The 1940 United States census, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 132,164,569, an increase of 7.6 percent over the 1930 population of 122,775,046 people. The census date of record was April 1, 1940.

A number of new questions were asked including where people were five years before, highest educational grade achieved, and information about wages. This census introduced sampling techniques; one in 20 people were asked additional questions on the census form. Other innovations included a field test of the census in 1939. This was the first census in which every state (48) had a population greater than 100,000, and the first census to also include a "long form" (sent to only a subset of the households) with additional questions about socioeconomic and housing characteristics (the "long form" would be used for last time in the 2000 census, being replaced by American Community Survey afterwards).

Census questions The 1940 census collected the following information:

address home owned or rented if owned, value if rented, monthly rent whether on a farm name relationship to head of household sex race age marital status school attendance educational attainment birthplace if foreign born, citizenship location of residence five years ago and whether on a farm employment status if at work, whether in private or non-emergency government work, or in public emergency work (WPA, CCC, NYA, etc.) if in private or non-emergency government work, hours worked in week if seeking work or on public emergency work, duration of unemployment occupation, industry and class of worker weeks worked last year wage and salary income last year

In addition, a sample of individuals were asked additional questions covering age at first marriage, fertility, and other topics. Full documentation on the 1940 census, including census forms and a procedural history, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series.

Data availability

Following completion of the census, the original enumeration sheets were microfilmed; after which the original sheets were destroyed.

As required by Title 13 of the U.S. Code, access to personally identifiable information from census records was restricted for 72 years. Non-personally identifiable information Microdata from the 1940 census is freely available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Also, aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System.

On April 2, 2012—72 years after the census was taken—microfilmed images of the 1940 census enumeration sheets were released to the public by the National Archives and Records Administration. The records are indexed only by enumeration district upon initial release; several organizations are compiling indices, in some cases through crowdsourcing.

State rankings

Rank State Population as of1940 census Population as of1930 census Change Percentchange

