In the United States census, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) define a set of self-identified categories of race and ethnicity chosen by residents, with which they most closely identify. Residents can indicate their origins alongside their race, and are asked specifically whether they are of Hispanic or Latino origin in a separate question.
Race and ethnicity are considered separate and distinct identities, with a person's origins considered in the census. Racial categories in the United States represent a social-political construct for the race or races that respondents consider themselves to be and, "generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country". The OMB defines the concept of race as outlined for the census to be not "scientific or anthropological", and takes into account "social and cultural characteristics as well as ancestry", using "appropriate scientific methodologies" that are not "primarily biological or genetic in reference." The race categories include both racial and national-origin groups.
From the first United States Census in 1790 to the 1960 Census, the government's census enumerators chose a person's race. Racial categories changed over time, with different groups being added and removed with each census. Since the 1970 Census, Americans provide their own racial self-identification. This change was due to the reforms brought about by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which required more accurate census data.Hephzibah V. Strmic-Paul, Brandon A. Jackson, and Steve Garner, "Race Counts: Racial and Ethnic Data on the U.S. Census and the Implications for Tracking Inequality," Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 4, no. 1 (2018): 1–13. Since the 1980 Census, in addition to their race or races, all respondents are categorized by membership in one of two ethnic categories, which are "Hispanic or Latino" and "Not Hispanic or Latino." This practice of separating "race" and "ethnicity" as different categories has been criticized both by the American Anthropological Association and members of US Commission on Civil Rights.
Since the 2000 Census, Americans have been able to identify as more than one race. In 1997, the OMB issued a Federal Register notice regarding revisions to the standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity. The OMB developed race and ethnic standards in order to provide "consistent data on race and ethnicity throughout the federal government". The development of the data standards stem in large measure from new responsibilities to enforce civil rights laws. Among the changes, The OMB issued the instruction to "mark one or more races" after noting evidence of increasing numbers of mixed-race children and wanting to record diversity in a measurable way after having received requests by people who wanted to be able to acknowledge theirs and their children's full ancestry, rather than identifying with only one group. Prior to this decision, the census and other government data collections asked people to report singular races.
As of 2023, the OMB built on the 1997 guidelines and suggested the addition of a Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) racial category and considered combining racial and ethnic categories into one question. In March 2024, the Office of Management and Budget published revisions to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity that included a combined question and a MENA category, while also collecting additional detail to enable data disaggregation.
Data on race and ethnicity The OMB states, "many federal programs are put into effect based on the race data obtained from the decennial census (i.e., promoting equal employment opportunities; assessing racial disparities in health and environmental risks). Race data is also critical for the basic research behind many policy decisions. States require this data to meet legislative redistricting requirements. The data is needed to monitor compliance with the Voting Rights Act by local jurisdictions".
Data on ethnic groups are important for putting into effect a number of federal statutes (i.e., enforcing bilingual election rules under the Voting Rights Act and monitoring/enforcing equal employment opportunities under the Civil Rights Act). Data on ethnic groups is also needed by local governments to run programs and meet legislative requirements (i.e., identifying segments of the population who may not be receiving medical services under the Public Health Service Act; evaluating whether financial institutions are meeting the credit needs of minority populations under the Community Reinvestment Act).
History
18th and 19th centuries 1790 census
The 1790 United States census was the first census in the history of the United States. The population of the United States was recorded as 3,929,214 as of Census Day, August 2, 1790, as mandated by Article I, Section 2 of the US Constitution and applicable laws.
The law required that every household be visited, that completed census schedules be posted in two of the most public places within each jurisdiction, remain for the inspection of all concerned, and that "the aggregate amount of each description of persons" for every district be transmitted to the president. The US Marshals were also responsible for governing the census.
Loss of data About one-third of the original census data has been lost or destroyed since documentation. The data was lost in 1790–1830, and included data from Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia. However, the census was proven factual and the existence of most of this data can be confirmed in many secondary sources pertaining to the first census.
Data Census data included the name of the head of the family and categorized inhabitants as: free white males at least 16 years of age (to assess the country's industrial and military potential), free white males under 16 years of age, free white females, all other free persons (reported by sex and color), and slaves. Thomas Jefferson, then the Secretary of State, directed US Marshals to collect data from all 13 original states, and from the Southwest Territory. The census was not conducted in Vermont until 1791, after that state's admission to the Union as the 14th state on March 4 of that year.
