These data are from the 20-, 15-, and 5-percent samples of the 1970 United States Census of Population and Housing, and contain population characteristics such as education, occupation, income, citizenship, and vocational training. Separate tallies are shown for whites, Blacks, Hispanic Americans (referred to as Spanish Americans in the 1970 Census), and the total population. The unit of observation for these data files is the census tract. There is one file for each of 48 states and the District of Columbia. The Census Bureau did not issue data for Vermont and Wyoming because these two states were untracted in 1970.

This data collection contains 132 Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) files from the 1970 Census of Population and Housing. Information is provided in these files on the housing unit, such as occupancy and vacancy status of house, tenure, value of property, commercial use, year structure was built, number of rooms, availability of plumbing facilities, sewage disposal, bathtub or shower, complete kitchen facilities, flush toilet, water, telephone, and air conditioning. Data are also provided on household characteristics such as the number of persons aged 18 years and younger in the household, the presence of roomers, boarders, or lodgers, the presence of other nonrelative and of relative other than wife or child of head of household, the number of persons per room, the rent paid for unit, and the number of persons with Spanish surnames. Other demographic variables provide information on age, race, marital status, place of birth, state of birth, Puerto Rican heritage, citizenship, education, occupation, employment status, size of family, farm earnings, and family income. This hierarchical data collection contains approximately 214 variables for the 15-percent sample, 227 variables for the 5-percent sample, and 117 variables for the neighborhood characteristics sample. (Source: downloaded from ICPSR 06/09/2011).

Abstract

IPUMS-International is an effort to inventory, preserve, harmonize, and disseminate census microdata from around the world. The project has collected the world's largest archive of publicly available census samples. The data are coded and documented consistently across countries and over time to facillitate comparative research. IPUMS-International makes these data available to qualified researchers free of charge through a web dissemination system.

The IPUMS project is a collaboration of the Minnesota Population Center, National Statistical Offices, and international data archives. Major funding is provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Additional support is provided by the University of Minnesota Office of the Vice President for Research, the Minnesota Population Center, and Sun Microsystems.

Geographic coverage

National coverage

Analysis unit

Households and Group Quarters

UNITS IDENTIFIED: - Dwellings: No - Vacant units: Yes - Households: Yes - Individuals: Yes - Group quarters: Yes

UNIT DESCRIPTIONS: - Households: Dwelling places with fewer than five persons unrelated to a household head, excluding institutions and transient quarters. - Group quarters: Institutions, transient quarters, and dwelling places with five or more persons unrelated to a household head.

Universe

Residents of the 50 states (not the outlying areas).

Kind of data

Census/enumeration data [cen]

Sampling procedure

MICRODATA SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau

SAMPLE UNIT: Household

SAMPLE FRACTION: 1%

SAMPLE SIZE (person records): 2,029,666

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

One in five housing units in 1970 received a long form containing supplemental sample questions. There were two versions of the long form, with different inquiries on both housing and population items; 15 percent of households received one version, and 5 percent received the other. Six independent 1 percent public use samples were produced for 1970, three from the 15 percent questionnaire and three from the 5 percent questionnaire. IPUMS-International uses the "Form 2 Metro" sample.

Response rate

UNDERCOUNT: No official estimates

IPUMS-International is an effort to inventory, preserve, harmonize, and disseminate census microdata from around the world. The project has collected the world's largest archive of publicly available census samples. The data are coded and documented consistently across countries and over time to facillitate comparative research. IPUMS-International makes these data available to qualified researchers free of charge through a web dissemination system. The IPUMS project is a collaboration of the Minnesota Population Center, National Statistical Offices, and international data archives. Major funding is provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Additional support is provided by the University of Minnesota Office of the Vice President for Research, the Minnesota Population Center, and Sun Microsystems.

Polygon geometry with attributes displaying the 1970 Census tracts and respective population stats in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana.

Throughout the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union had relatively similar total populations. The U.S.' population grew from around 205 million to almost 250 million people between 1970 and 1990, while the USSR's population grew from around 240 to 290 million in this time. In these years, the Soviet Union had the third largest population in the world, and the U.S. had the fourth largest (behind China and India respectively). Despite their similar sizes, these populations differed in terms of distribution as the U.S.' population was approximately three quarters urban in this period, whereas the Soviet Union's urban population was just 56 percent in 1970 and 66 percent in 1989. Additionally, the Soviet Union's population was much younger than that of the U.S. due to a higher birth rate and lower life expectancy.

