U.S. Census Bureau
Table 18. Nativity of the Population by Urban-Rural Residence and Size of Place: 1870 to 1940 and 1960 to 1990
  Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census
Internet Release date: March 9, 1999

(See text for sources, definitions, and explanations)
Year, type of residence,
and size of place		 Population Percent distribution
by type of residence
Total Native Foreign born
Number Percent Total Native Foreign
born
1990*              
        Total 248,709,873 228,942,557 19,767,316 7.9 100.0 100.0 100.0
Urban 187,051,543 168,546,897 18,504,646 9.9 75.2 73.6 93.6
    Inside urbanized area 158,258,042 140,802,811 17,455,231 11.0 63.6 61.5 88.3
        Central place 78,847,231 69,015,791 9,831,440 12.5 31.7 30.1 49.7
        Urban fringe 79,410,811 71,787,020 7,623,791 9.6 31.9 31.4 38.6
    Outside urbanized area 28,793,501 27,744,086 1,049,415 3.6 11.6 12.1 5.3
        10,000 or more 13,826,325 13,260,584 565,741 4.1 5.6 5.8 2.9
        2,500 to 9,999 14,967,176 14,483,502 483,674 3.2 6.0 6.3 2.4
Rural 61,658,330 60,395,660 1,262,670 2.0 24.8 26.4 6.4
        1,000 to 2,499 7,047,131 6,881,223 165,908 2.4 2.8 3.0 0.8
        Less than 1,000 3,802,263 3,758,824 43,439 1.1 1.5 1.6 0.2
        Other (not in places) 50,808,936 49,755,613 1,053,323 2.1 20.4 21.7 5.3
        Rural nonfarm 57,786,747 56,581,024 1,205,723 2.1 23.2 24.7 6.1
        Rural farm 3,871,583 3,814,636 56,947 1.5 1.6 1.7 0.3
1980*              
        Total 226,545,805 212,465,899 14,079,906 6.2 100.0 100.0 100.0
Urban 167,054,638 154,139,673 12,914,965 7.7 73.7 72.5 91.7
    Inside urbanized area 139,182,696 127,164,565 12,018,131 8.6 61.4 59.9 85.4
        Central place 67,035,742 60,610,967 6,424,775 9.6 29.6 28.5 45.6
        Urban fringe 72,146,954 66,553,598 5,593,356 7.8 31.8 31.3 39.7
    Outside urbanized area 27,871,942 26,975,108 896,834 3.2 12.3 12.7 6.4
        10,000 or more 13,480,685 13,009,780 470,905 3.5 6.0 6.1 3.3
        2,500 to 9,999 14,391,257 13,965,328 425,929 3.0 6.4 6.6 3.0
Rural 59,491,167 58,326,226 1,164,941 2.0 26.3 27.5 8.3
        1,000 to 2,499 7,034,378 6,872,139 162,239 2.3 3.1 3.2 1.2
        Other 52,456,789 51,454,087 1,002,702 1.9 23.2 24.2 7.1
        Rural nonfarm 53,873,264 52,781,474 1,091,790 2.0 23.8 24.8 7.8
        Rural farm 5,617,903 5,544,752 73,151 1.3 2.5 2.6 0.5
1970*              
        Total 203,210,158 193,590,856 9,619,302 4.7 100.0 100.0 100.0
Urban 149,332,119 140,611,792 8,720,327 5.8 73.5 72.6 90.7
    Inside urbanized area 118,440,006 110,468,396 7,971,610 6.7 58.3 57.1 82.9
        Central cities 63,913,205 59,099,762 4,813,443 7.5 31.5 30.5 50.0
        Urban fringe 54,526,801 51,368,634 3,158,167 5.8 26.8 26.5 32.8
    Outside urbanized area 30,892,113 30,143,396 748,717 2.4 15.2 15.6 7.8
        10,000 or more 16,617,734 16,199,308 418,426 2.5 8.2 8.4 4.3
        2,500 to 9,999 14,274,379 13,944,088 330,291 2.3 7.0 7.2 3.4
Rural 53,878,039 52,979,064 898,975 1.7 26.5 27.4 9.3
        Rural nonfarm 43,276,785 42,515,379 761,406 1.8 21.3 22.0 7.9
        Rural farm 10,601,254 10,463,685 137,569 1.3 5.2 5.4 1.4
1960*              
        Total 179,325,671 169,587,528 9,738,143 5.4 100.0 100.0 100.0
Urban 125,283,783 116,773,631 8,510,152 6.8 69.9 68.9 87.4
    Inside urbanized area 95,821,832 88,275,983 7,545,849 7.9 53.4 52.1 77.5
        Central cities 57,981,280 52,874,866 5,106,414 8.8 32.3 31.2 52.4
        Urban fringe 37,840,552 35,401,117 2,439,435 6.4 21.1 20.9 25.1
    Outside urbanized area 29,461,951 28,497,648 964,303 3.3 16.4 16.8 9.9
        10,000 or more 16,188,314 15,617,145 571,169 3.5 9.0 9.2 5.9
        2,500 to 9,999 13,273,637 12,880,503 393,134 3.0 7.4 7.6 4.0
