Documentation: Census 1960 (US, County & State)
Survey: Census 1960 (US, County & State)
Document: Puerto Ricans in the United States (Volume II, Part I - Subject Reports)
U.S. Bureau of the Census. U.S. Census of Population: 1960. Subject Reports, Puerto Ricans in the United States. Final Report PC(2)-1D. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 1963.
Persons of Puerto Rican Origin
Urban-Rural Residence
Farm-Nonfarm Residence
Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area
Residence In1955
Years of School Completed
Household, Group Quarters, And Relationship to Head of Household
Family, Subfamily, Own Child, Unrelated Individual, And Primary Individual
Weeks Worked In 1959
Occupation and Industry
Income In 1959
Puerto Ricans in the United States (Volume II, Part I - Subject Reports)
Some of the definitions used in 1960 differ from those used in 1950. These changes were made after consultation with users of census data in order to improve the statistics, even though it was recognized that comparability would be affected. The definitions and explanations should be interpreted in the context of the 1960 Censuses, in which data were collected by a combination of self-enumeration, direct interview, and observation by the enumerator.
The definitions below are consistent with the instructions given to the enumerator. As in all surveys, there were some failures to execute the instructions exactly. Through the forms distributed to households, the respondents were given explanations of some of the questions more uniformly than would have been given in direct interviews. Nevertheless, it was not feasible to give the full instructions to the respondents, and some erroneous replies have undoubtedly gone undetected.
More complete discussions of the definitions of population items are given in 1960 Census of Population, Volume I, Characteristics of the Population, Part 1, United States Summary, and in each of the State parts.
In 1910, there were about 1,500 persons of Puerto Rican birth in the United States; in each decade since that time (with the exception of the 19*+0's) there has been a substantial growth in this population (table A). By 1960, the number of persons of Puerto Rican birth in the United States had reached 617,000. A total of nearly 900,000 persons were born in Puerto Rico or in the United States of Puerto Rican parentage. In 1950, about 80 percent of this population resided in New York City. By 1960, this percentage had dropped to about 70 percent, indicating a gradual diffusion of this population in the United States.
Table A. Persons of Puerto Rican Origin in Conterminous United States and New York City: 1910 To 1960
Nativity and year United States New York city
Number Percent increase Number Percent of total
Puerto Rican birth:
1960 615,384 172.2 429,710 69.8
1940 69,967 32.6 61,463 87.8
1930 52,774 346.8 (1) …
1920 11,811 680.6 7,364 62.3
1910 1,513 … 554 36.6
Puerto Rican parentage:2
1950 75,265 … 58,460 77.7
1 Not available.
2 Born in the United States.
Persons of Puerto Rican birth and of Puerto Rican parentage were identified from the answers to the following questions on the Household Questionnaire:
On this basis, in 1960, as in 1950 persons of Puerto Rican origin in the United States include persons born in Puerto Rico and persons born in the United States or its possessions with one or both parents born in Puerto Rico. Thus, this group comprises migrants from Puerto Rico and their children. No census data are available on third and later generations of Puerto Rican origin.
The statistics presented in table B give some indication of the characteristics of Puerto Ricans in the United States in relation to the same characteristics of the population of Puerto Rico.
Table B. Characteristics of Puerto Ricans in the United States and In Puerto Rico: 1960
Item United States
Total Puerto Rican birth Puerto Rican parentage1 Puerto Rico
Males per 100 females 100.0 99.3 101.8 98.0
Median age 21.4 27.9 5.9 18.4
Person 14 years old and over
Median years of school completed:
Male 8.4 8.2 10.3 6.1
Female 8.2 8.0 10.8 5.6
Percent in labor force:
Male 79.6 80.6 70.2 65.7
Female 36.3 36.3 36.0 20.0
Median income (dollars) 2,533 2,513 2,868 819
Percent single:
Percent widowed or divorced:
Male 3.0 3.1 2.5 4.2
Female 10.6 11.1 5.1 12.5
Percent enrolled in school:
Persons 5 to 24 years old 59.8 50.8 77.5 55.4
Persons 16 and 17 years old 61.2 58.0 74.9 47.1
1Born in the United States.
The median is presented in connection with the data on age, years of school completed, and income. It is the value which divides the distribution into two equal parts, one-half the cases falling below this value and one-half the cases exceeding this value.
