| Year | Population | Percentage Increase | |||
| 1610 | 350 | — | |||
| 1620 | 2,300 | 557.1 | |||
| 1630 | 4,600 | 100.0 | |||
| 1640 | 26,600 | 478.3 | |||
| 1650 | 50,400 | 90.8 | |||
| 1660 | 75,100 | 49.0 | |||
| 1670 | 111,900 | 49.0 | |||
| 1680 | 151,500 | 35.4 | |||
| 1690 | 210,400 | 38.9 | |||
| 1700 | 250,900 | 19.2 | |||
| 1710 | 331,700 | 32.2 | |||
| 1720 | 466,200 | 40.5 | |||
| 1730 | 629,400 | 35.0 | |||
| 1740 | 905,600 | 43.9 | |||
| 1750 | 1,170,800 | 29.3 | |||
| 1760 | 1,593,600 | 36.1 | |||
| 1770 | 2,148,100 | 34.8 | |||
| 1780 | 2,780,400 | 29.4 | |||
| 1790 | 3,929,214 | 41.3 | |||
| 1800 | 5,308,483 | 35.1 | |||
| 1810 | 7,239,881 | 36.4 | |||
| 1820 | 9,638,453 | 33.1 | |||
| 1830 | 12,866,020 | 33.5 | |||
| 1840 | 17,069,453 | 32.7 | |||
| 1840 | 17,069,453 | 32.7 | |||
| 1850 | 23,191,876 | 35.9 | |||
| 1860 | 31,443,321 | 35.6 | |||
| 1870 | 39,818,449 | 26.6 | |||
| 1880 | 50,155,783 | 26.0 | |||
| 1890 | 62,947,714 | 25.5 | |||
| 1900 | 75,994,575 | 20.7 | |||
| 1910 | 91,972,266 | 21.0 | |||
| 1920 | 105,710,620 | 14.9 | |||
| 1930 | 122,775,046 | 16.1 | |||
| 1940 | 131,669,275 | 7.2 | |||
| 1950 | 150,697,361 | 14.5 | |||
| 1960 | 179,323,175 | 19.0 | |||
| 1970 | 203,235,298 | 13.3 | |||
| 1980 | 226,545,805 | 11.5 | |||
| 1990 | 248,709,873 | 9.8 | |||
| 2000 | 281,421,906 | 13.2 | |||
| 2010 | 308,745,538 | 9.7 | |||
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SOURCES: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 (1975); Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2010. * Note: Until 1890, census takers never made any effort to count the Native American people who lived outside their reserved political areas and compiled only casual and incomplete enumerations of those living within their jurisdictions. In 1890, the federal government attempted a full count of the Indian population: the Census found 125,719 Indians in 1890, compared with only 12,543 in 1870 and 33,985 in 1880. |
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