The State.-Wyoming was organized as a Territory in 1868 with boundaries as at present from parts of Dakota, Idaho, and Utah Territories. It was admitted to the Union in 1890 as the forty-fourth State. Its population on April 1, 1950, according to the Seventeenth Census, was 290,529. The State has a land area of 97,506 square miles. In 1950 there was an average of 3.0 inhabitants per square mile as compared with an average of 2.6 in 1940. Among the States and the District of Columbia, Wyoming ranked forty-eighth in population and eighth in land

area.

In 1870, the first year in which it was separately enumerated in a Federal census, Wyoming had a population of 9,118 (table 1). In 1950, 80 years later, the population was about 32 times as large. The rate of population growth was rapid in the nineteenth century, and the 1900 population was more than 10 times the 1870 figure. In the twentieth century, the growth has been at a more moderate rate, especially in the past three decades. Between 1940 and 1950 the population of the State increased by 39,787, or 15.9 percent.

Urban and rural population.--The 1950 urban population numbered 144,618 persons, or 49.8 percent of the population of the State (table 1). This population was living in the 19 urban places in the State. Nearly two-thirds of this urban population was living in the 5 cities of 10,000 or more inhabitants (table 2).

The rural population of Wyoming comprised 145,911 persons, or 50.2 percent of the population of the State (table 1). Of the rural population, 20,115 persons, or 13.8 percent, were living in the 11 incorporated places and 1 unincorporated place of 1,000 to 2,500 inhabitants (table 2).

Urban population according to new and old definitions.-Since there were no urban-fringe areas or unincorporated places of 2,500 inhabitants or more in Wyoming in 1950 and there were no areas urban under special rule in 1940, the distribution of the population by urban and rural residence is the same under both the new and old urban-rural definition. (See section below on "Urban and rural residence.")

Trends of urban and rural population.-The urban population of Wyoming rose from 26,657 in 1900 to 144,618 in 1950. More than two-fifths of the 50-year gain came in the period 1940 to 1950, when the urban population increased by 51,041, or 54.5 percent. In 1900, 28.8 percent of the population of the State was urban; by 1950 the corresponding percentage had risen to 49.8. All five of the cities of 10,000 inhabitants or more in 1950 shared in the increase in the urban population between 1940 and 1950 (table 4). The numerical increases ranged from 971 for Sheridan to 9,461 for Cheyenne. Casper and Laramie had increases of 5,709 and 4,954, respectively. The rates of gain ranged from 9.2 percent for Sheridan to 46.6 percent for Laramie. Between 1900 and 1950 the proportion of the population of the State living in cities of over 10,000 inhabitants more than doubled, increasing from 15.2 percent to 32.2 percent. In 1900 there had been 14,087 persons living in the one city of this sizeCheyenne. In 1950 there were 93,546 persons living in the five cities of this size (table 3).

The rural population of Wyoming increased from 65.874 à 1900 to 157,165 in 1940. Between 1940 and 1950, however, rural population declined for the first time in the history of th State. As a result of the decline of 11,254, or 7.2 percent, in th rural population and the large increase in the urban population the proportion of the population of the State classified as run dropped from 62.7 percent in 1940 to 50.2 percent in 1950. The corresponding percentage in 1900 was 71.2 (table 1).

Counties. The 23 counties in Wyoming ranged in population from Teton with 2,593 inhabitants to Laramie with 47,662 inhabitants (table 5). Yellowstone National Park, the greate part of which is in Wyoming, is independent of any county ganization. Of the 23 counties, 15 gained population and 8 last population between 1940 and 1950. The largest numerical crease was the gain of 14,011 for Laramie County. The gain this county accounted for more than one-third of the populati increase for the entire State. Of the 15 counties which increased in population between 1940 and 1950, 8 had rates of gain in excess of 20.0 percent. The most rapid rate of growth was the 41' percent increase for Laramie County. Of the eight counties whic lost population between 1940 and 1950, four-Campbell, Converse Lincoln, and Platte-were among the six counties which had lost population in the previous decade. Niobrara County, whic had a loss of 1,287, or 21.5 percent, led in both the amount and rate of decline.

