U.S. Census Bureau

The first census of the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States is a federal country in North America made up of 50 states, the District of Columbia as the seat of government, and territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam; its capital is Washington, D.C. The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted a resident population of 331,449,281, and the 435 seats of the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states on the basis of the census.Open the full entry took August 2, 1790, as Census Day and was carried out by the marshals of the federal judicial districts and the assistants they appointed, with Secretary of State Thomas JeffersonThomas JeffersonThomas Jefferson (1743–1826) was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the third president of the United States, serving from 1801 to 1809. He had earlier been governor of Virginia, minister to France, secretary of state and vice president.Open the full entry as nominal supervisor. Its six questions covered the name of the head of household, sex, race, relationship to the head of household and the number of slaves; it covered the original 13 states, the districts of KentuckyKentuckyKentucky is a U.S. state bordered by Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to the north, West Virginia and Virginia to the east, Tennessee to the south and Missouri to the west; its capital is Frankfort and its largest city is Louisville. It entered the Union on June 1, 1792, as the 15th state and the first state west of the Appalachian Mountains, and had a population of 4,505,836 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, MaineMaineMaine is a state in the northeastern United States, bordered by Canada and New Hampshire; its capital is Augusta and its largest city is Portland. It entered the Union on March 15, 1820, as the 23rd state, and had a population of 1,362,359 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry and VermontVermontVermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States; its capital is Montpelier and its largest city is Burlington. It joined the Union on March 4, 1791, as the 14th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 643,077.Open the full entry, and the Southwest Territory (TennesseeTennesseeTennessee is a U.S. state in the southeast-central United States, with its capital at Nashville. It was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796, as the 16th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 6,910,840 residents.Open the full entry).⁠[1][2]

About 650 U.S. Marshals were employed for the 1790 census, which was finished within nine months; enumerators were paid no more than $1 for every 50 people properly recorded.⁠[3][2][1]

The Secretary of State supervised the first censuses; by the mid-19th century temporary census offices operated under the Department of the Interior, headed by a “Superintendent of the Census” or another administrator. In 1880 the marshals and their assistants were replaced by specially appointed, trained census takers.⁠[3]

After the 1880 and 1890 censuses, the temporary Census Office stayed open for almost all of the following decade to process the data.⁠[4]

Herman Hollerith filed his patent application in September 1888 and on January 8, 1889, received a patent (No. 395,781) for an electro-mechanical tabulating machine. In an 1888 competition in St. Louis his device translated the schedules’ data in 72.5 hours and sorted it in 5.5 hours, against 144.5 and 100.5 hours of translation and 44.5 and 55.5 hours of sorting for the two other entries.⁠[5]

The Census Bureau used Hollerith machines to capture and tabulate the 1890 census and completed publication of the 1890 data 18 months sooner than it had published the 1880 census; it kept using improved versions until UNIVAC I replaced them in the 1950s. Hollerith founded the Tabulating Machine Company in Washington, D.C., in 1896; in 1911 it merged with three other companies to form the Computing-Tabulating-Recording CompanyIBMIBM (International Business Machines Corporation) is an American information technology company, renamed in 1924 from the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (C-T-R).Open the full entry, which was renamed International Business Machines (IBM) in 1924.⁠[5]

The bureau’s official seal was authorized on March 3, 1899, while it was still part of the Department of the Interior.⁠[6]

On March 6, 1902, Congress enacted legislation creating a permanent Census Office within the Department of the Interior, ending the practice of setting up a temporary office for each census. The bureau’s history credits President Theodore RooseveltTheodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) was an American Republican politician, writer, naturalist, and soldier who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909 and received the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize for mediating an end to the Russo-Japanese War.Open the full entry with its establishment.⁠[4][6]

On July 1, 1902, the permanent bureau officially opened its doors at the Emery Building at 1st and B Streets NW in Washington, D.C., under William Rush Merriam.⁠[6][4]

On February 14, 1903, the bureau moved to the newly created Department of Commerce and Labor.⁠[6][4]

The census of manufactures began in 1905 and was to be taken every five years thereafter.⁠[6]

When the Department of Commerce and Labor was split in two on March 4, 1913, the bureau remained in the separately established Department of Commerce.⁠[6][3]

In spring 1942 the bureau moved from its building at Virginia Avenue and D Street in Washington, D.C., to Suitland, MarylandMarylandMaryland is a Middle Atlantic state of the United States, deeply indented by Chesapeake Bay and bordered by Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, the District of Columbia and West Virginia; its capital is Annapolis and its largest city is Baltimore. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on April 28, 1788, as the seventh state to do so, and had a population of 6,177,224 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, freeing the building for the Office of Price Administration, whose wartime operations were considered critical to keep close to Congress and the White House. Suitland is named after Col. Samuel Taylor Suit.⁠[3]

