was considerably less than in the preceding decades. Never before in a 10-year period had the rate of increase fallen below 20 per cent. The decline was due to the large falling off of immigration in the last half of the decade, and in some slight degree to the epidemic of influenza in 1918, as well as to the casualties resulting from the World War. It was estimated that the pop. of the outlying possessions was 12,148,875, of which the Philippine Is. furnished more than 10,000,000. The total pop. of the United States with its outlying possessions in 1920, therefore, numbered 117,859,495. Excluding the outlying possessions, the total addition to the pop. in the decade 1910-20 was 13,738,354 as compared with nearly 16,000,000 in the previous decade.
The accompanying table shows the pop. by territorial divisions and component states, with changes between 1910 and 1920.
Increase of Population
| 1920 | 1910 | Increase | Increase per cent | |
| NEW ENGLAND | ||||
| Maine | 768,014 | 742,371 | 25,643 | 3.5 |
| New Hampshire | 443,083 | 430,572 | 12,511 | 2.9 |
| Vermont | 352,428 | 355,956 | −3,528 | −1.0 |
| Massachusetts | 3,852,356 | 3,366,416 | 485,940 | 14.4 |
| Rhode Island | 604,397 | 542,610 | 61,787 | 11.4 |
| Connecticut | 1,380,631 | 1,114,756 | 265,875 | 23.9 |
| 7,400,909 | 6,552,681 | 848,228 | 12.9 | |
| MIDDLE ATLANTIC | ||||
| New York | 10,385,227 | 9,113,614 | 1,271,613 | 14.0 |
| New Jersey | 3,155,900 | 2,537,167 | 618,733 | 24.4 |
| Pennsylvania | 8,720,017 | 7,665,111 | 1,054,906 | 13.8 |
| 22,261,144 | 19,315,892 | 2,945,252 | 15.2 | |
| EAST NORTH CENTRAL | ||||
| Ohio | 5,759,394 | 4,767,121 | 992,273 | 20.8 |
| Indiana | 2,930,390 | 2,700,876 | 229,514 | 8.5 |
| Illinois | 6,485,280 | 5,638,591 | 846,689 | 15.0 |
| Michigan | 3,668,412 | 2,810,173 | 858,239 | 30.5 |
| Wisconsin | 2,632,067 | 2,333,860 | 298,207 | 12.8 |
| 21,475,543 | 18,250,621 | 3,224,922 | 17.7 | |
| WEST NORTH CENTRAL | ||||
| Minnesota | 2,387,125 | 2,075,708 | 311,417 | 15.0 |
| Iowa | 2,404,021 | 2,224,771 | 179,250 | 8.1 |
| Missouri | 3,404,055 | 3,293,335 | 110,720 | 3.4 |
| North Dakota | 646,872 | 577,056 | 69,816 | 12.1 |
| South Dakota | 636,547 | 583,888 | 52,659 | 9.0 |
| Nebraska | 1,296,372 | 1,192,214 | 104,158 | 8.7 |
| Kansas | 1,769,257 | 1,690,949 | 78,308 | 4.6 |
| 12,544,249 | 11,637,921 | 906,328 | 7.8 | |
| SOUTH ATLANTIC | ||||
| Delaware | 223,003 | 202,322 | 20,681 | 10.2 |
| Maryland | 1,449,661 | 1,295,346 | 154,315 | 11.9 |
| District of Columbia | 437,571 | 331,069 | 106,502 | 32.2 |
| Virginia | 2,309,187 | 2,061,612 | 247,575 | 12.0 |
| West Virginia | 1,463,701 | 1,221,119 | 242,582 | 19.9 |
| North Carolina | 2,559,123 | 2,206,287 | 352,836 | 16.0 |
| South Carolina | 1,683,724 | 1,515,400 | 168,324 | 11.1 |
| Georgia | 2,895,832 | 2,609,121 | 286,711 | 11.0 |
| Florida | 968,470 | 752,619 | 215,851 | 28.7 |
| 13,990,272 | 12,194,895 | 1,795,377 | 14.7 | |
| EAST SOUTH CENTRAL | ||||
| Kentucky | 2,416,630 | 2,289,905 | 126,725 | 5.5 |
| Tennessee | 2,337,885 | 2,184,789 | 153,096 | 7.0 |
| Alabama | 2,348,174 | 2,138,093 | 210,081 | 9.8 |
| Mississippi | 1,790,618 | 1,797,114 | −6,496 | −0.4 |
| 8,893,307 | 8,409,901 | 483,406 | 5.7 | |
| WEST SOUTH CENTRAL | ||||
| Arkansas | 1,752,204 | 1,574,449 | 177,755 | 11.3 |
| Louisiana | 1,798,509 | 1,656,388 | 142,121 | 8.6 |
| Oklahoma | 2,028,283 | 1,657,155 | 371,128 | 22.4 |
| Texas | 4,663,228 | 3,896,542 | 766,686 | 19.7 |
| 10,242,224 | 8,784,534 | 1,457,690 | 16.6 | |
| MOUNTAIN | ||||
| Montana | 548,889 | 376,053 | 172,836 | 46.0 |
| Idaho | 431,866 | 325,594 | 106,272 | 32.6 |
| Wyoming | 194,402 | 145,965 | 48,437 | 33.2 |
| Colorado | 939,629 | 799,024 | 140,605 | 17.6 |
| New Mexico | 360,350 | 327,301 | 33,049 | 10.1 |
| Arizona | 334,162 | 204,354 | 129,808 | 63.5 |
| Utah | 449,396 | 373,351 | 76,045 | 20.4 |
| Nevada | 77,407 | 81,875 | −4,468 | −5.5 |
