The first United States census, taken in 1790 before America250, recorded a population of 3,929,214.
Census Day was August 2, 1790. Marshals of the federal judicial districts collected the information under a law passed pursuant to Article I, Section 2, of the Constitution. The enumeration covered the thirteen states and the Southwest Territory.
Virginia was the most populous state in the first census, with 747,610 people. Delaware was the least populous state, with 59,094. Vermont was not included in the 1790 enumeration because it joined the Union as the fourteenth state in 1791.
The first census used categories that reflected the legal and racial order of the era, including free people and enslaved people. Later historical corrections produced a slightly different total in some references, but 3,929,214 is the originally reported population figure associated with the 1790 census.