Minor civil divisions. To the primary political divisions in which counties are divided, the Bureau of the Census applies the general term "minor civil divisions." In Wyoming the minor civil divisions are election districts. The incorporated cities and towns bear varying relationships to the election districts. An incorporated place may be part of an election district, may be coextensive with an election district, or may be a combination of all or parts of two or more election districts.

Table 6 shows statistics on the population of each county by minor civil divisions for the last three censuses. The population of each incorporated place is shown in italics under the population of the district in which it is located. When an incorporated place lies in two or more districts, the population of the several parts is shown in table 6 under the appropriate district, and each part is designated by "part." Figures on the total population of such places are given in table 7. The one unincorporated place, For Farm-Orchard Valley, is designated by "uninc." Changes be tween the 1940 and 1950 Censuses in the boundaries of areas listed are shown in notes to table 6. For changes in boundaries prior to the 1940 Census, see reports of the Sixteenth Census (1940), Population, Vol. I, pp. 1185-1187, and reports of earlier censuses. Incorporated and unincorporated places.—In 1950 there were 9 places in Wyoming incorporated as cities and 80 incorporated as towns. The incorporated places ranged in population from Lost Springs town with 9 inhabitants to Cheyenne city with 31,983 inhabitants. There were 182,870 persons living in the incorpe rated places, 38,252 of whom were in the 70 places of fewer than 2,500 inhabitants. There was also one unincorporated place of 1,000 inhabitants or more in the State. The unincorporated place, Fox Farms-Orchard Valley-had a population of 1,821

The definitions of the pertinent concepts used in the 1950 Census are given below. Several of these definitions differ from those used in 1940. The changes were made after consultation with users of census data in order to improve the statistics, even though it was recognized that comparability would be adversely affected. In many cases, the new definitions were tested in connection with the Current Population Survey; and, where feasible,

measures of the impact of the change on the statistics were developed. This survey, covering a sample of 25,000 households throughout the country, has been in operation since April 1940 and has provided national estimates of the employment status of the population (Current Population Reports, Series P-57, "The Monthly Report on the Labor Force"). The distribution of employed workers by major occupation group is included each

quarter in this series; and statistics on other subjects, such as narital status, school enrollment, migration, and income, are collected in the Current Population Survey and published annually n other series of Current Population Reports.

USUAL PLACE OF RESIDENCE

In accordance with Census practice dating back to 1790, each person enumerated in the 1950 Census was counted as an inhabitint of his usual place of residence or usual place of abode, that is, the place where he lives and sleeps most of the time. This place is not necessarily the same as his legal residence, voting residence, or domicile, although, in the vast majority of cases, the use of these different bases of classification would produce identical results.

In the application of this rule, persons were not always counted as residents of the places in which they happened to be found by the census enumerators. Persons in continental United States and Hawaii in places where guests usually pay for quarters (hotels, etc.) were enumerated there on the night of April 11, and those whose usual place of residence was elsewhere were allocated to their homes. Visitors found staying in private homes, however, were not ordinarily interviewed there. In addition, information on persons away from their usual place of residence was obtained from other members of their families, landladies, etc. If an entire family was expected to be away during the whole period of the enumeration, information on it was obtained from neighbors. A matching process was used to eliminate duplicate reports for persons who reported for themselves while away and were also reported by their families at home.

Persons in the armed forces quartered on military installations were enumerated as residents of the States, counties, and minor civil divisions in which their installations were located. Members of their families were enumerated where they actually resided. In the 1950 Census, college students living away from home were considered residents of the communities in which they were residing while attending college, whereas in 1940, as in most previous censuses, they were generally enumerated at their parental homes. This change affects the comparability of the 1950 and 1940 figures on education of persons of college age in States and local areas. Comparability of the statistics on other subjects may also be affected for areas containing large colleges or universities.

In 1950 the crews of vessels of the American Merchant Marine in harbors of the United States were counted as part of the population of the ports in which their vessels were berthed on April 1, 1950. In 1940 such persons were treated as part of the population of the port from which the vessel operated. Inmates of institutions, who ordinarily lived there for long periods of time, were counted as inhabitants of the place in which the institution was located; whereas patients in general hospitals, who ordinarily have short stays, were counted at, or allocated to, their homes. All persons without a usual place of residence were counted where they were enumerated.

