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Decennial Population and Housing Censuses Guide

1930 Census Reports

Questionnaire, instructions, and table headers

* Questionnaire description and Instructions to Enumerators - from Measuring America (Sept. 2002)

* Form of Schedule for Enumeration of Population - from 1930 Population Census, vol. 2, pt. 8 (C3.37/5:P81/v.2)

* Instructions to Enumerators - from 1930 Population Census, vol. 2, pt. 8 (C3.37/5:P81/v.2)

Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, Population, 6 vols. in 7

U.S. Documents C3.37/5:P81/v.1-6

* GEOGRAPHIES:   Nation, Divisions, States, Territories, Counties, Townships or other Minor Civil Divisions; Urban/Rural; Cities and other Incorporated Places

* CONTENTS:   Vol. 1, Number and Distribution of Inhabitants, has 16 tables in the U.S. summary section.

* Most of vol. 1 contains data by state in 6 tables:

  -   Population, 1790-1930, for state

  -   Population, 1790-1930, for principal cities

  -   Area and Population, 1890-1930, for counties

  -   Population, 1910-1930, for minor civil divisions of counties

  -   Population, 1920-1930, for incorporated places

  -   Population, 1930, for wards of cities 5,000+

Vol. 2, General Report - Statistics by Subject, contains 14 chapters on:

  -   Urban and Rural Population, Metropolitan Districes, and Center of Population

  -   Color or Race, Nativity, and Parentage

  -   Sex Distribution

  -   State of Birth of the Native Population

  -   Country of Birth of the Foreign Born

  -   Country of Origin of the Foreign Born

  -   Mother Tongue of the Foreign-born White Population

  -   Citizenship of the Foreign Born

  -   Year of Immigration of the Foreign Born

  -   Age Distribution

  -   Marital Condition

  -   School Attendance

  -   Illiteracy

  -   Inability to Speak English

Vol. 3, Reports by States, Showing the Composition and Characteristics of the Population for Counties, Cities, and Townships or Other Minor Civil Divisions. 2 vols.

* Contains 31 summary and detailed United States tables

* 25 tables with State data

* 13 tables with data for Cities 100,000+

* 23 tables for each State, including data on:

  -   Population, 1890-1930, urban/rural

  -   Population, 1910-1930, by color, nativity, and sex

  -   Population, 1920-1930, for military age males

  -   School attendance, 1920-1930

  -   Illiteracy, 1920-1930

  -   Marital condition, 1920-1930

  -   Foreign white stock, 1920-1930

  -   Persons 10+ gainfully occupied, 1930

  -   Population, 1930, for counties and cities 10,000+ by age, color, nativity, and sex

  -   Composition of population, 1930, for counties, farm/non- farm, cities 10,000+ and incorporated places 2500-10,000

  -   Population, 1910-1930, of Indians, Chinese, and Japanese; and Mexicans, 1930

  -   Population, 1930, by sex, color, age, etc., for minor civil divisions, incorporated places, 1000-2,500, and cities, 50,000+, by wards

Vol. 4, Occupations, by States

* contains 57 United States summary tables on:

  -   Sex and Occupation of Gainful Workers

  -   Color and Nativity of Gainful Workers

  -   Age of Gainful Workers

  -   Marital Condition of Gainfully Occupied Women

  -   Children in Gainful Occupation

  -   Statistics for Cities of 25,000 to 100,000

* 25 tables for individual states on the same six topics.

Vol. 5, General Report on Occupations, contains 7 chapters on:

  -   Enumeration and Classification of Occupations

  -   Sex and Occupation of Gainful Workers

  -   Color and Nativity of Gainful Workers

  -   Age of Gainful Workers

  -   Marital Condition of Gainfully Occupied Women

  -   Children in Gainful Occupation

  -   Gainful Workers by Industry and Occupation

Vol. 6, Families: Reports by States, giving statistics for Families, Dwellings and Homes, by Counties, for Urban and Rural Areas, and for Urban Places of 2,500 or More

* Contains summary and detailed tables for the United States, Divisions and States, and Principal Cities

* Has, for each State, 24 tables including:

  -   Families by color and nativity of head

  -   Tenure of farm and nonfarm homes

  -   Families by tenure, by size, and median size

  -   Nonfarm homes by value, and median value

  -   Families classified by number of children, by gainful workers, and by lodgers

  -   Quasi-family groups by type

  -   Families having radio sets

  -   Classification of families

          -   by county

          -   cities 10,000 to 100,000

          -   incorporated places 2,500 to 10,000

          -   wards of cities 100,000+

Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, Outlying Territories and Possessions

U.S. Documents C3.37/5:T27

* Reports data for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and Panama Canal

* Contents, in 43 tables per territory:

  -   Number and Distribution of Inhabitants

  -   Composition and Characteristics of the Population

  -   Occupations

  -   Unemployment

  -   Agriculture

Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930, Unemployment, in 2 vols.

U.S. Documents C3.37/5:Un2/v.1-2

* Vol. 1 has 45 United States summary tables, and 13 tables per state

  -   Reports Unemployed persons in up to 7 classes

* Vol. 2, General Report, contains 5 chapters:

  -   Unemployment by occupation

  -   Unemployment by period of idleness

  -   Unemployment by marital condition

  -   Part-time employment

  -   Special census of unemployment, Jan. 1931

Abstract of the Fifteenth Census of the United States

U.S. Documents C3.37/7:1930

* Summarizes data on:

  -   Population

  -   Occupations

  -   Families

  -   Unemployment

  -   Agriculture

  -   Irrigation and Drainage

  -   Manufactures

  -   Mines & Quarries

  -   Retail Distribution

  -   Wholesale Distribution

  -   Construction

  -   Hotels

  -   Outlying Territories and Possessions

From the 1870 Census forward, the number of published volumes grew each decade.   A comprehensive list of all these volumes is beyond the scope of this guide that focuses on the volumes addressing population and housing topics.

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