Rural 54,041,888 52,813,897 1,227,991 2.3 30.1 31.1 12.6
        Rural nonfarm 40,596,990 39,589,369 1,007,621 2.5 22.6 23.3 10.3
        Rural farm 13,444,898 13,224,528 220,370 1.6 7.5 7.8 2.3
1940              
        Total 131,669,275 120,074,379 11,594,896 8.8 100.0 100.0 100.0
Urban 74,423,702 65,146,995 9,276,707 12.5 56.5 54.3 80.0
   100,000 or more 37,987,989 31,829,892 6,158,097 16.2 28.9 26.5 53.1
   2,500 to 99,999 36,435,713 33,317,103 3,118,610 8.6 27.7 27.7 26.9
Rural 57,245,573 54,927,384 2,318,189 4.0 43.5 45.7 20.0
   Rural nonfarm 27,029,385 25,644,685 1,384,700 5.1 20.5 21.4 11.9
   Rural farm 30,216,188 29,282,699 933,489 3.1 22.9 24.4 8.1
1930              
        Total 122,775,046 108,570,897 14,204,149 11.6 100.0 100.0 100.0
Urban 68,954,823 57,704,008 11,250,815 16.3 56.2 53.1 79.2
   100,000 or more 36,325,736 28,872,338 7,453,398 20.5 29.6 26.6 52.5
   2,500 to 99,999 32,629,087 28,831,670 3,797,417 11.6 26.6 26.6 26.7
Rural 53,820,223 50,866,889 2,953,334 5.5 43.8 46.9 20.8
   Rural nonfarm 23,662,710 21,934,261 1,728,449 7.3 19.3 20.2 12.2
   Rural farm 30,157,513 28,932,628 1,224,885 4.1 24.6 26.6 8.6
1920              
        Total 105,710,620 91,789,928 13,920,692 13.2 100.0 100.0 100.0
Urban 54,304,603 43,803,661 10,500,942 19.3 51.4 47.7 75.4
   100,000 or more 27,429,326 20,786,024 6,643,302 24.2 25.9 22.6 47.7
   2,500 to 99,999 26,875,277 23,017,637 3,857,640 14.4 25.4 25.1 27.7
Rural 51,406,017 47,986,267 3,419,750 6.7 48.6 52.3 24.6
1910              
        Total 91,972,266 78,456,380 13,515,886 14.7 100.0 100.0 100.0
Urban 42,623,383 32,877,686 9,745,697 22.9 46.3 41.9 72.1
   100,000 or more 20,302,138 14,419,064 5,883,074 29.0 22.1 18.4 43.5
   2,500 to 99,999 22,321,245 18,458,622 3,862,623 17.3 24.3 23.5 28.6
Rural 49,348,883 45,578,694 3,770,189 7.6 53.7 58.1 27.9
1900              
        Total 75,994,575 65,653,299 10,341,276 13.6 100.0 100.0 100.0
Urban 30,583,411 23,724,333 6,859,078 22.4 40.2 36.1 66.3
   100,000 or more 14,208,347 10,200,262 4,008,085 28.2 18.7 15.5 38.8
   Less than 100,000 16,375,064 13,524,071 2,850,993 17.4 21.5 20.6 27.6
       25,000 to 99,999 5,509,965 4,387,769 1,122,196 20.4 7.3 6.7 10.9
       2,500 to 24,999 10,865,099 9,136,302 1,728,797 15.9 14.3 13.9 16.7
Rural 45,411,164 41,928,966 3,482,198 7.7 59.8 63.9 33.7
1890              
        Total 62,622,250 53,372,703 9,249,547 14.8 100.0 100.0 100.0
Urban 22,559,367 16,880,232 5,679,135 25.2 36.0 31.6 61.4
   100,000 or more 9,697,960 6,613,312 3,084,648 31.8 15.5 12.4 33.3
   Less than 100,000 12,861,407 10,266,920 2,594,487 20.2 20.5 19.2 28.0
       25,000 to 99,999 4,291,608 3,294,329 997,279 23.2 6.9 6.2 10.8
       2,500 to 24,999 8,569,799 6,972,591 1,597,208 18.6 13.7 13.1 17.3
Rural 40,062,883 36,492,471 3,570,412 8.9 64.0 68.4 38.6
1880              
        Total 50,155,783 43,475,840 6,679,943 13.3 100.0 100.0 100.0
100,000 or more 6,210,909 4,260,285 1,950,624 31.4 12.4 9.8 29.2
25,000 to 99,999 2,394,284 1,829,060 565,224 23.6 4.8 4.2 8.5
Remainder of population 41,550,590 37,386,495 4,164,095 10.0 82.8 86.0 62.3
1870              
        Total 38,558,371 32,991,142 5,567,229 14.4 100.0 100.0 100.0
100,000 or more 4,129,989 2,657,925 1,472,064 35.6 10.7 8.1 26.4
25,000 to 99,999 1,698,357 1,195,776 502,581 29.6 4.4 3.6 9.0
Remainder of population 32,730,025 29,137,441 3,592,584 11.0 84.9 88.3 64.5

* Indicates sample data.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division
Authors: Campbell Gibson and Emily Lennon
Questions? / 1-866-758-1060
Last Revised: July 09, 2008 at 02:52:23 PM
Skip this navigation menu
People | Estimates | Projections | Glossary | Help