After 72 years under lock and key, the 1940 United States Census was released this morning. Accessing census records has never been easier. All the files have been digitized, a labor-intensive effort that involved scanning millions of documents.
According to the 1940 Census there were 132 million people living in the United States, a 7 percent increase from 1930. Taken in the midst of the Great Depression, the records are particularly revealing. For the first time ever, workers asked about household income as well as the education level of all those in the house.