A plus (+) or minus (-) sign after the median indicates that the median is above or below that number. For example, a median of $10,000+ for income indicates that the median fell in the interval "$10,000 or more."
In general, the urban population comprises all persons living in urbanized areas and in places of 2,500 inhabitants or more outside urbanized areas. More specifically, according to the definition adopted for use in the 1960 Census, the urban population comprises all persons living in (a) places of 2,500 inhabitants or more incorporated as cities, boroughs, villages, and towns (except towns in New England, New York, and Wisconsin); (b) the densely settled urban fringe, whether incorporated or unincorporated, of urbanized areas; (c) towns in New England and townships in New Jersey and Pennsylvania which contain no incorporated municipalities as subdivisions and have either 25,000 inhabitants or more or a population of 2,500 to 25,000 and a density of 1,500 persons or more per square mile; (d) counties in States other than the New England States, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania that have no incorporated municipalities within their boundaries and have a density of 1,500 persons or more per square mile; and (e) unincorporated places of 2,500 inhabitants or more. The population not classified as urban constitutes the rural population.
The rural population is subdivided into the rural- farm population, which comprises all rural residents living on farms, and the rural-nonfarm population, which comprises the remaining rural population. In the 1960 Census, the farm population consists of persons living in rural territory on places of 10 or more acres from which sales of farm products amounted to $50 or more in1959or on places of less than10acres from which sales of farm products amounted to $250 or more in1959. All persons living in group quarters are classified as nonfarm except the relatively few living in workers' quarters (including quarters for migratory agricultural workers) that are located on a farm or ranch.
Except in New England, an SMSA is a county or group of contiguous counties which contains at least one city of 50,000 Inhabitants or more, or "twin cities" with a combined population of at least 50,000. In addition to the county, or counties, containing such a city or cities, contiguous counties are included in an SMSA if, according to certain criteria, they are essentially metropolitan in character and are socially and economically integrated with the central city. In New England, SMSA's consist of towns and cities, rather than counties.
The age classification is based on the age of the person in completed years as of April 1, 1960, as determined from the reply to a question on month and year of birth.
The term "color" refers to the division of population into two groups, white and nonwhite. The color group designated as "nonwhite" includes Negroes, American Indians, Japanese, Chinese, Filipinos, Koreans, Hawaiians, Asian Indians, Malayans, Eskimos, Aleuts, etc. Persons of Mexican birth or ancestry and all other persons who are not definitely of Indian or other nonwhite race are classified as white.
In 1940 and in 1950, the proportion of persons classified as white was somewhat higher among persons of Puerto .Rican birth in the United States than in Puerto Rico, and this percentage increased in the United States between 1940 and 1950. For 1960 similar comparisons cannot be made since data by color are not available for Puerto Rico. However, for the United States the proportion of persons of Puerto Rican birth classified as white continued to increase during the decade from 1950 to 1960. It is likely that the commonly held conceptions of race among Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico, among Puerto Ricans in the United States, and among other persons in the United States are somewhat different, and there was a considerable variation in the classification. Thus, differences between successive censuses in the proportion of nonwhite persons among Puerto Ricans may reflect changes in attitudes about racial classification as well as selective migration and differential fertility.
The category "native" comprises persons born in the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a possession of the United States; persons born in a foreign country or at sea who have at least one native American parent; and persons whose place of birth was not reported and whose census report contained no contradictory information, such as an entry of a language spoken prior to coining to the United States. Persons not having any of the above qualifications are classified as "foreign born." It follows then that the population covered by this report is a part of the native population-a part which has been further subdivided by birthplace, however, into persons born in Puerto Rico and those born of Puerto Rican parents in the United States and in possessions other than Puerto Rico.
Residence on April1, 1955, is the usual place of residence five years prior to enumeration. The category "same house as in 1960" includes all persons 5 years old and over who were reported as living in the same house on the date of enumeration in 1960 and five years prior to enumeration. Included in the group are persons who had never moved during the five years as well as those who had moved but by 1960 had returned to their1955 residence. The category "different house in the U.S." includes persons who, on April1, 1955,lived in the United States in a different house from the one they occupied on April1, 1960. This category was subdivided into three groups according to their 1955 residence, viz., "different house, same county," "different county, same State," and "different State." The category "abroad" was divided into two groups: "Puerto Rico," comprising those persons whose residence was in Puerto Rico in1955; and "other," which includes those with residence in a foreign country or an outlying area of the United States in1955. (In the coding of this item, persons who lived in Alaska or Hawaii in1955 hut in other States in1960 were classified as living in a different State in1955.)Persons5 years old and over who had indicated they had moved into their present residence after April 1, 1955, but, for whom sufficiently complete and consistent information regarding residence on April1, 1955,was not collected, are included in the group "moved, place of residence in 1955 not reported."
