From Census Year to Census Year: U.S. Population 10-Year Growth Rates, 1900-2010

The federal government is required by the U.S. Constitution to take a  full census of the U.S. population every 10 years.

The first U.S. census was held in 1790, and one has been taken every ten years since then.

The chart at left chronicles the 10-year growth rates of the U.S. population from 1900 to 2010.  The 10-year increments are from census year to census year.

The chart at left shows the variation in these population growth rates from census year to census year.  The most recent census (2010) measured a U.S. population increase of 9.7% (the years 2000-2010), a modest increase compared to most of the other growth rates charted on this graph.

In fact, from 1900 to 2010, only the 1940 Census measured a smaller inter-census population increase than the one measured by the 2010 Census.  Due in large part to the economic deprivation of the  Great Depression, the U.S. population grew only 7.3% from 1930 to 1940.