The 1790 United States census recorded a total population of 3,929,214 people.
It was the first national census, conducted under Article One, Section Two of the United States Constitution. Census Day was August 2, 1790, and United States marshals collected the information in the judicial districts.
The count covered the original states, the districts of Kentucky and Maine, and the Southwest Territory. Virginia was the most populous state, with 747,610 inhabitants, while Delaware was the least populous, with 59,094.
The total did not represent the population under modern census rules. Enslaved people were counted under the Constitution's three-fifths compromise, while many Native Americans outside the tax-paying system were excluded. The next census, in 1800, established the federal census as a regular decade-by-decade institution.