District Free white males at least 16 years of age, including heads of families Free white males under 16 years Free white females, including heads of families All other free persons Slaves Total Vermont 22,435 22,328 40,505 271 0The census of 1790, published in 1791, reports 16 slaves in Vermont. Subsequently, and up to 1860, the number is given as 17. An examination of the original manuscript allegedly shows that no slaves were ever in Vermont. The original error occurred in preparing the results for publication, when 16 persons, returned as "Free colored", were carried forward to the following page as "Slave". See for details. 85,539Corrected figures are 85,425, or 114 less than the figures published in 1790, due to an error of addition in the returns for each of the towns of Fairfield, Milton, Shelburne, and Williston, in the county of Chittenden; Brookfield, Newbury, Randolph, and Strafford, in the county of Orange; Castleton, Clarendon, Hubbardton, Poultney, Rutland, Shrewsburg, and Wallingford, in the county of Rutland; Dummerston, Guilford, Halifax, and Westminster, in the county of Windham; and Woodstock, in the county of Windsor. New Hampshire 36,086 34,851 70,160 630 158 141,885 Maine 24,384 24,748 46,870 538 0 96,540 Massachusetts 95,453 87,289 190,582 5,463 0 378,787The figures for Massachusetts do not include the population of Maine. Though Maine was then a part of Massachusetts, the Maine figures were compiled separately, and are shown on the line for Maine. Rhode Island 16,019 15,799 32,652 3,407 948 68,825 Connecticut 60,523 54,403 117,448 2,808 2,764 237,946 New York 83,700 78,122 152,320 4,654 21,324 340,120 New Jersey 45,251 41,416 83,287 2,762 11,423 184,139 Pennsylvania 110,788 106,948 206,363 6,537 3,737 434,373 Delaware 11,783 12,143 22,384 3,899 8,887 59,094Corrected figures are 59,096, or 2 more than figures published in 1790, due to error in addition. Maryland 55,915 51,339 101,395 8,043 103,036 319,728 Virginia 110,936 116,135 215,046 12,866 292,627 747,610The figures for Virginia do not include the population of Kentucky. Though Kentucky was then a part of Virginia, the Kentucky figures were compiled separately, and are shown on the line for Kentucky. The Virginia figures do include the portion of Virginia that later became the state of West Virginia. Kentucky 15,154 17,057 28,922 114 12,430 73,677 North Carolina 69,988 77,506 140,710 4,975 100,572 393,751 South Carolina 35,576 37,722 66,880 1,801 107,094 249,073 Georgia 13,103 14,044 25,739 398 29,264 82,548 Total 807,094 791,850 1,541,263 59,150 694,280 3,893,635
Contemporary perception
Some doubt surrounded the numbers, as President George Washington and Thomas Jefferson maintained the population was undercounted. The potential reasons Washington and Jefferson may have thought this could be refusal to participate, poor public transportation and roads, spread-out population, and restraints of current technology.
Data availability No microdata from the 1790 population census are available, but aggregate data for small areas and their compatible cartographic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System. However, the categories of "Free white males" of 16 years and upward, including heads of families under 16 years, "Free white females", including heads of families, All other free persons, and "Slaves," existed in the census form.
1800 and 1810 census In 1800 and 1810, the age question regarding free white males was more detailed with five cohorts and included All other free persons, except "Indians not taxed", and "Slaves".
1820 census The 1820 census built on the questions asked in 1810 by asking age questions about slaves. Also the term "colored" entered the census nomenclature. In addition, a question stating "Number of foreigners not naturalized" was included.
1830 census In the 1830 census, a new question, which stated, "The number of White persons who were foreigners not naturalized" was included.
1840 census The 1840 census was the last census conducted by U.S. marshals. This was due to the Northern members of the Whig Party opposing the controversial claim in the 1840 census that free Black Americans in the Northern United States suffered from a higher degree of "insane" or "idiotic" behavior compared to enslaved Black Americans. Starting in 1850, the Department of the Interior used a specialized census bureau to tabulate the census.
1850 census The 1850 census had a dramatic shift in the way information about residents was collected. For the first time, free persons were listed individually instead of by head of household. Two questionnaires were used – one for free inhabitants and one for slaves. The question on the free inhabitants schedule about color was a column that was to be left blank if a person were white, marked "B" if a person were black, and marked "M" if a person were mulatto. Slaves were listed by owner, and classified by gender and age, not individually, and the question about color was a column that was to be marked with a "B" if the slave were black and an "M" if mulatto.
1890 census