U.S. Census Office, Increase or Decrease of the Rural Population, 1880 to 1890 (1898)

This map is from the Statistical Atlas of the United States based upon Results of the Eleventh Census, published in 1898 under the direction of Henry Gannett. It is the top map of Plate 8 in the Statistical Atlas, but there is no indication that the two maps on the plate were connected to one another for any particular reason. The map visualizes an increase (areas in yellow/tan) or decrease (areas in orange/red) of the rural population in the United States between 1880 and 1890. According to Gannett, the rural population was determined by "Subtracting from the total population of each county the number of inhabitants of its cities of 8,000 or more" (p. 17). The map shows rural population growth in the southern, Great Plains, and western regions of the United States during late 19th-century westward expansion, motivated largely by the Homestead Act. It also demonstrates the decrease of rural populations in the Great Lakes and Northeast regions most likely due to factors such as urbanization, westward migration, and rural flight. Gannett notes, "Comparing the rural population of 1880 with that of 1890, county by county, it is found that over large areas this part of the population has diminished in number during the decade" (p. 17).