U.S. Department of Commerce

History

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Overview

Fulfilling the U.S. Constitution's requirement to count the population has been a complex operation since the first census in 1790. In this section, you can learn about legislation related to the censuses, the efforts to improve the count, and the technical innovations introduced to improve data collection, processing, and publication.


1960 census in Hawaii
Taking the 1960 census in Hawaii.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau | Census History Staff | Last Revised: September 27, 2012