COMPLETENESS OF ENUMERATION

The degree of completeness of enumeration has always been a matter of deep concern to the Bureau of the Census; and, in the course of its history, a number of devices have been developed to aid in securing adequate coverage. These devices include the special procedures for the enumeration of transients and infants, urging notifications from persons who believed that they may not have been enumerated, and the early announcement of population counts in local areas to make possible the thorough investigation of complaints as to the accuracy of the count. In the 1950 Census earlier procedures were strengthened and additional procedures were introduced. Adequate handling of the problem of underenumeration involves not only the development of techniques in order to insure satisfactory coverage but also methods of measuring the completeness of coverage.

Prior to 1950, no method had been devised to give an over-all direct measure of the completeness of enumeration of the total population. For the most part, discussion in census reports was confined to qualitative statements based on various kinds of evidence. Some quantitative measures were developed, however. For example, the underenumeration of children under 5 had been estimated for recent censuses by comparisons of census counts with survivors of births in the preceding five years. Such comparisons indicate that the total understatement in the published figure for this age group was about 810,000 in the 1950 Census, according to a provisional estimate, and about 860,000 in the 1940 Census; the corresponding percentages were 4.8 and 7.6, respectively.

In the 1950 Census the population of all ages was re-enumerated on a sample basis in a carefully conducted post-enumeration survey, thus permitting a direct check on a case-by-case basis of the actual enumeration. The results of this survey indicate a net underenumeration in the census count of the total population of the United States of about 2,100,000, or 1.4 percent.

URBAN AND RURAL RESIDENCE

According to the new definition that was adopted for use in the 1950 Census, the urban population comprises all persons living in (a) places of 2,500 inhabitants or more incorporated as cities, boroughs, and villages, (b) incorporated towns of 2,500 inhabitants or more except in New England, New York, and Wisconsin, where "towns" are simply minor civil divisions of counties, (c) the densely settled urban fringe, including both incorporated and unincorporated areas, around cities of 50,000 or more, and (d) unincorporated places of 2,500 inhabitants or more outside any urban fringe. The remaining population is classified as rural. According to the old definition, the urban population was limited to all persons living in incorporated places of 2,500 inhabitants or more and in areas (usually minor civil divisions) classified as urban under special rules relating to population size and density.

In both definitions, the most important component of the urban territory is the group of incorporated places having 2,500 inhabitants or more. A definition of urban territory restricted to such places would exclude a number of equally large and densely settled places, merely because they were not incorporated places. Under the old definition, an effort was made to avoid some of the more obvious omissions by the inclusion of the places classified as urban under special rules. Even with these rules, however, many large and closely built-up places were excluded from the urban territory. To improve the situation in the 1950 Census, the Bureau of the Census set up, in advance of enumeration, boundaries for urban-fringe areas around cities of 50,000 or more and for unincorporated places outside urban fringes. All the population residing in urban-fringe areas and in unincorporated places of 2,500 or more is classified as urban according to the 1950 definition. (Of course, the incorporated places of 2,500 or more in these fringes are urban in their own right.) Consequently, the special rules of the old definition are no longer necessary. Although the Bureau of the Census has employed other definitions in the course of its history, the statistics on the population by urban and rural residence shown for years prior to 1940 are in substantial accordance with the 1940 definition. All 1950 statistics on urban-rural residence presented in this volume are in accordance with the new definition unless otherwise specified in a given table.

Basic characteristics for urban and rural areas classified according to the old urban-rural definition are presented for the State in tables 13 and 15 and for counties in table 50. The 1950 figures presented in table 15 on age by color for persons in the rural-farm and rural-nonfarm population under the old urban-rural definition are partly estimated, since the detailed age by color distribution was not tabulated for the farm and nonfarm parts of the areas that are urban under the new definition but were rural under the old definition.

URBANIZED AREAS

As indicated above, one of the components of urban territory under the new definition of urban-rural residence is the urban fringe. Areas of this type in combination with the cities which they surround have been defined in the 1950 Census as urbanized

areas.

