1970 United States Census


The United States Census of 1970, conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States to be 203,392,031, an increase of 13.4 percent over the 179,323,175 persons enumerated during the 1960 Census. This was the first census since 1800 in which New York was not the most populous state – California overtook it in population in November 1962. This was also the first census in which all states recorded a population of over 300,000, and the first in which a city in the geographic South recorded a population of over 1 million.

Data availability

from the 1970 census are freely available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System. These data were originally created and disseminated by DUALabs. Personally identifiable information will be available in 2042.

State rankings

RankStatePopulation as of
1970 Census		Population as of
1960 Census		ChangePercent
change
119,953,13415,717,2044,235,930 27.0%
218,236,96716,782,3041,454,663 8.7%
311,793,90911,319,366474,543 4.2%
411,196,7309,579,6771,617,053 16.9%
511,113,97610,081,1581,032,818 10.2%
610,652,0179,706,397945,620 9.7%
78,875,0837,823,1941,051,889 13.4%
87,168,1646,066,7821,101,382 18.2%
96,789,4434,951,5601,837,883 37.1%
105,689,1705,148,578540,592 10.5%
115,193,6694,662,498531,171 11.4%
125,082,0594,556,155525,904 11.5%
134,676,5014,319,813356,688 8.3%
144,648,4943,966,949681,545 17.2%
154,589,5753,943,116646,459 16.4%
164,417,7313,951,777465,954 11.8%
173,923,6873,567,089356,598 10.0%
183,922,3993,100,689821,710 26.5%
193,804,9713,413,864391,107 11.5%
203,641,3063,257,022384,284 11.8%
213,444,1653,266,740177,425 5.4%
223,409,1692,853,214555,955 19.5%
233,218,7063,038,156180,550 5.9%
243,031,7092,535,234496,475 19.6%
252,824,3762,757,53766,839 2.4%
262,590,5162,382,594207,922 8.7%
272,559,2292,328,284230,945 9.9%
282,246,5782,178,61167,967 3.1%
292,216,9122,178,14138,771 1.8%
302,207,2591,753,947453,312 25.8%
312,091,5331,768,687322,846 18.3%
321,923,2951,786,272137,023 7.7%
331,745,9441,302,161443,783 34.1%
341,744,2371,860,421-116,184 -6.2%
351,483,4931,411,33072,163 5.1%
361,059,273890,627168,646 18.9%
371,017,055951,02366,032 6.9%
38992,048969,26522,783 2.4%
39946,725859,48887,237 10.1%
40769,913632,772137,141 21.7%
-756,510763,956-7,446 -1.0%
41737,681606,921130,760 21.5%
42712,567667,19145,376 6.8%
43694,409674,76719,642 2.9%
44665,507680,514-15,007 -2.2%
45617,761632,446-14,685 -2.3%
46548,104446,292101,812 22.8%
47488,738285,278203,460 71.3%
48444,330389,88154,449 14.0%
49332,416330,0662,350 0.7%
50300,382226,16774,215 32.8%

City rankings

Conclusions

California took over as the most populous state, New York had previously been ranked number one. While the entire country increased to more than 204 million persons, four states lost population with West Virginia leading the list, down 8 and a half percent from 1960.