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Census Research Guide: 1930

About the 1930 Census

Census Bureau's "By Decade" website

Includes a variety of publications, questionnaires, datasets, and more

Highlights

  • 15th decennial census
  • US population: 122,775,046
  • California population: 5,677,251
  • Mexicans are given a separate classification in the census returns for the first time in 1930, having been included for the most part with the white population at prior censuses

Questions asked (see questionnaire)

Address; name; relationship to head of family; sex; race; age; marital status; age at first marriage; home owned or rented; value or monthly rental; radio set; whether family lives on a farm; school attendance; literacy; place of birth of person and parents; if foreign born , language spoken in home before coming to U.S; year of immigration; naturalization; ability to speak English; occupation, industry, and class of worker; whether at work previous day (or last regular working day); veteran status ; for Indians, whether of full or mixed blood, and tribal affiliation. Supplemental schedules for gainful workers not at work on the day preceding the enumeration; blind and deaf-mutes.

Finding Statistics

Social Explorer - remote access limited to UCSD affiliates

Finding Publications

Find all 1930 census publications in the library catalog.

Selected publications:

Vol I: Number and distribution of Inhabitants [C 3.14:930/7/v.1]

Vol II: General Report [C 3.14:930/7/v.2]

Vol III: Reports by states [C 3.14:930/7/v.3/pt1&pt.2]

Vol IV: Occupation Statistics [C 3.14:930/7/v.4]

Vol V: General Report on Occupations [C 3.14:930/7/v.5]

Vol VI: Families [C 3.14:930/7/v.6]

Vol VII: Foreign-Born White Families [C 3.14:930/7/v.7/reprint]

Outlying Territories and Posessions [C 3.14:930/8]

Unemployment [C 3.14:930/9/v.1&v.2]

Abstract of the 15th Census of the United States [C 3.14:930/10]

Metropolitan Districts [C 3.14:930/11/M 47]

Population: Panama Canal Zone [C 3.14:930/11/P 19]

The Indian Population of the United States and Alaska [C 3.14:930/11/P 47]

A Social-Economic Grouping of the Gainful Workers [C 3.14:930/11/P 87]