The 1900 census was a national survey of the population of the United States. The 1900 census was the twelfth as such to be conducted on the American population. As a function of the United States government, administrative authority for the 1900 census was vested with the responsible department of the Census Bureau.
As a part of U.S. history, much of the significance ascribed to the 1900 census by historians derives from its finding of an increase by more than 20% in U.S. population numbers as had occurred between the point it was taken and the previous U.S. census of 1890. In this regard, the 1900 census found some 76 million people to be then living in the United States.
In addition to the basic question of the actual number of people living inside of the U.S., other items of interest for the 1900 census included various details of a person’s life and how he or she happened to make his or her living.
In this regard, respondents to the 1900 census were asked about the address where they made their residence, their status as head of a household or relationship to the person who was, their age and date of birth, their “race,” as then defined, and whether they had been born in the United States or elsewhere. Moreover, the 1900 census also asked, of women, whether they had had any children and, if so, how many, their form of home ownership or use, their proficiency or lack thereof with English, and their level of education.