School enrollment is shown for persons5 to 34 years old. Persons were included as enrolled in school if they were reported as attending or enrolled in a "regular" school or college at any time between February 1, 1960, and the time of enumeration. Regular schooling is that which may advance a person toward an elementary school certificate or high school diploma, or a college, university, or professional degree. Schooling that was not obtained in a regular school and schooling from a tutor or through correspondence courses were counted, only if the credits obtained were regarded as transferable to a school in the regular school system. Schooling which is generally regarded as not regular includes that which is given in nursery schools, in specialized vocational, trade, or business schools; in on-the-job training; and through correspondence courses.
The data on years of school completed were derived from the answers to the two questions: (a) "What is the highest grade (or year) of regular school he has ever attended?" and (b) "Did he finish this grade (or year)?" Enumerators were instructed to obtain the approximate equivalent grade in the American school system for persons whose highest grade of attendance was in a foreign school system, whose highest level of attendance was in an ungraded school, whose highest level of schooling was measured by "readers," or whose training by a tutor was regarded as qualifying under the "regular" school definition. Persons were to answer "No" to the second question if they were attending school, had completed only part of a grade before they dropped out, or failed to pass the last grade attended.
The number in each category of highest grade of school completed represents the combination of (a) persons who reported that they had attended the indicated grade and finished it, and (b) those who had attended the next higher grade but had not finished it.
Elementary school, as defined here, includes grades 1 to 8, and high school includes grades 9 to 12. College includes junior or community colleges, regular H-year colleges, and graduate or professional schools.
This classification refers to the marital status of the person at the time of enumeration. Persons classified as "married" comprise, therefore, both those who have been married only once and those who remarried after having been widowed or divorced. Persons reported as separated (either legally separated or otherwise absent from the spouse because of marital discord) are classified as a subcategory of married persons. The enumerators were instructed to report persons in common-law marriages as married and persons whose only marriage had been annulled as single. Persons "ever married" are those in the categories married (including separated), widowed, and divorced.
The number of married men may be different from the number of married women for an area because of the absence of husbands or wives from the country, because the husband and wife have different places of residence, because of the methods used to inflate the sample data, or for other reasons.
A married person with "spouse present" is a man or woman whose spouse was enumerated as a member of the same household even though he or she may have been temporarily absent on business or vacation, visiting, in a hospital, etc., at the time of enumeration. Persons who had ever been married were asked an additional question to identify those who had been married more than once.
A household consists of all the persons who occupy a housing unit. A house, an apartment or other group of rooms, or a single room, is regarded as a housing unit when it is occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters; that is, when the occupants do not live and eat with any other persons in the structure and there is either (1) direct access from the outside or through a common hall or (2) a kitchen or cooking equipment for the exclusive use of the occupants. The population per household is obtained by dividing the population in households by the number of households.
All persons who are not members of households are regarded as living in group quarters. Group quarters are living arrangements for institutional inmates or for other groups containing five or more persons unrelated to the person in charge. Most of the persons in group quarters live in rooming houses, college dormitories, military barracks, or institutions. Inmates of institutions are persons for whom care or custody is provided in such places as homes for delinquent or dependent children; homes and schools for the mentally or physically handicapped; places providing specialized medical care for persons with mental disorders, tuberculosis, or other chronic disease; nursing and domiciliary homes for the aged and dependent; prisons; and jails.
For persons in households, several categories of relationship to head of household are recognized in this report:
1. The head of the household is the member reported as the head by the household respondent. However, if a married woman living with her husband is reported as the head, her husband is classified as the head for the purpose of census tabulations.
2. The wife of a head of a household is a woman married to and living with a household head. This category includes women in common-law marriages as well as women in formal marriages.
3. An other relative of the head is a person related to the head of the household by blood, marriage, or adoption, but not included specifically in another category.
4. A nonrelative of the head is any member of the household who is not related to the household head. This category includes lodgers (roomers and partners, relatives of such persons, and foster children) and resident employees (maids, hired farm hands, etc.)
