LibGuides: United States Census Data: 1790

About

This page provides information about the 1790 census and links to online resources for digital data, transcripts of the original and printed results of the originals.

See more about the 1790 census from the National Archives

Direct URL : https://www.archives.gov/research/census/1790

See more below for:

Questions Asked
Data Description
1790 Census Geography
Data Sources, including tabular data and original reports and enumerations.

Questions Asked in the 1790 census

Name of head of family
Number of free white males age 16 years and upwards, including head of family
Number of free white males under 16 years old
Number of free white females, including head of family
Number of all other free persons [free African-Americans]
Number of slaves

1790 Census Data Description

Aggregated results of the 1790 census are available from the National Historical GIS Project at IPUMS from the University of Minnesota : NHGIS (Requires free registration).

Direct URL nhgis.org

An index of variables is available HERE

Direct URL : https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1czEJalT1wYq1eXstXzWgra1iCX0QBa2-_ek-RHiuPhc/edit?usp=sharing

1790 Census Geography

The following spatial data are available from NHGIS.org

1790 States

14 States : Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts (including Maine), New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia. 2 Territories : Northwest Territory, Southwest Territory (Tennessee).

1790 Counties

292 Counties : Some Counties and districts contain no population data.

1790 Census Data Sources

Digital data in tabular format:

Aggregated results of the 1790 census are available from the National Historical GIS Project at IPUMS from the University of Minnesota.

Click here: https://www.nhgis.org/ (Requires free registration)

Transcripts of the 1790 census are available from Archive.org:

Printed volumes of the census results at available through HathiTrust: