The Tabulation of Population Data by Census Tracts for Cities in the United States

Abstract

The absolute unit in the population census is the entry for one person made by the enumerator on one line of the Population Schedule. Space is provided on the schedule for the answers to a maximum of 26 questions about each individual, and for 100 individuals. The preliminary announcements of the total population of the various areas in the United States are based on a count of the names on the schedules. The first stage in the process of tabulating the answers to the census questions is to examine the schedules to make sure that the entries are complete, and to supply code numbers for certain items, like State or country of birth and occupation. The second step in the tabulation process is to punch a card for each person. The population card contains 15 fields, in each of which are punched one or more holes, indicating the answers to the questions on the schedule. These cards are punched by enumeration districts; that is, there is at the start a separate box of cards for each enumeration district. A brief tabulation, classifying the population by sex, by color, and by age, is made by enumeration districts. This we call the First Count. For the next tabulation, the cards are thrown together in general by counties, keeping separate, however, the cards for every incorporated place having 2,500 inhabitants or more, and for the wards of the larger cities. For this tabulation the cards are first sorted by sex, and then by color, and those representing the white population, by nativity and parentage. This makes 10 packs of cards for each geographic area. In the tabulation known as the Second Count, information is obtained by sex, color, nativity, and parentage, for age, illiteracy, school attendance, and marital condition. On the Third Count, which covers the same areas, the foreign-born whites are tabulated by citizenship and by country of birth, and the native whites of foreign or mixed parentage by country of birth of parents. On the Fourth Count, retaining for the northern states the sort by sex, and for the southern states, the sort by sex and color, the cards representing gainful workers are tabulated by industries and industry groups. The material which has been transcribed for tract cities is practically all taken from the Second, Third, and Fourth Counts. In some cases the information from the First Count has been furnished by enumeration districts for areas not provided for in the tract layout. After the Fourth Count is finished, the cards for the counties in each