A family consists of two or more persons in the same household who are related to each other by blood, marriage, or adoption; all persons living in one household who are related to each other are regarded as one family. In a primary family, the head of the family is the head of a household. Other families are secondary families. A "husband-wife" family is a family in which the head and his wife are enumerated as members of the same household.
A subfamily is a married couple with or without children, or one parent with one or more own children Under 18 years old, living in a housing unit and related to the head of the household or his wife. The number of subfamilies is not included in the count of families.
An own child of a household head or of a family head is defined here as a single (never married) son, daughter, stepchild, or adopted child of the head in question.
An unrelated individual is (1) a member of a household who is living entirely alone or with one or more persons all of whom are not related to him, or (2) a person living in group quarters who is not an inmate of an institution. A head of a household living alone or with nonrelatives only is a primary Individual.
The data on employment status relate to the calendar week prior to the date on which the respondents filled their Household Questionnaires or were interviewed by enumerators. This week is not the same for all respondents because not all persons were enumerated during the same week.
Employed persons comprise all civilians 14 years old and over who were either (a) "at work"-those who did any work for pay or profit, or worked without pay for 15 hours or more on a family farm or in a family business; or (b) were "with a job but not at work" - those who did not work and were not looking for work but had a job or business from which they were temporarily absent because of bad weather, industrial dispute, vacation, illness, or other personal reasons.
Persons are classified as unemployed if they were years old and over and not "at work" but looking for work. A person is considered as looking for work not only if he actually tried to find work but also if he had made such efforts recently (i.e., within the past 60 days) and was awaiting the results of these efforts. Persons waiting to be called back to a job from which they had been laid off or furloughed are also counted as unemployed.
The "civilian labor force" includes all persons classified as employed or unemployed, as described above. The "labor force" also includes members of the Armed Forces (persons on active duty with the United States Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard).
Persons "not in the labor force" comprise all those 14 years old and over who are not classified as members of the labor force, including persons doing only incidental unpaid family work (less than 15 hours during the week).
The statistics on hours worked pertain to the number of hours actually worked, and not necessarily to the number usually worked or the scheduled number of hours. For persons working at more than one job, the figures reflect the combined number of hours worked at all jobs during the week. The data on hours worked presented in this report provide a broad classification of persons at work into full-time and part-time workers. Persons are considered to be working full time if they worked 35 hours or more during the reference week and part time if they worked less than 35 hours.
The data on weeks worked in 1959 pertain to the number of different weeks during 1959 in which a person did any work for pay or profit (including paid vacation and sick leave) or worked without pay on a family farm or in a family business. Weeks of active service in the Armed Forces are also included.
The data on occupation and industry in this report are for employed persons and refer to the job held during the week for which employment status was reported. For persons employed at two or more jobs, the data refer to the job at which the person worked the greatest number of hours. The occupation and industry statistics presented here are based on the detailed systems developed for the 1960 Census; see 1960 Census of Population, Classified Index of Occupations and Industries. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1960.
Information on Income for the calendar year 1959 was requested from all persons years old and over in the sample. "Total income" is the sum of amounts reported separately for wage or salary income, self- employment income, and other income. Wage or salary income is defined as the total money earnings received for work performed as an employee. It represents the amount received before deductions for personal Income taxes, Social Security, bond purchases, union dues, etc. Self-employment income is defined as net money income (gross receipts minus operating expenses) from a business, farm, or professional enterprise in which the person was engaged on his own account. "Earnings" are obtained by summing wage or salary income and self- employment Income. Other income includes money income received from such sources as net rents, interest, dividends, Social Security benefits,; pensions, veterans' payments, unemployment insurance, and public assistance or other governmental payments, and periodic receipts from insurance policies or annuities. Not included as income are money received from the sale of property (unless the recipient was engaged in the business of selling such property), the value of income "in kind," withdrawals of bank deposits, money borrowed, tax refunds, and gifts and lump-sum inheritances or insurance payments.
In the statistics on family income, the combined incomes of all members of each family are treated as a single amount. Although the time period covered by the income statistics is the calendar year 1959, the composition of families refers to the time of enumeration. For most of the families, however, the income reported was received by persons who were members of the family throughout 1959. The number of earners in the family refers to the number of family members who had wage or salary income or self-employment income.