1970 United States census

The 1970 United States Census

The 1970 United States census was a big count of everyone living in the United States. It was done by the Census Bureau. They found that 203 million people lived in the country. This was more than the count from the 1960 census. It showed how fast the nation was growing.

This census was special because New York was no longer the most populous state. California became the most populous state in 1963 and stayed that way. It was also the first time every state had more than 300,000 people. A city in the South—Houston—had more than 1 million people.

The 1970 Census was important for civil rights. Laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 needed accurate information about race. For the first time, people identified their own race instead of someone else deciding for them. This helped make the census fairer and more accurate.

Top States in 1970

Here are the top five most populous states in 1970:

1. California - 19,953,134 people
2. New York - 18,236,967 people
3. Pennsylvania - 11,793,909 people
4. Texas - 11,196,730 people
5. Illinois - 11,113,976 people

Top Cities in 1970

The biggest cities in the United States in 1970 were:

1. New York - 7,894,862 people
2. Chicago - 3,366,957 people
3. Los Angeles - 2,816,061 people
4. Philadelphia - 1,948,609 people
5. Detroit - 1,511,482 people

Fun Fact

In 1970, Houston became the first city in the southern part of the United States to have more than one million people living there. This showed how cities in the South were growing too!