| 3,336,101 | 2,633,517 | 702,584 | 26.7 | |
| PACIFIC | ||||
| Washington | 1,356,621 | 1,141,990 | 214,631 | 18.8 |
| Oregon | 783,389 | 672,765 | 110,624 | 16.4 |
| California | 3,426,861 | 2,377,549 | 1,049,312 | 44.1 |
| 5,566,871 | 4,192,304 | 1,374,567 | 32.8 |
There was no change between 1910 and 1920 in the relative rank of the territorial divisions, and only minor shiftings for most of the states, California rising from 12th to 8th place. The territorial divisions may be further condensed into geographic sections north (comprising New England, Middle Atlantic states, and the two North Central divisions), south (comprising the South Atlantic and South Central divisions) and west (including the Mountain and Pacific states). This gives the following distribution:—
| 1920 | Per cent of total |
Increase over 1910 |
Rate of increase | |
| North | 63,681,845 | 60.2 | 7,924,730 | 14.0 |
| South | 33,125,803 | 31.3 | 3,736,473 | 12.7 |
| West | 8,902,972 | 8.5 | 2,077,151 | 30.4 |
| Total U.S. | 105,710,620 | 100.0 | 13,738,354 | 14.9 |
More than one-half the increase in pop. was found in the north, and the rate of gain in this section was greater than in the south, but less than in the west represented by the Mountain and Pacific Coast states.
Sex.—By sex the pop. in 1920 was divided: males 53,900,376; females, 51,810,244. This gives 104 males to 100 females. The excess of males is attributable in part to immigration, for in the foreign-born pop. the males greatly outnumber the females. In a few states the females are in excess of males; in Massachusetts the number of males was 96.3 to 100 females; in Rhode Island, 97. This is probably due to the inflow of female operatives to the textile factories. In some of the far-western states the proportion of males to females runs very high, as in Nevada, 148.4; Wyoming, 131.3; Arizona, 121.9. The mining industry accounts for these differences. The two sexes in these sections, however, are nearer in numbers than in 1910. In the earlier year the ratio of males for the Mountain states was 128 to 100 females, while in 1920 it fell to 115.7. In the Pacific states the ratio dropped from 130 to 114. This is evidence that these sections are rapidly approaching the standard forms of family life which obtain in the older portions of the country.
Negroes.—The negro pop. in 1920 was nearly 10% of the total pop.—10,463,131 in a total of 105,710,620. This was an increase of 635,368 or 6.5% since 1910, as compared with 11.4% in the previous decade, and 13.8% between 1890 and 1900. The percentage of negroes in the total pop. is diminishing; in 1900 it was 11.6%; in 1910, 10.7% and in 1920, 9.9%. The number of negroes per 1,000 whites was 132 in 1900; 120 in 1910 and 110 in 1920. Although complete data are not available, it is believed that the birth-rate of negroes declined between 1900 and 1920 while the death-rate did not greatly change. The negro element in the south barely held its own in the 10 years 1910-20, numbering 8,912,259 in 1920 as compared with 8,749,427 in 1910. This was a gain for this section of less than 2 per cent. In the south as a whole the percentage of negroes in the total pop. declined from 29.8 to 26.6. In 1920, in South Carolina and Mississippi the negroes still outnumbered the whites; in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, however, there was an actual falling off in the negro population. There was a marked gain in the number of negroes in the north, 9.43%, showing that negroes were migrating in considerable numbers to the industrial centres of that section. The negro pop. of Michigan increased from 17,000 in 1910 to over 60,000 in 1920. (See Negro.)
The number of Indians declined from 265,683 in 1910 to 242,959 in 1920. This apparent decrease, however, is probably due to the fact that in 1910 persons with only slight traces of Indian blood were enumerated as Indians, and in 1920 were classified as whites.
