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CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING
1920 Census

The Fourteenth Census Act of July 2, 1909, provided for the 1920 and subsequent censuses; however, numerous minor changes were sought prior to the census, so a new law was enacted on March 3, 1919. This act designated a 3-year decennial census period, beginning July 1, 1919. During this 3-year period, the act provided for an increased workforce at the Census Bureau’s head quarters in Washington, DC, and for the creation of a special field force to collect census data.

Section 20, of the Fourteenth Census Act, provided that the enumeration of the population should be made as of January 1, 1920. 1 Under the direction of the Director of the Census, Samuel L. Rogers, the work of actual enumeration began on January 2, 1920. The census covered the United States, the outlying possessions (excluding the Philippines and the Virgin Islands, the military, Red Cross, consular services abroad, and the naval service abroad or in American waters, but not on a fixed station.) 2

For the country as a whole and for states and political subdivisions within the country, the population enumerated was the resident population. The enumerators (according to the census law), were instructed to enumerate persons at their “usual place of abode”— i .e., their permanent home or regular lodging place. Persons were not always counted in the places where they happened to be found by the enu­merators or where they transacted their daily business. Per­sons temporarily absent from their usual places of abode (i.e., on business, traveling, attending school, or in hospitals) were enumerated at the places where they habitually resided and the information for these people was obtained from relatives or acquaintances. Persons having no fixed place of abode were required by the census law to be enu­merated where they slept on the night of January 1, 1920.

1The date was changed upon the request of the Department of Agriculture and users of agricultural statistics. The new date had advantages for the agricultural census—the past years work on all farms had been finished, and the new years work had not yet begun. The majority of farmers would have been occupying the farms they had the previous year, whereas, a few months later, many renters would have moved to other farms. Furthermore, the birth of livestock increases greatly during the Spring and early Summer. Therefore, a livestock census referring to January1, 1920, would be far more valuable than one taken several months later.

2 No provision was made by the Fourteenth Census Act for the enumeration of the Philippines. Censuses of the Philippines were conducted by the Philippine Commission in 1903. A second was conducted by the Philippines Government on December 31, 1918 (but called the “1919 Census”). A special census of the Virgin Islands was conducted by the United States, November 1, 1917.

1920 CENSUS INFORMATION Online Download
Volume 1: Population, 1920. Number and distribution of inhabitants, 695 pp., plus one 4-color foldout map. PDF *
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154.9 MB
Volume 2. Population, 1920. General report and analytical tables. 1410 pp PDF *
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283.1 MB
Volume 3. Population, 1920. Composition and characteristics of the population by states. 1253 pp., plus one 4-color foldout map. PDF *
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239.2 MB
Volume 4. Population, 1920. Occupations. 1309 pp. PDF *
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231.1 MB
Volume 5. Agriculture. General report and analytical tables. 935 pp PDF *
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195.2 MB
Volume 6, Part 1. Agriculture. Report for the states, with statistics for counties and a summary for the United States and the North, South, and West. Part 1: The Northern states. 765 pp. PDF *
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154.8 MB
Volume 6, Part 2. Agriculture. Report for the states, with statistics for counties and a summary for the United States and the North, South, and West. Part 2: The Southern states. 746 pp. N/A N/A
Volume 6, Part 3. Agriculture. Report for the states, with statistics for counties and a summary for the United States and the North, South, and West. Part 3: The Western states and outlying possessions. 423 pp. N/A N/A
Volume 7. Irrigation and drainage. General report and analytical tables and reports for states, with statistics for counties. 741 pp., plus two 4-color foldout maps. PDF *
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137.2 MB
Volume 8. Manufactures, 1919. General report and analytical tables. 543 pp. PDF *
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116.0 MB
Volume 9, Parts 1 and 2. Manufactures, 1919. Reports for states, with statistics for principal cities. 1698 pp. PDF *
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320.4 MB
Volume 10. Manufactures, 1919. Reports for selected industries. 1059 pp. PDF *
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161.6 MB
Volume 11. Mines and quarries, 1919. General report and analytical tables and reports and selected industries. 443 pp. PDF *
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74.6 MB
Abstracts

Abstract of the Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1923. 1303 pp.

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133.9 MB

Abstract of the Census of Manufactures, 1919. 1923. 752p. this file is in a different directory:

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134.6 MB

Fourteenth Census of the United States. State Compendium. [Alabama, Arizona etc.] Statistics of population occupations, agriculture, manufactures, and mines and quarries for the State, counties, and cities. 1926-1926. 49 pamphlets. (each state and DC).

Alabama to Delaware

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184.6 MB

District of Columbia to Indiana

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179.2 MB

Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland

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170.1 MB

Massachusetts to Montana

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181.0 MB

Nebraska to New York

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160.2 MB

North Carolina to Pennsylvania

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222.9 MB

Rhode Island to Utah

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158.2 MB

Vermont to Wyoming

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160.6 MB

Statistical Atlas of the United States. 479 pp., including 412 plates.

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General

Alphabetical index to occupations. 1920. 473p.

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101.6 MB

Census of Manufactures. 1919. Classifications by industries. 1919. 55p.

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4.9 MB

Census of Manufactures. 1919. Key to classifications. 1920. 104p.

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Centers of population, agriculture, and manufactures. 1923. 1p.

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Classified index to occupations. 1921. 173p.

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Farm census of United States, 1910 and 1920. United States totals with comparative figures from Census of 1910. 1922. 15p.

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Farm population of selected counties. Composition, characteristics, and occupations in detail for eight counties comprising Otsego County, N.Y., Dane County WI, New Madrid and Scott Counties, MO., Cass County, N. Dak., Wake County, N.C., Ellis County, Tex., and Kings County, Wash. 1924. 238p.