Each urbanized area contains at least one city with 50,000 inhabitants or more in 1940 or according to a special census taken since 1940. Each urbanized area also includes the surrounding closely settled incorporated places and unincorporated areas that comprise its urban fringe. The boundaries of these fringe areas were established to conform as nearly as possible to the actual boundaries of thickly settled territory, usually characterized by a closely spaced street pattern. The territory of an urbanized area may be classified into incorporated parts and unincorporated parts. (See urbanized area maps which follow table 9 in Chapter A.) An urbanized area also may be divided into central city or cities and urban fringe as defined below.

Central cities. Although an urbanized area may contain more than one city of 50,000 or more, not all cities of this size are necessarily central cities. The largest city of an area is always a central city. In addition, the second and third most populous cities in the area may qualify as central cities provided they have a population of at least one-third of that of the largest city in the area and a minimum of 25,000 inhabitants. The names of the individual urbanized areas indicate the central cities of the areas. The sole exception to this rule is found in the New York-Northeastern New Jersey Urbanized Area, the central cities of which are New York City, Jersey City, and Newark.

Urban fringe. The urban fringe includes that part of the urbanized area which is outside the central city or cities. The following types of areas are embraced if they are contiguous to the central city or cities or if they are contiguous to any area already included in the urban fringe:

1. Incorporated places with 2,500 inhabitants or more in 1940 or at a subsequent special census conducted prior to 1950.

2. Incorporated places with fewer than 2,500 inhabitants containing an area with a concentration of 100 dwelling units or more with a density in this concentration of 500 units or more per square mile. This density represents approximately 2,000 persons per square mile and normally is the minimum found associated with a closely spaced street pattern.

3. Unincorporated territory with at least 500 dwelling units per square mile.

4. Territory devoted to commercial, industrial, transportational, recreational, and other purposes functionally related to the central city.

Also included are outlying noncontiguous areas with the required dwelling unit density located within 11⁄2 miles of the main contiguous urbanized part, measured along the shortest connecting highway, and other outlying areas within one-half mile of such noncontiguous areas which meet the minimum residential density

rule.

TYPES OF PLACES

The term "place" refers to a concentration of population regardless of legally prescribed limits, powers, or functions. Thus, some areas having the legal powers and functions characteristic of incorporated places are not recognized as places.

Incorporated places. In a majority of instances, however, the legally prescribed limits of incorporated places serve to define concentrations of population. Of the 18,548 places recognized in the 1950 Census, 17,118 are incorporated as cities, towns, villages, or boroughs. In New England, New York, and Wisconsin, however, towns, although they may be incorporated, are minor civil divisions of counties and are not considered as places. Similarly, in the States in which townships possess powers and functions identical with those of villages, the township is not classified as a place. Although areas of this type are not recognized

as places, their densely settled portions may be recognized & unincorporated places or as a part of an urban fringe.

Unincorporated places. In addition to incorporated places the 1950 Census recognizes 1,430 unincorporated places. Ther unincorporated places, which contain heavy concentrations e population, are recognized as places by virtue of their physi resemblance to incorporated places of similar size. To make the recognition possible, the Bureau of the Census has defined boundaries for all unincorporated places of 1,000 inhabitants or me which lie outside the urban fringes of cities of 50,000 inhabitant or more. Because local practice as to incorporation varies eng siderably from one part of the country to another, some States have very few if any such unincorporated places and others have a great many. Although there are also unincorporated place within the urban fringe, it was not feasible to establish boundar for such places, and, therefore, they are not separately identified Urban places.-In the 1950 Census urban places compre incorporated and unincorporated places of 2,500 inhabitants et more. Because incorporated places of fewer than 2,500 whic lie in the urban fringe are not recognized as urban places ar: because unincorporated places of 2,500 or more are not identifie in the urban fringe, the total population of urban places is somwhat less than the total urban population.

FARM POPULATION-RURAL AND URBAN

The farm population for 1950, as for 1940 and 1930, includes all persons living on farms without regard to occupation. I: determining farm and nonfarm residence in the 1950 Cens however, certain special groups were classified otherwise than earlier censuses. In 1950, persons living on what might have been considered farm land were classified as nonfarm if they paid cast rent for their homes and yards only. A few persons in institutions. summer camps, "motels," and tourist camps were classified a farm residents in 1940, whereas in 1950 all such persons wer classified as nonfarm. For the United States as a whole, there is evidence from the Current Population Survey that the far population in 1950 would have been about 9 percent larger had the 1940 procedure been used.

