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Description

The 1930 federal census can offer you a vast amount of information about your ancestors. Similar to the 1910 and 1920 censuses, the biggest change was the way race was recorded. Census takers were asked to no longer use “Mulatto” as a classification, but were instead given special instructions for reporting the race of interracial persons. The instructions were as follows:
People who were of white and black heritage were recorded as Black. People who were of Black and American Indian descent were also recorded as Black, unless he/she was accepted in the community as “predominantly” American Indian.People who were of White and American Indian descent were recorded as Indian, unless accepted as white within the community. Those with a minority interracial lineage were to be reported as their father’s race.For the first and only time, census takers could record a person as “Mexican.”The 1930 Census includes the following information when available:street name house number or farmnumber of dwelling house in order of visitation by enumeratornumber of family in order of visitation by enumeratornamerelationship to head of familyhome owned or rentedowned free or mortgagedradio setdoes the family live on a farmsexcolor or race (Enumerators were to enter "W" for white, "Neg" for black, "Mex" for Mexican, "In" for American Indian, "Ch" for Chinese, "Jp" for Japanese, "Fil" for Filipino, "Hin" for Hindu, and "Kor" for Korean. All other races were to be written out in full.)age at last birthdaysingle, married, divorced, or widowedage at first marriageattended school at any time since September 1, 1929?whether able to person read and writeplace of birthfather's place of birthmother's place of birthlanguage spoken in the home before coming to the U.S.year of immigration into the United Statesnaturalization statuswhether able to speak Englishtrade, profession, or particular kind of workindustry or business in which at workclass of worker [employee (E), wage or salary worker (W), or own account (O)]whether the person was actually at work the last regular working dayline number for unemployment schedulewhether a veteran of the U.S. military or naval forceswhich war or expedition (enumerators were to enter "WW" for World War I, "Sp" for the Spanish-American War, "Civ" for the Civil War, "Phil" for the Phillipine insurrection, "Box" for the Boxer rebellion, or "Mex" for the Mexican expedition)number of farm schedule
Please keep in mind that indexes, whether manuscript, printed, or digital, are nowhere near perfect. Because names are easily misread by people unfamiliar with certain localities, indexes can be filled with incorrect names.
Original data: Fifteenth Census of the United States, Bureau of the Census. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 29. Micropublication T626.
For more information about the 1930 census, visit www.census.gov.