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Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920. Center of population and median lines and centers of area, agriculture, manufactures, and cotton. 1923. 41p.

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6.5 MB

Fourteenth Census publications. Plan of arrangement and distribution. July 1, 1920. [1920] 2p.

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The woman home-maker in the city: A study of statistics relating to married women in the City of Rochester, N.Y. at the Census of 1920. 1923. 49p.

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Children in Gainful Occupations
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60.3 MB

Drainage, General Report & Analytical Tables & Reports for States with Statistics for Counties

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105.0 MB

Irrigation, General Report & Analytical Tables & Reports for States with Statistics for Counties

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77.9 MB
Census Monographs I-XI, 1922-1931

I - Increase of population n the United States 1910-1920. A study of changes in the population of divisions, States, counties, and rural and urban areas, and in sex, color, and nativity, at the fourteenth census. 255p.

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21.6 MB

II - Mortgages on Homes. A report … 277p.

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35.2 MB

III - The integration of industrial operation: a statistical and descriptive analysis of the development and growth of industrial establishments and of the size, scope and structure of combinations of industrial establishments operated from central offices. 1924. 272p.

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38.1 MB

IV - Farm tenancy in the United States. An analysis of the results of the 1920 census relative to farm classified by tenure supplemented by pertinent data from other sources. 1924. 247p.

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31.5 MB

V - School attendance in 1920 1924. 285p.

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34.4 MB

VI - Farm population of the United States. 1926. 536p.

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74.6 MB

VII - Immigrants and their children, 1920. 1927. 431p.

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41.5 MB

VIII - The growth of manufactures, 1899 to 1923. 1928. 205p.

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24.3 MB

IX - Women in gainful occupations, 1870 to 1920. 1929. 416p.

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43.0 MB

X - Earnings of Factory workers, 1899 to 1927. An analysis of payroll statistics, by Paul F. Brissenden. 1929. 424p.

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44.9 MB

XI – Ratio of children to women, 1920. 1931. 242p.

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Bulletins - Population

Number of inhabitants, by counties and minor civil divisions. [1920-1921] 52 pamphlets. Includes Alaska, Canal Zone, Guam, Hawaii, Puerto Rico (English and Spanish), and Samoa.

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171.2 MB

Composition and characteristics of the population. 1921. 53 pamphlets.

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213 MB

1920. United States. Composition and characteristics of the population. 1921. 42p.

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Population of places of 2,500 to 5,000 inhabitants: 1920. 1921. 8p.

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Population of cities, towns, villages, and boroughs having from 5,000 to 10,000 inhabitants: 1920, 1910 and 1900. 1920. 16p.

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Population of cities, towns, villages, and boroughs having from 10,000 to 25,000 inhabitants: 1920, 1910 and 1900. 1921. 10p.

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Population of cities having 25,000 inhabitants or more: 1920, 1910 and 1900. 1920. 8p.

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Population. Alaska. Occupation statistics. [1921] 9p.

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Population. Hawaii. Occupation statistics. [1921] 17p.

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Population. Puerto Rico. Occupation statistics. [1922] 25p.

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Population. Hawaii. Occupation statistics. [1921] 17p.

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Occupations. Comparative occupation statistics for the United States. [1922] 11p.

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Bulletins - Agriculture

Statistics for the State and its counties. [1920-1921] 53 pamphlets.

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311.8 MB

Number of Farms, by States and Counties. 1920, 1910, and 1900. [1920]. 29p.

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Farm animals, cattle, swine, and chickens. Farms reporting, number on hand, and farms not reporting, 1920; calves, pigs, and chickens raised, and eggs produced, 1919. Data for 1920 and 1919, by states and counties with comparative figures for 1910 and 1909, by States. 1922. 98p.

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Agriculture. Bulletin. Farm vegetables. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, miscellaneous vegetables raised for sale and value of farm garden products. 1919. 1922. 76p.

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Bulletin - Irrigation - Statistics for the State and its counties. [1921] 19 pamphlets. PDF *
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69.2 MB
Bulletin - Drainage - Statistics for the State and its counties. [1921-22] 29 pamphlets. PDF *
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70.0 MB
Bulletin - Forest Products
Forest products: 1919. [Selected Industries] 1921-1922. 5 pamphlets. N/A N/A
Pulp-wood consumption and wood pulp production. 1921. 1922. 10p. N/A N/A
Forest products consumed in the manufacture of veneers, dyestuffs and extracts and in tanning and wood distillation. 1922. 10p N/A N/A
Lumber, lath and shingles. 1922. 24p. N/A N/A
Tight and slack cooperage stock. 1921. 8p. N/A N/A
Turpentine and rosin, 1922. 10p. PDF *
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520 KB
Bulletin - Manufactures

Manufactures: 1919 [Reports for States.] 1921-1922. 52 pamphlets. (all states, DC, HI, and Puerto Rico)

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349.5 MB

Manufactures: 1919 [Selected Industries.] 1922-1923. 51 pamphlets.

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201.7 MB

Bulletin - Mines and Quarries

Mines and quarries: 1919. 1921-1922. 14 pamphlets.
Reprint: Mines and quarries, 47 pgs
Mines and quarries: 1919 [selected industries] 1922. 7 pamphlets.
Coal 53p.
Gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc. 33p.
Gypsum. 10p.
Iron Ore 25p.
Petroleum and natural gas. 31p.
Phosphate rock. 10p.
Stone. 31p.

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82.5 MB
Related to 1920

United States Abridged Life Tables, 1919-1920. 1923. 84p.

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13.0 MB

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