The data in the following table was provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
| Year | Population | Increase | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | - | - | - |
| 1990 | 248,709,873 | 22,167,674 | 9.8 |
| 1980 | 226,542,199 | 23,240,168 | 11.4 |
| 1970 | 203,302,031 | 23,978,856 | 13.4 |
| 1960 | 179,323,175 | 27,997,377 | 18.5 |
| 1950 | 151,325,798 | 19,161,229 | 14.5 |
| 1940 | 132,164,569 | 8,961,945 | 7.3 |
| 1930 | 123,202,624 | 17,181,087 | 16.2 |
| 1920 | 106,021,537 | 13,793,041 | 15.0 |
| 1910 | 92,228,496 | 16,016,328 | 21.0 |
| 1900 | 76,212,168 | 13,232,402 | 21.0 |
| 1890 | 62,979,766 | 12,790,557 | 25.5 |
| 1880 | 50,189,209 | 11,630,838 | 30.2 |
| 1870 | 38,558,371 | 7,115,050 | 22.6 |
| 1860 | 31,443,321 | 8,251,445 | 35.6 |
| 1850 | 23,191,876 | 6,128,523 | 35.9 |
| 1840 | 17,063,353 | 4,202,651 | 32.7 |
| 1830 | 12,860,702 | 3,222,249 | 33.4 |
| 1820 | 9,638,453 | 2,298,572 | 33.1 |
| 1810 | 7,239,881 | 1,931,398 | 36.4 |
| 1800 | 5,308,483 | 1,379,269 | 35.1 |
| 1790 | 3,929,214 | - | - |