1940 United States census
E800902
The 1940 United States census was the sixteenth national population count, notable for introducing questions on income and education and providing a detailed snapshot of American life just before the country entered World War II.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| 1940 United States census canonical | 3 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T9468090 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: 1940 United States census Context triple: [Census Day, hasCensusDay, 1940 United States census]
-
A.
1920 United States Census
The 1920 United States Census was a nationwide population count conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau that documented demographic, social, and economic data for residents of the United States as of January 1, 1920.
-
B.
1950 United States census
The 1950 United States census was a nationwide population count conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau that documented demographic, social, and economic data on Americans at mid-century.
-
C.
1910 United States Census
The 1910 United States Census was the thirteenth national population count conducted by the U.S. federal government, providing detailed demographic data that later informed immigration policies and quotas.
-
D.
1900 United States Census
The 1900 United States Census was a nationwide population count conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau that documented demographic, economic, and social data on residents at the turn of the 20th century.
-
E.
1960 United States census
The 1960 United States census was the nationwide population count that provided key demographic data used for political representation, federal funding allocation, and social and economic planning at the start of the 1960s.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: 1940 United States census Target entity description: The 1940 United States census was the sixteenth national population count, notable for introducing questions on income and education and providing a detailed snapshot of American life just before the country entered World War II.
-
A.
1920 United States Census
The 1920 United States Census was a nationwide population count conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau that documented demographic, social, and economic data for residents of the United States as of January 1, 1920.
-
B.
1950 United States census
The 1950 United States census was a nationwide population count conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau that documented demographic, social, and economic data on Americans at mid-century.
-
C.
1910 United States Census
The 1910 United States Census was the thirteenth national population count conducted by the U.S. federal government, providing detailed demographic data that later informed immigration policies and quotas.
-
D.
1900 United States Census
The 1900 United States Census was a nationwide population count conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau that documented demographic, economic, and social data on residents at the turn of the 20th century.
-
E.
1960 United States census
The 1960 United States census was the nationwide population count that provided key demographic data used for political representation, federal funding allocation, and social and economic planning at the start of the 1960s.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (58)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
United States census
ⓘ
population census ⓘ |
| aggregateDataAvailableFrom | National Historical Geographic Information System ⓘ |
| archivedBy | National Archives and Records Administration ⓘ |
| authorizedBy | United States Congress ⓘ |
| censusDate | April 1, 1940 ⓘ |
| collectedDataOn |
age
ⓘ
class of worker ⓘ employment status ⓘ highest grade of school completed ⓘ home ownership status ⓘ household relationship ⓘ income in 1939 ⓘ industry ⓘ marital status ⓘ occupation ⓘ place of birth ⓘ race ⓘ residence in 1935 ⓘ sex ⓘ value of home or monthly rent ⓘ weeks worked in 1939 ⓘ |
| conductedBy |
United States Census Bureau
ⓘ
linked to:
Bureau of the Census
|
| constitutionalReference | Article I, Section 2, United States Constitution ⓘ |
| country |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| dataCollectionMethod | enumerator visits to households ⓘ |
| dataFormat | handwritten schedules ⓘ |
| followedBy | 1950 United States census ⓘ |
| follows | 1930 United States census ⓘ |
| geographicCoverage | 50 U.S. states and territories existing in 1940 ⓘ |
| hasFormType |
housing schedule
ⓘ
population schedule ⓘ |
| historicalContext |
Great Depression era
ⓘ
linked to:
Great Depression
pre–World War II United States ⓘ |
| includesTerritory |
Alaska Territory
ⓘ
linked to:
Alaska
American Samoa ⓘ Guam ⓘ Hawaii Territory ⓘ Panama Canal Zone ⓘ
linked to:
Panama Canal Zone (historical)
Puerto Rico ⓘ United States Virgin Islands ⓘ
linked to:
U.S. Virgin Islands
|
| introducedQuestionOn |
education
ⓘ
income ⓘ |
| languageOfForm | English ⓘ |
| legalBasis | United States Constitution ⓘ |
| microdataAvailableFrom | Integrated Public Use Microdata Series ⓘ |
| notableFeature |
first U.S. census to ask detailed questions about income
ⓘ
first U.S. census to systematically record highest grade of school completed ⓘ |
| ordinalInSeries | 16 ⓘ |
| populationCount | 132,164,569 ⓘ |
| populationCountRounded | 132 million ⓘ |
| processingTechnology | electromechanical tabulating machines ⓘ |
| recordsConfidentialityPeriod | 72 years ⓘ |
| recordsPublicReleaseDate | April 2, 2012 ⓘ |
| referenceDateDescription | snapshot of the United States just before entry into World War II ⓘ |
| usedFor |
allocation of federal funds
ⓘ
apportionment of seats in the United States House of Representatives ⓘ redistricting ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: 1940 United States census Description of subject: The 1940 United States census was the sixteenth national population count, notable for introducing questions on income and education and providing a detailed snapshot of American life just before the country entered World War II.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.