This file contains annual population estimates for the entire nation and for each state for the years 1970-1979. The data for 1970 are from the 1970 Census of Population and Housing taken April 1, 1970. Summaries are given for the total population, and by the following age groups: 0-4, 5-14, 15-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65 and older, 16 and older, 18 and older and 21 and older.

This data collection contains extracts of the original DUALabs Special Fifth Count ED/BG Summary Tapes. They are comprised of limited demographic and socioeconomic variables for 27 states in the continental United States. Data are provided at the county, minor civil division, enumeration district, and block group levels for total population and Spanish heritage population for the following states: Minnesota, Nevada, Wyoming, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Missouri, Washington, Iowa, Louisiana, Arkansas, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Oregon, Texas, New Mexico, and California. Demographic variables provide information on race, age, sex, country and place of origin, income, and family status and size. The data were obtained by ICPSR from the National Chicano Research Network, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan.

In 2024, 34.59 percent of all households in the United States were two person households. In 1970, this figure was at 28.92 percent. Single households Single mother households are usually the most common households with children under 18 years old found in the United States. As of 2021, the District of Columbia and North Dakota had the highest share of single-person households in the United States. Household size in the United States has decreased over the past century, due to customs and traditions changing. Families are typically more nuclear, whereas in the past, multigenerational households were more common. Furthermore, fertility rates have also decreased, meaning that women do not have as many children as they used to. Average households in Utah Out of all states in the U.S., Utah was reported to have the largest average household size. This predominately Mormon state has about three million inhabitants. The Church of the Latter-Day Saints, or Mormonism, plays a large role in Utah, and can contribute to the high birth rate and household size in Utah. The Church of Latter-Day Saints promotes having many children and tight-knit families. Furthermore, Utah has a relatively young population, due to Mormons typically marrying and starting large families younger than those in other states.

In 2024, the United States had a resident population of around 340 million inhabitants. See figures for the total population by continent here.

In 2023, the median age of the population of the United States was 39.2 years. While this may seem quite young, the median age in 1960 was even younger, at 29.5 years. The aging population in the United States means that society is going to have to find a way to adapt to the larger numbers of older people. Everything from Social Security to employment to the age of retirement will have to change if the population is expected to age more while having fewer children. The world is getting older It’s not only the United States that is facing this particular demographic dilemma. In 1950, the global median age was 23.6 years. This number is projected to increase to 41.9 years by the year 2100. This means that not only the U.S., but the rest of the world will also have to find ways to adapt to the aging population.

In the past four centuries, the population of the United States has grown from a recorded 350 people around the Jamestown colony of Virginia in 1610, to an estimated 331 million people in 2020. The pre-colonization populations of the indigenous peoples of the Americas have proven difficult for historians to estimate, as their numbers decreased rapidly following the introduction of European diseases (namely smallpox, plague and influenza). Native Americans were also omitted from most censuses conducted before the twentieth century, therefore the actual population of what we now know as the United States would have been much higher than the official census data from before 1800, but it is unclear by how much. Population growth in the colonies throughout the eighteenth century has primarily been attributed to migration from the British Isles and the Transatlantic slave trade; however it is also difficult to assert the ethnic-makeup of the population in these years as accurate migration records were not kept until after the 1820s, at which point the importation of slaves had also been illegalized. Nineteenth century In the year 1800, it is estimated that the population across the present-day United States was around six million people, with the population in the 16 admitted states numbering at 5.3 million. Migration to the United States began to happen on a large scale in the mid-nineteenth century, with the first major waves coming from Ireland, Britain and Germany. In some aspects, this wave of mass migration balanced out the demographic impacts of the American Civil War, which was the deadliest war in U.S. history with approximately 620 thousand fatalities between 1861 and 1865. The civil war also resulted in the emancipation of around four million slaves across the south; many of whose ancestors would take part in the Great Northern Migration in the early 1900s, which saw around six million black Americans migrate away from the south in one of the largest demographic shifts in U.S. history. By the end of the nineteenth century, improvements in transport technology and increasing economic opportunities saw migration to the United States increase further, particularly from southern and Eastern Europe, and in the first decade of the 1900s the number of migrants to the U.S. exceeded one million people in some years. Twentieth and twenty-first century The U.S. population has grown steadily throughout the past 120 years, reaching one hundred million in the 1910s, two hundred million in the 1960s, and three hundred million in 2007. In the past century, the U.S. established itself as a global superpower, with the world's largest economy (by nominal GDP) and most powerful military. Involvement in foreign wars has resulted in over 620,000 further U.S. fatalities since the Civil War, and migration fell drastically during the World Wars and Great Depression; however the population continuously grew in these years as the total fertility rate remained above two births per woman, and life expectancy increased (except during the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918).