In most tables, data by farm residence are presented for the rural-farm population only, since virtually all of the farm population is located in rural areas. Only 1.2 percent of the farm population lived in urban areas in 1950. Figures on the urbanfarm population are shown in tables 13, 34, 42, and 50.

RURAL-NONFARM POPULATION

The rural-nonfarm population includes all persons living outside urban areas who do not live on farms. In 1940 and earlier, persons living in the suburbs of cities constituted a large proportion of the rural-nonfarm population. The effect of the new urban-rural definition has been to change the classification of s considerable number of such persons to urban. The ruralnonfarm population is, therefore, somewhat more homogeneous than under the old definition. It still comprises, however, persons living in a variety of types of residences, such as isolated nonfart homes in the open country, villages and hamlets of fewer than 2,500 inhabitants, and some of the fringe areas surrounding the smaller incorporated places.

STANDARD METROPOLITAN AREAS

Origin and Purpose

It has long been recognized that, for many types of social and economic analysis, it is necessary to consider as a unit the entire population in and around the city whose activities form ar integrated social and economic system. Prior to the 1950 Census, areas of this type had been defined in somewhat different ways by various agencies. Leading examples were the metropolitan districts of the Census of Population, the industrial areas of the Census of Manufactures, and the labor market areas of the Bureau

of Employment Security. The usefulness of data published for any of these areas was limited by this lack of comparability.

Accordingly, the Bureau of the Census in cooperation with a number of other Federal agencies, under the leadership of the Bureau of the Budget, established the "standard metropolitan area" so that a wide variety of statistical data might be presented on a uniform basis. Since counties instead of minor civil divisions are used as the basic component of standard metropolitan areas except in the New England States, it was felt that many more kinds of statistics could be compiled for them than for metropolitan districts. These new areas supersede not only the metropolitan districts but also the industrial areas and certain other similar areas used by other Federal agencies.

Definitions

Except in New England, a standard metropolitan area is a county or group of contiguous counties which contains at least one city of 50,000 inhabitants or more. In addition to the county, or counties, containing such a city, or cities, contiguous counties are included in a standard metropolitan area if according to certain criteria they are essentially metropolitan in character and socially and economically integrated with the central city. For a description of the standard metropolitan areas in this State, if any, see p. xxx.

Criteria of metropolitan character.-These criteria relate primarily to the character of the county as a place of work or as a home for concentrations of nonagricultural workers and their dependents. Specifically, these criteria are:

1. The county must (a) contain 10,000 nonagricultural workers, or (b) contain 10 percent of the nonagricultural workers working in the standard metropolitan area, or (c) have at least one-half of its population residing in minor civil divisions with a population density of 150 or more per square mile and contiguous to the central city.

2. Nonagricultural workers must constitute at least twothirds of the total number of employed persons of the county.

Criteria of integration.-The criteria of integration relate primarily to the extent of economic and social communication between the outlying counties and the central county as indicated by such items as the following:

1. Fifteen percent or more of the workers residing in the contiguous county work in the county containing the largest city in the standard metropolitan area, or

2. Twenty-five percent or more of the persons working in the contiguous county reside in the county containing the largest city in the standard metropolitan area, or

3. The number of telephone calls per month to the county containing the largest city of the standard metropolitan area from the contiguous county is four or more times the number of subscribers in the contiguous county.

Areas in New England.-In New England, the city and town are administratively more important than the county, and data are compiled locally for such minor civil divisions. Here towns and cities were the units used in defining standard metropolitan areas, and some of the criteria set forth above could not be applied. In their place, a population density criterion of 150 or more persons per square mile, or 100 or more persons per square mile where strong integration was evident, has been used.

Central cities. Although there may be several cities of 50,000 or more in a standard metropolitan area, not all are necessarily central cities. The largest city in a standard metropolitan area is the principal central city. Any other city of 25,000 or more within a standard metropolitan area having a population amounting to one-third or more of the population of the principal city is also a central city. However, no more than three cities have been defined as central cities of any standard metropolitan area. The name of every central city is included in the name of the area, with the exception that in the case of the New York-Northeastern New Jersey Standard Metropolitan Area, "Jersey City" and "Newark”

are not part of the name. Data for standard metropolitan areas located in two or more States are presented in the report for the State containing the principal central city.