The bureau signed the contract for UNIVAC I on March 31, 1951, and its officials attended the dedication at the Eckert-Mauchly Laboratory in Philadelphia on June 14, 1951. The bureau calls UNIVAC I the first successful civilian computer; it was soon used to tabulate part of the 1950 population census and the entire 1954 economic census.⁠[7]

UNIVAC I was retired in 1963.⁠[6]

The bureau moved into its new headquarters building in 2006, and its regional offices were consolidated on January 1, 2013.⁠[6]

The 2020 Census employed about 500,000 enumerators.⁠[3]

On April 26, 2021, Secretary of Commerce Gina RaimondoGina RaimondoGina Raimondo (Gina M. Raimondo) is an American Democratic politician who was elected General Treasurer of Rhode Island in 2010 and later served as the 75th Governor of Rhode Island (2015–2021, the state’s first woman governor) and the 40th U.S. Secretary of Commerce (2021–2025). As commerce secretary she oversaw the disbursement of chip subsidies under the CHIPS and Science Act and export controls on advanced chips to China, and stood up the U.S. AI Safety Institute; after leaving office she co-founded RAISE US, a nonprofit addressing AI’s impact on jobs, with former Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb in 2026 and serves as its chief executive officer.Open the full entry delivered the 2020 Census apportionment counts to President Joe Biden: the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2020, was 331,449,281, up 22,703,743, or 7.4%, from 308,745,538 in 2010. CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a U.S. state on the Pacific coast; its capital is Sacramento and its largest city is Los Angeles. California was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, as the 31st state. Its population at the 2020 Census (April 1, 2020) was 39,538,223, the largest of any state.Open the full entry was the most populous state (39,538,223) and WyomingWyomingWyoming is a U.S. state, the ninth largest by area, with its capital at Cheyenne. Wyoming was admitted to the Union on July 10, 1890, as the 44th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 576,851 residents.Open the full entry the least populous (576,851). The apportionment population comprises the resident population of the 50 states plus overseas military and federal civilian employees and their dependents who can be allocated to a home state; it excludes the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.⁠[8]

Under the new apportionment TexasTexasTexas is a U.S. state in the south-central United States, with its capital at Austin and its largest city Houston. It was admitted to the Union on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 29,145,505 residents.Open the full entry gained two seats in the House of Representatives and ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state classified as one of the Mountain states, with Denver as its capital. It was admitted to the Union on August 1, 1876, as the 38th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 5,773,714.Open the full entry, FloridaFloridaFlorida is a U.S. state occupying mainly the Florida peninsula, with its capital at Tallahassee; its most populous city is Jacksonville. It entered the Union on March 3, 1845, as the 27th state, and had a population of 21,538,187 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry, MontanaMontanaMontana is a state in the northwestern United States, with the Rocky Mountains in the west and the Great Plains in the east; its capital is Helena and its largest city is Billings. Montana became the 41st U.S. state on November 8, 1889, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 1,084,225 residents.Open the full entry, North CarolinaNorth CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state in the South Atlantic region of the United States; its capital is Raleigh and its largest city is Charlotte. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on November 21, 1789, becoming the 12th state, and its population in the 2020 census was 10,439,388.Open the full entry and OregonOregonOregon (officially the State of Oregon) is a state on the Pacific coast of the western United States; its capital is Salem and its largest city is Portland. It was admitted to the Union on February 14, 1859, as the 33rd state. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 4,237,256.Open the full entry one each, while California, IllinoisIllinoisIllinois is a state of the United States that borders Lake Michigan and the states of Wisconsin, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa; its capital is Springfield and its largest city is Chicago. It was admitted to the Union on December 3, 1818, as the 21st state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 12,812,508.Open the full entry, MichiganMichiganMichigan is a state of the United States nearly surrounded by the Great Lakes and made up of the Upper and Lower peninsulas; its capital is Lansing and its largest city is Detroit. It was admitted to the Union on January 26, 1837, as the 26th state, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 10,077,331.Open the full entry, New York, OhioOhioOhio is a state in the Midwestern United States; its capital is Columbus. It joined the Union in 1803 as the 17th state, the first carved from the Northwest Territory, and its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 11,799,448.Open the full entry, PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaPennsylvania (officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) is a Middle Atlantic state of the United States; its capital is Harrisburg, and Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are its two great metropolitan areas. One of the original 13 states, it ratified the U.S. Constitution on December 12, 1787, the second state to do so. Its population in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) was 13,002,700.Open the full entry and West VirginiaWest VirginiaWest Virginia is a U.S. state formed from the western counties of Virginia during the Civil War; its capital and largest city is Charleston. It became the 35th state on June 20, 1863. Its population was 1,793,716 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry each lost one.⁠[8]