Since the Second World War, Latin America has replaced Europe as the most common point of origin for migrants, with Hispanic populations growing rapidly across the south and border states. Because of this, the proportion of non-Hispanic whites, which has been the most dominant ethnicity in the U.S. since records began, has dropped more rapidly in recent decades. Ethnic minorities also have a much higher birth rate than non-Hispanic whites, further contributing to this decline, and the share of non-Hispanic whites is expected to fall below fifty percent of the U.S. population by the mid-2000s. In 2020, the United States has the third-largest population in the world (after China and India), and the population is expected to reach four hundred million in the 2050s.

This summary statistics data file contains a complete or 100-percent count of all persons in group quarters by sex and age, including ages under 1 to 74 with a category for ages 75 and over, as well as the total. The distribution is repeated for 18 race/Hispanic groups. Population in group quarters includes persons in institutional group quarters such as homes, schools, hospitals, or wards for the physically and mentally handicapped, hospitals or wards for mental, tubercular, or chronically ill patients, homes for unwed mothers, nursing, convalescent, and rest homes for the aged and dependent, orphanages, and correctional institutions. Noninstitutional group quarters include rooming and boarding houses, general hospitals, including nurses' and interns' dormitories, college students' dormitories, religious group quarters, and similar housing. Demographic items specify age, sex, state of birth, race, ethnicity, marital status, education, income, and type of group quarters lived in. Data are available for all counties and independent cities in the United States.

This data set represents U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) historical Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) from the 1970's that has been refined with 1990 population density at the block group level to indicate new residential development representative of the 1990's. Any area having a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile had been re-classified as "urban" land in this data set.

This data collection contains the MEDList file, the geographic reference file for the 1970 Census containing records for states, counties, minor civil divisions (MCD) or census county divisions (CCD)s, place segments, enumeration districts, and block groups. Items include state code, county code, MCD/CCD code, place code, place type, standard consolidated area code, standard metropolitan statistical area (SMSA) code, urbanized area code, tracted area code, state economic area code, economic subregion code, central business district code, area name, tract code, block group code, enumeration district code, urban/rural classification, ward code, congressional district code, housing count, and population count. (Source: downloaded from ICPSR 7/13/10)

Graph and download economic data for Population, Total for United States (POPTOTUSA647NWDB) from 1960 to 2024 about population and USA.

These Fifth-Count Tallies by school district were created from the assembled and edited 20-percent, 15-percent, and 5-percent Samples portions of the 1970 Census of Population and Housing. Population tables include tallies for age, race, sex, nativity, income, employment, poverty and children. Housing tables include tallies for persons per unit, rooms in units, value, gross rent, and year structure built. The data file is sorted within state in ascending sequence of 5-digit school district codes. School districts with populations of less than 1,000 persons are combined in the code category 99999. The SSDC staff has reformatted the ICPSR data file and documented variable column locations for the reformatted data file. See the Reformatted codebook for more information.

This file contains tables with a detailed breakdown on items such as occupation, industry, income, sex, race, education, mother tongue, nativity, parentage, and veterans' status.Summaries are given for States, SMSA's, metropolitan counties, central cities with 50,000 or more inhabitants.Data contained in the files pertain to the date of the census, April 1, 1970, except for selected items which relate to historical periods.

This fourth count population file contains identical information for 3 different levels of geography. The data cross-tabulated on the various tables on the file include occupation, industry, income and income components, years of school completed, family type, number of children, poverty status, nativity and parentage. Aggregate income figures for various categories are included for use on calculating means. Each table is presented for the urban population, rural-farm population, and rural-no nfarm population.

The geographic coverage differs in all three files. In File A, summary statistics are presented for all census tracts. File B presents summary statistics for minor civil divisions or census county divisions. File C presents summaries for 20 levels of geography including States and state components, counties, places of 2,500 or greater, urbanized areas, SMSA's and the component parts of SMSAs.

Data contained in the files pertain to the date of the census, April 1, 19 70, except for selected items which relate to historical periods

These data are from the 20-, 15-, and 5-percent samples of the 1970 United States Census of Population and Housing, and contain tabulations of housing characteristics such as housing value, number of housing units in structure, number of rooms in housing unit, year structure was built, occupancy/vacancy status, tenure, rent, type of heating fuel, source of water, and presence of an air conditioner and other home appliances. The unit of observation for these data files is the census tract