City rankings Rank City State Population Region (2016) 01 New York New York 7,454,995 Northeast 02 Chicago Illinois 3,396,808 Midwest 03 Philadelphia Pennsylvania 1,931,334 Northeast 04 Detroit Michigan 1,623,452 Midwest 05 Los Angeles California 1,504,277 West 06 Cleveland Ohio 878,336 Midwest 07 Baltimore Maryland 859,100 South 08 St. Louis Missouri 816,048 Midwest 09 Boston Massachusetts 770,816 Northeast 10 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania 671,659 Northeast 11 Washington District of Columbia 663,091 South 12 San Francisco California 634,536 West 13 Milwaukee Wisconsin 587,472 Midwest 14 Buffalo New York 575,901 Northeast 15 New Orleans Louisiana 494,537 South 16 Minneapolis Minnesota 492,370 Midwest 17 Cincinnati Ohio 455,610 Midwest 18 Newark New Jersey 429,760 Northeast 19 Kansas City Missouri 399,178 Midwest 20 Indianapolis Indiana 386,972 Midwest 21 Houston Texas 384,514 South 22 Seattle Washington 368,302 West 23 Rochester New York 324,975 Northeast 24 Denver Colorado 322,412 West 25 Louisville Kentucky 319,077 South 26 Columbus Ohio 306,087 Midwest 27 Portland Oregon 305,394 West 28 Atlanta Georgia 302,288 South 29 Oakland California 302,163 West 30 Jersey City New Jersey 301,173 Northeast 31 Dallas Texas 294,734 South 32 Memphis Tennessee 292,942 South 33 Saint Paul Minnesota 287,736 Midwest 34 Toledo Ohio 282,349 Midwest 35 Birmingham Alabama 267,583 South 36 San Antonio Texas 253,854 South 37 Providence Rhode Island 253,504 Northeast 38 Akron Ohio 244,791 Midwest 39 Omaha Nebraska 223,844 Midwest 40 Dayton Ohio 210,718 Midwest 41 Syracuse New York 205,967 Northeast 42 Oklahoma City Oklahoma 204,424 South 43 San Diego California 203,341 West 44 Worcester Massachusetts 193,694 Northeast 45 Richmond Virginia 193,042 South 46 Fort Worth Texas 177,662 South 47 Jacksonville Florida 173,065 South 48 Miami Florida 172,172 South 49 Youngstown Ohio 167,720 Midwest 50 Nashville Tennessee 167,402 South 51 Hartford Connecticut 166,267 Northeast 52 Grand Rapids Michigan 164,292 Midwest 53 Long Beach California 164,271 West 54 New Haven Connecticut 160,605 Northeast 55 Des Moines Iowa 159,819 Midwest 56 Flint Michigan 151,543 Midwest 57 Salt Lake City Utah 149,934 West 58 Springfield Massachusetts 149,554 Northeast 59 Bridgeport Connecticut 147,121 Northeast 60 Norfolk Virginia 144,332 South 61 Yonkers New York 142,598 Northeast 62 Tulsa Oklahoma 142,157 South 63 Scranton Pennsylvania 140,404 Northeast 64 Paterson New Jersey 139,656 Northeast 65 Albany New York 130,577 Northeast 66 Chattanooga Tennessee 128,163 South 67 Trenton New Jersey 124,697 Northeast 68 Spokane Washington 122,001 West 69 Kansas City Kansas 121,458 Midwest 70 Fort Wayne Indiana 118,410 Midwest 71 Camden New Jersey 117,536 Northeast 72 Erie Pennsylvania 116,955 Northeast 73 Fall River Massachusetts 115,428 Northeast 74 Wichita Kansas 114,966 Midwest 75 Wilmington Delaware 112,504 South 76 Gary Indiana 111,719 Midwest 77 Knoxville Tennessee 111,580 South 78 Cambridge Massachusetts 110,879 Northeast 79 Reading Pennsylvania 110,568 Northeast 80 New Bedford Massachusetts 110,341 Northeast 81 Elizabeth New Jersey 109,912 Northeast 82 Tacoma Washington 109,408 West 83 Canton Ohio 108,401 Midwest 84 Tampa Florida 108,391 South 85 Sacramento California 105,958 West 86 Peoria Illinois 105,087 Midwest 87 Somerville Massachusetts 102,177 Northeast 88 Lowell Massachusetts 101,389 Northeast 89 South Bend Indiana 101,268 Midwest 90 Duluth Minnesota 101,065 Midwest 91 Charlotte North Carolina 100,899 South 92 Utica New York 100,518 Northeast 93 Waterbury Connecticut 99,314 Northeast 94 Shreveport Louisiana 98,167 South 95 Lynn Massachusetts 98,123 Northeast 96 Evansville Indiana 97,062 Midwest 97 Allentown Pennsylvania 96,904 Northeast 98 El Paso Texas 96,810 South 99 Savannah Georgia 95,996 South 100 Little Rock Arkansas 88,039 South

Locations of 50 most populous cities

Use for Japanese American internment

During World War II, the Census Bureau responded to numerous information requests from US government agencies, including the US Army and the US Secret Service, to facilitate the internment of Japanese Americans. In his report of the operation, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt wrote that "The most important single source of information prior to the evacuation was the 1940 Census of Population."Japanese evacuation from the West coast, 1942 : final report, by De Witt, J. L. (John Lesesne), b. 1880; United States. Army. Western Defense CommandConfirmed: The U.S. Census Bureau Gave Up Names of Japanese-Americans in WW IISome Japanese-Americans Wrongfully Imprisoned During WWII Oppose Census Question

References

External links

Official 1940 census website 1940 Census Records from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration 1940 Federal Population Census Videos, training videos for enumerators at the U.S. National Archives Selected Historical Decennial Census Population and Housing Counts from the U.S. Census Bureau Snow, Michael S. (opinion) "Why the huge interest in the 1940 Census?" CNN. Monday April 9, 2012. 1941 U.S Census Report Contains 1940 census results 1940 Census Questions Hosted at CensusFinder.com.