As of November 2026, the bureau’s director page lists George M. Cook as its current head, with the title of Deputy Under Secretary performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the Director of the U.S. Census Bureau; the bureau’s list of directors gives his tenure as 2025–present.⁠[9][10]

Cook studied philosophy and economics at Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Its predecessor, the Collegiate School, received a charter in 1701. Trustees chose New Haven in 1716; the institution became Yale College in 1718 and Yale University in 1887. Yale provides undergraduate, graduate and professional education and has 14 undergraduate residential colleges. As of October 2026, its president was Maurie McInnis, who took office in July 2024. In 2026, Yale expanded aid for incoming undergraduates and celebrated its 325th anniversary.Open the full entry. Before joining the Department of Commerce he worked as an institutional investor and economic analyst at Brevan Howard (2012–2017) and BlackRockBlackRockBlackRock is a publicly traded investment management company headquartered in New York, founded in 1988 by Larry Fink and seven others and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker BLK); its businesses include the iShares family of exchange-traded funds and the Aladdin investment and risk management platform. As of June 30, 2026, its assets under management totaled $15.3 trillion.Open the full entry (2017–2024) and founded Justinian Advisory Ltd., an economic research start-up.⁠[11]

The bureau operates under Title 13 and Title 26 of the U.S. Code; besides its censuses and surveys it provides the Age Search service and runs international programs.⁠[12]

As of April 2026, the bureau’s mailing address is 4600 Silver Hill Road (Washington, DC 20233 for postal mail; Suitland, MD 20746 for private carriers), and it has six regional offices, in Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City and Philadelphia.⁠[13]

Secretaries of State supervised the early censuses, among them John Quincy AdamsJohn Quincy AdamsJohn Quincy Adams (1767–1848) was an American diplomat and politician who served as secretary of state from 1817 to 1825 and as the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829, and afterwards sat in the House of Representatives until his death.Open the full entry for the 1820 census and Martin Van BurenMartin Van BurenMartin Van Buren (1782–1862) was an American politician who served as governor of New York, secretary of state and vice president before becoming President of the United States from 1837 to 1841; in 1848 he ran for president again as the Free Soil Party candidate.Open the full entry for the 1830 census. The temporary offices before 1902 were headed by Superintendents of the Census, including Joseph C. G. Kennedy (1850–1853 and 1860–1865), J. D. B. DeBow (1853–1855), Francis Amasa Walker (1870 and 1879–1881), Charles W. Seaton (1881–1885), Robert Percival Porter (1889–1893) and Carroll D. Wright (1893–1897).⁠[10]

Directors of the Census Bureau have been William Rush Merriam (1899–1903), Simon Newton Dexter North (1903–1909), Edward Dana Durand (1909–1913), William J. Harris (1913–1915), Samuel Lyle Rogers (1915–1921), William Mott Steuart (1921–1933), William Lane Austin (1933–1941), James Clyde Capt (1941–1949), Roy Victor Peel (1950–1953), Robert Wilbur Burgess (1953–1961), Richard M. Scammon (1961–1965), A. Ross Eckler (1965–1969), George Hay Brown (1969–1973), Vincent P. Barabba (1973–1976 and 1979–1981), Manuel D. Plotkin (1977–1979), Bruce Chapman (1981–1983), John G. Keane (1984–1987), Barbara Everitt Bryant (1989–1993), Martha Farnsworth Riche (1994–1998), Kenneth Prewitt (1998–2001), Charles Louis Kincannon (2002–2008), Steve H. Murdock (2008–2009), Robert M. Groves (2009–2012), John H. Thompson (2013–2017), Steven Dillingham (2019–2021) and Robert L. Santos (2022–2025).⁠[10]

U.S. Census Bureau: Official website: https://www.census.gov/ (opens in a new window).⁠[12]

X: Public account: https://x.com/uscensusbureau (opens in a new window).⁠[12]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/company/us-census-bureau (opens in a new window).⁠[12]

YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry: Public channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/uscensusbureau (opens in a new window).⁠[12]