Difference Between Standard Metropolitan Areas and
Metropolitan Districts

Since the metropolitan district was built up from minor civil divisions and since the standard metropolitan area is usually composed of whole counties, the standard metropolitan area ordinarily includes a larger territory than the corresponding metropolitan district. There are, however, cases in which parts of the metropolitan district, as defined in 1940, do not fall within any standard metropolitan area. It is also true that in a number of cases single metropolitan districts of 1940 have been split into two standard metropolitan areas. Many metropolitan districts would have been changed, of course, had they been brought up to date for 1950.

In general then, the two kinds of areas are not comparable. Since metropolitan districts were defined almost wholly in terms of density and standard metropolitan areas include whole counties selected on the basis of more complicated criteria, the population density of the standard metropolitan areas is considerably lower on the average and shows more variation from one area to another. Differences between the two types of areas are relatively small in New England, and would have been even less had the inetropolitan districts been brought up to date.

Difference Between Standard Metropolitan Areas
and Urbanized Areas

The standard metropolitan area can be characterized as the metropolitan community as distinguished from both the legal city and the physical city. Standard metropolitan areas are larger than urbanized areas and in most cases contain an entire urbanized area. However, in a few instances, the fact that the boundaries of standard metropolitan areas are determined by county lines, and those of urbanized areas by the pattern of urban growth, means that there are small segments of urbanized areas which lie outside standard metropolitan areas. In general then, urbanized areas represent the thickly settled urban core of the standard metropolitan areas, with the exceptions noted above. Because of discontinuities in land settlement, there are also some cases in which a single standard metropolitan area contains two urbanized areas. The lists of urbanized areas and of standard metropolitan areas also differ somewhat because the former had to be established for cities of 50,000 or more before 1950, whereas the latter were established for cities of 50,000 or more as determined in the 1950 Census.

QUALITY OF data for SMALL AREAS

Data for the smaller areas represent the work of only a few enumerators (often only one or two). The misinterpretation by an enumerator of the instructions for a particular item may, therefore, have an appreciable effect on the statistics for a very small community-e. g., places of less than 10,000 inhabitants and particularly places of less than 2,500 inhabitants-even though it would have a negligible effect upon the figures for a large area.

MEDIANS

Medians are presented in connection with the data on age, years of school completed, and income which appear in this volume. The median is the value which divides the distribution into two equal parts-one-half of the cases falling below this value and one-half of the cases exceeding this value. In the computation of medians, cases for which the information was not reported are omitted. The median income for families and unrelated individuals is based on the total number reporting, including those reporting no income. The median income for persons is based on the distribution of those reporting $1 or more.

RACE AND COLOR

Definitions

The concept of race as it has been used by the Bureau of the Census is derived from that which is commonly accepted by the general public as reflected in the action of legislative and judicial bodies of the country. It does not, therefore, reflect clear-cut definitions of biological stock, and several categories obviously refer to nationalities. Although it lacks scientific precision, it is doubtful whether efforts toward a more scientifically acceptable definition would be appreciably productive, given the conditions under which census enumerations are carried out. The information on race is ordinarily not based on a reply to questions asked by the enumerator but rather is obtained by observation. Enumerators were instructed to ask a question when they were in doubt. Experience has shown that reasonably adequate identification of the smaller "racial" groups is made in areas where they are relatively numerous but that representatives of such groups may be misclassified in areas where they are rare.

Color. The term "color" refers to the division of population into two groups, white and nonwhite. The group designated as "nonwhite" consists of Negroes, Indians, Japanese, Chinese, and other nonwhite races. Persons of Mexican birth or ancestry who were not definitely Indian or of other nonwhite race were classified as white in 1950 and 1940. In the 1930 publications, Mexicans were included in the group "Other races," but the 1930 data published in this report have been revised to include Mexicans in the white population.

Negro. In addition to full-blooded Negroes, this classification also includes persons of mixed white and Negro parentage and persons of mixed Indian and Negro parentage unless the Indian blood very definitely predominates or unless the individual is accepted in the community as an Indian.

