The population of the United States has continued to increase since independence. A census has been conducted at the beginning of each decade since 1790. The numbers are acquired in a variety of ways including door-to-door polling, but the Census Bureau never has counted every individual. In addition to general population information, the Census Bureau also collects other data ranging from ethnicity to income to housing.
U.S. population growth is attributable to a positive difference between immigration and emigration (net international migration) and to the birth rate exceeding the death rate (natural increase). Over half of recent increases are due to natural increase.
The Census Bureau also provides projections for the future, but these are highly speculative. We have shown their ‘middle estimates’ extending to 2100.
year
population
2100
570,954,000
2090
533,605,000
2080
497,830,000
2070
463,639,000
2060
432,011,000
2050
403,687,000
2040
377,350,000
2030
351,071,000
2020
324,928,000
2010
299,862,000
2000
281,422,000
1990
248,710,000
1980
226,542,000
1970
203,302,000
1960
179,323,000
1950
151,325,000
1940
132,164,000
1930
123,203,000
1920
106,022,000
1910
92,228,000
1900
76,212,000
1890
62,980,000
1880
50,189,000
1870
38,558,000
1860
31,443,000
1850
23,192,000
1840
17,069,000
1830
12,866,000
1820
9,638,000
1810
7,240,000
1800
5,308,000
1790
3,929,000