A Short Retrospective on 20th Century U.S. Population Change.

• Author: Besl, John
• Position: Statistical Data Included

The initial release of Census 2000 data, in the form of state population counts, enables researchers to take a look back at 20th century population change in the United States. From a predominantly rural country of 76.2 million persons in 1900 to a mostly urban-suburban population totaling 281.4 million in 2000, the U.S. more than tripled in population size over the course of the 20th century. The net gain of 205.2 million Americans represents a growth rate of 269 percent over 100 years.

For Indiana, the century's population change was less dramatic. In 1900, 2.5 million residents were counted in Indiana. One hundred years later, the 2000 census enumerated 6.1 million Hoosiers, a gain of 3.6 million persons, or 142 percent.

More could be written about the country's cumulative population change in the past century, but another intriguing avenue for census data analysis is the opportunity to compare and examine 10 distinct decades of population change for 50 states. Each state and decade was, of course, characterized by a different set of demographic dynamics. Figure 1 portrays a simple comparison of population growth rates for the United States, Indiana, and the Midwest census region (composed of 12 states, including Indiana), for each decade of the 20th century. In each of the first three decades, the Hoosier state's population growth rate trailed both the Midwest region and the U.S. The largest gap between the U.S. and Indiana growth rates, almost 14 percentage points, occurred in the 1900-1910 decade.

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A close inspection of the chart reveals that Indiana lagged behind the U.S. in percent change for eight of 10 decades, holding a slight advantage only in the 1940-1950 interval and matching the national trend in the following decade. In comparison with the Midwest, Indiana's growth rate exceeds the regional rate in six of 10 decades. The largest Indiana advantage over the Midwest came in the 1940s, when the Hoosier state grew by 15 percent, compared to 11 percent for the Midwest. In the 1950-1960 decade, both Indiana and the Midwest reached their 20th century high-water marks in population growth rate: 18.5 percent for Indiana, and 16.1 percent for the Midwest. This same decade saw the U.S. post its second highest growth rate of the century, matching Indiana with an increase of 18.5 percent. The U.S. achieved its highest 20th century growth rate, 21.0 percent, in the 1900-1910 decade. The country's lowest decennial...