1940 U.S. census data shows how America has changed in 72 years

Most recent Canadian census data is from 1911

Thanks to our census reports, we know the population of Canada is more than 33 million, it has doubled since 1961 and Milton, Ont. has the fastest rate of growth. To protect the privacy of living Canadians, the records are kept confidential for 92 years. However, in the U.S., they release records after 72 years and the 1940 census was just released.

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Americans may be even more interested in their 1940 data than in the most recent data. Shortly after sending out a tweet about the data being released, the U.S. National Archives website received so many hits that it nearly paralyzed the site. The overload of interest may be because the newly released records allow people to learn detailed information about their family's past. They include names, addresses, income, employment information and other personal details.

So what does the census tell us about how the U.S. has changed in 72 years? A new infographic shows us.

For starters, there are more women than men now, which wasn't the case in 1940. In 1940 the census cost $1 billion (in 2010 dollars to produce) and in 2010 it cost $12.4 billion. Despite that drastically increased cost, the number of questions is less than a third. In 1940 respondents had to answer 34 questions, compared to only 10 in 2010.

In 1940 there were no Hispanic, Asian or Native American people listed on the census, but now many different races are listed and the percentage of white people has decreased.

The population has more than doubled since 1940 from 132 million to 308 million in 2010. The most populous state is California and no longer New York but New York City is still the most populated city. In 1940, some of the occupations listed were salesman, labourer, shipyard worker and farmer, but now jobs listed are laboratory technician, Internet publishing, Air transportation and HR manager.

The mean salary for men in 1940 adjusted to inflation was under $15,000 and for women was just more than $9,000. Median income for men now is more than $33,000 and for women is $24,000. Those wages may be up because in 1940 only five per cent of Americans had a bachelor's degree or higher. Now that number is up to 28 per cent.

In Canada, the most recent census to be released is from 1911. In that year the population was more than seven million in nine provinces with the most populous province being Ontario with two and a half million people. It was also that last year people were asked if they were "feeble-minded".

(Infographic courtesy of Homeinsurance.org)