American Indian. In addition to full-blooded Indians, persons of mixed white and Indian blood are included in this category if they are enrolled on an Indian reservation or agency roll. Also included are persons of mixed Indian blood if the proportion of Indian blood is one-fourth or more, or if they are regarded as Indians within the community. Indians living in Indian Territory or on reservations were not included in the population until 1890. Other races. Separate statistics are given in this volume for Japanese and Chinese. The category "All other" includes Filipinos, Koreans, Asiatic Indians, etc.

Mixed Parentage

Persons of mixed parentage are classified according to the race of the nonwhite parent and mixtures of nonwhite races are generally classified according to the race of the father.

In 1950, for the first time, an attempt was made to identify persons of mixed white, Negro, and Indian ancestry living in certain communities in the eastern United States in a special category so they might be included in the categories "Other races" and "All other" rather than being classified white, Negro, or Indian. This identification was accomplished with varying degrees of success, however. These groups are not shown separately, but they are included in the "nonwhite" total. The communities in question are of long standing and are locally recognized by special names, such as "Siouian" or "Croatan," "Moor," and "Tunica." In previous censuses, there had been considerable variation in the classification of such persons by race.

AGE Definitions

The age classification is based on the age of the person at his last birthday as of the date of enumeration, that is, the age of the person in completed years. The enumerator was instructed to obtain the age of each person as of the date of his visit rather than as of April 1, 1950.

Assignment of Unknown Ages

When the age of a person was not reported, it was estimated on the basis of other available information such as marital status, school attendance, employment status, age of other members of the family, and type of household. Age was estimated by this procedure in the 1950 Census for 0.19 percent of the population of the United States. This method of assigning unknown ages on the basis of related information was used for the first time in the 1940 Census when estimates of age were made for 0.16 percent of the population of the United States. In previous censuses, with the exception of 1880, persons of unknown age were shown in a separate category.. The summary totals for "14 years and over" and "21 years and over” for earlier censuses presented in this volume include all persons of "unknown age" since there is evidence that most of the persons for whom age was not reported were in the age classes above these limits.

Errors in Age Statistics

A considerable body of evidence exists which indicates that age is misreported in several characteristic ways and that certain age groups are less completely enumerated than others in censuses. A comparison of age distributions from the 1950 Census with age distributions based on figures from the 1940 Census and brought up-to-date from official records of births, deaths, and migration, suggests that this generalization is also true for the 1950 Census. This comparison shows that, for the United States as a whole, there appears to be an underenumeration of children under 5 of approximately 4.8 percent as compared with about 7.6 percent in 1940. Males between the ages of 18 and 24 also appear to have been relatively underenumerated. Likewise, there appears to be a deficit of persons in the age range 55 to 64 years, which, however, is more than offset by an excess over the number expected in the age group 65 years old and over.

In addition to errors in the statistics for broad-age groups arising from underenumeration and the misstatement of age, there is a tendency to report age in multiples of 5. This tendency is apparent in statistics for single years of age in which the frequencies for single years ending in 0 and 5 are frequently greater than those for the two adjoining years. This type of misreporting presumably occurs in situations in which the respondent, in the absence of specific knowledge as to his exact age or the age of the person for whom he is reporting, gives an approximate figure. The returns also exaggerate the number of centenarians, particularly among nonwhite persons. In general, the degree of inaccuracy in reported ages is greater for adults than for children.

NATIVITY

In this volume, the population is classified according to place of birth into two basic groups, native and foreign born. A person born in the United States or any of its Territories or possessions is counted as native. Also included as native is the small group of persons who, although born in a foreign country or at sea, were American citizens by birth because their parents were American citizens. Since the Republic of the Philippines was established as an independent country in 1946, persons living in the United States who had been born in the Philippine Islands were classified as foreign born in the 1950 Census whereas in earlier censuses they had been classified as native. The small number of persons for whom place of birth was not reported were assumed to be native.

Because of the declining numerical importance of the foreignborn population, nativity has not been used so extensively for cross-classifications in 1950 as in earlier censuses. Information on the nativity and parentage of the white population and country of origin of the foreign white stock will be published in a special report. The distribution of the separate nonwhite races by nativity and more detailed data on the foreign-born nonwhite population will be presented in a later publication.