPC) is a university-wide interdisciplinary research center at the University of Minnesota. MPC was established in 2000, absorbing two earlier population research organizations. The primary goals of the center are t ...

at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

It was the first time that women were permitted to be enumerators. The Superintendent of the Census was

Francis Amasa Walker Francis Amasa Walker (July 2, 1840 – January 5, 1897) was an American economist, statistician, journalist, educator, academic administrator, and an officer in the Union Army. As a prolific author and the third president of the Massachusetts I ...

. This was the first census in which a city

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

recorded a population of over one million, and the first census in which the 20 most populated cities all recorded over 100,000 residents.

Data collected

Five schedules were authorized by the 1880 Census Act, four of which were filled out by the enumerators:
from the U.S. Census Bureau * Schedule 1 (Population), which was similar to that used for the United States Census, 1870, previous census, with a few exceptions. * Schedule 2 (Mortality), which used the same inquiries as in 1870, and added inquiries to record

marital status Civil status, or marital status, are the distinct options that describe a person's relationship with a significant other. '' Married'', '' single'', '' divorced'', and ''widowed'' are examples of civil status. ''Civil status'' and ''marital st ...

, birthplace of parents, length of residence in the United States or territory, and name of place where the disease was contracted, if other than place of death. * Schedule 3 (Agriculture), which greatly expanded inquiries concerning various crops (including acreage for principal crop), and included questions on farm tenure, weeks of hired labor, annual cost for fence building and repair, fertilizer purchases, and the number of livestock. * Schedule 5 (Manufacturing), which expanded to include information on the greatest number of hands employed at any time during the year, the number of hours in the ordinary work day from May to November and November to May, the average daily wages paid to skilled mechanics and laborers, months of full-and part-time operation, and machinery used. Schedule 4 (Social statistics) was the responsibility of experts and special agents, rather than the enumerators. The majority of the data came from correspondence with officials of institutions providing care and treatment of certain members of the population. Experts and special agents also were employed to collect data on valuation, taxation, and indebtedness; religion and libraries; colleges, academies, and schools; newspapers and periodicals, and wages. Special agents were also charged with collecting data on specific industries throughout the country, and included the manufactures of iron and steel; cotton, woolen, and

worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead (from Old English ''Wurðestede'', "enclosure place"), a village in the English county of Norfolk. T ...

goods; silk and silk goods; chemical products and salt; coke and glass; shipbuilding; and all aspects of fisheries and mining, including the production of coal and petroleum. Full documentation for the 1880 population census, including census forms and enumerator instructions, is available from the

Integrated Public Use Microdata Series IPUMS, originally the ''Integrated Public Use Microdata Series'', is the world's largest individual-level population database. IPUMS consists of microdata samples from United States ''(IPUMS-USA)'' and international ''(IPUMS-International)'' cens ...

, which contains microdata.

Data availability

The original census enumeration sheets were microfilmed by the Census Bureau; after which the original sheets were transferred to various state archives, libraries, or universities. The microfilmed census is available in rolls from the

National Archives and Records Administration The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

. Several organizations also host images of the microfilmed census online, along which digital indices. Microdata from the 1880 population census are freely available through the

Aggregate data Aggregate data is high-level data which is acquired by combining individual-level data. For instance, the output of an industry is an aggregate of the firms’ individual outputs within that industry. Aggregate data are applied in statistics, d ...

for small areas, together with compatible cartographic boundary files, can be downloaded from the

National Historical Geographic Information System The National Historical Geographic Information System (NHGIS) is a historical GIS project to create and freely disseminate a database incorporating all available aggregate United States Census, census information for the United States between Uni ...

Results

The 1880 census determined the resident population of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to be 50,189,209, an increase of 30.2 percent over the 38,555,983 persons enumerated during the 1870 census. The

mean center of United States population The mean center of the United States population is determined by the United States Census Bureau from the results of each national census. The Bureau defines it as follows: After moving roughly Boxing the compass, west by south during the ...

for 1880 was in

Boone County, Kentucky Boone County is a county located on the Ohio River in the northernmost part of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 135,968, making it the fourth-most populous county in Kentucky. Its county seat is Burlingt ...

. The results from the census were used to determine the

apportionment The legal term apportionment (; Mediaeval Latin: , derived from , share), also called delimitation, is in general the distribution or allotment of proper shares, though may have different meanings in different contexts. Apportionment can refer ...

for the 48th, 49th, 50th, 51st, and 52nd sessions of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

. The processing of the 1880 census data took so long (eight years) that the Census Bureau contracted

Herman Hollerith Herman Hollerith (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) was a German-American statistician, inventor, and businessman who developed an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards to assist in summarizing information and, later, in ...

to design and build a

tabulating machine The tabulating machine was an electromechanical machine designed to assist in summarizing information stored on punched cards. Invented by Herman Hollerith, the machine was developed to help process data for the U.S. Census, 1890, 1890 U.S. Cens ...

to be used for the next census. The 1880 census also led to the discovery of the Alabama paradox. Source: Table I, Population of the United States, by States and Territories1880 Census: Volume 1. Statistics of the Population of the United State

(PDF)

City rankings

External links

Library of Congress research guide for 1880 census
- links to primary documents

References

{{Authority control 1880 in the United States, United States Census, 1880 United States census