Profile America

On April 30, the U.S. Census Bureau's daily podcast Profile America Audio ended its 25-year run. In its place, we have launched By the Numbers, a new monthly spotlight on notable observances, anniversaries, and historical events. Click here to subscribe to the podcast.

Profile America Audio was launched in 1997. Its one-minute audio clips and scripts have connected our data to a wide range of familiar – and sometimes overlooked – holidays, anniversaries, observances, celebrations, and historic events.

Over the years, its distribution has reflected changing technology and our listeners’ preferences as we’ve shifted from packaging and mailing audio CDs to today's anywhere, anytime online playbacks and downloads.

Thank you for supporting Profile America by subscribing, downloading, broadcasting, commenting, and listening!

We welcome your questions, comments, and feedback. Email us at [email protected].

APRIL 30: Louisiana Purchase 

Profile America — Saturday, April 30th. This is the 219th anniversary of perhaps the greatest real estate deal in American history — one that doubled the size of the nation, putting it in position to become a world power. The year was 1803, and the deal was the Louisiana Purchase. The young United States bought nearly 830,000 square miles from France at the cost of four cents an acre. The land stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. The sale encompassed all or parts of 14 of today’s states. Appropriately enough, Louisiana became a state on this date in 1812. At the time, just 77,000 people lived there. Now, Louisiana is home to nearly 4.66 million. Profile America has completed 25 years as a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Treaty, accessed 9/2/2021

Scope, accessed 9/2/2021

States, accessed 9/2/2021

1810 population: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, p. 28 [3 MB]

Louisiana population estimate

APRIL 29: National Arbor Day 

Profile America — Friday, April 29th. Today is National Arbor Day, an observance going back 150 years to celebrate nature’s bounty of trees. Arbor Day comes with plenty of flexibility, though, as different states note the occasion on different dates, and even in a different month. Julius Sterling Morton moved to the tree-poor Nebraska Territory in the mid-1850s with his wife, and while he worked as a newspaper editor and politician, they 

campaigned for tree planting. On April 10, 1872, it became the first state to celebrate Arbor Day. Nationwide, there are just over 1,000 people in 169 establishments engaged in operating forest nurseries, and gathering forest products. In addition, there are about 13,300 plant nurseries, garden centers and farm supply stores to aid in greening the United States. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Occasion, accessed 8/20/2021

National Arbor Day and states, accessed 10/27/2020

History, accessed 8/20/2021

Forest nurseries and gathering of forest products, County Business Patterns, NAICS 1132

Nurseries, garden centers and farm supply stores, County Business Patterns, NAICS 44422

APRIL 28: Zippers 

Profile America — Thursday, April 28th. Today is the 109th anniversary of an invention many — if not most — of us use every day without a second thought, but occasionally with a struggle. In April 1913, Hoboken, New Jersey, resident Gideon Sundback patented the zipper. He called his invention the “hookless fastener.” Improved and patented again in 1917 as the “separable fastener,” for many years the invention was used mainly on rubber boots. Such was the use by the B.F. Goodrich Company, which gave the fastener the now familiar name “zipper.” But in 1930, fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli became the first to display them on clothing. Manufacturing zippers and other clothing fasteners is a $1 billion a year business for some 100 establishments in America. You can find more facts about America’s people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, at www.census.gov.

Sundback and the zipper, accessed 8/31/2021

Development and naming, accessed 8/31/2021

Schiaparelli designs, accessed 8/31/2021

Clothes fastener manufacturing revenue, Annual Survey of Manufacturers, NAICS 39993

Clothes fastener manufacturing establishments, County Business Patterns, NAICS 39993

APRIL 27: Praise For The Pros 

Profile America — Wednesday, April 27th. Today is Administrative Professionals Day. It falls in the middle of Administrative Professionals Week — a time to recognize a job well done and to promote the growth and training required by today’s changing and increasingly technical workplace. For years, the observance was known as Secretaries’ Day. The change in name reflects the change in the nature of these jobs. These positions were once thought of mainly as message takers, typists and coffee makers. The job of an administrative professional has evolved into a complex role, closely tied to the field of office automation. Nationwide, there are around 5.5 million people working as administrative assistants and other office support workers. Women comprise over 86 percent of this workforce. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Administrative Professionals Day, accessed 8/20/2021

Administrative Professionals Week, accessed 8/20/2021

Secretaries, administrative assistants, and other office admin support workers, by sex, American Community Survey

APRIL 26: First License Plates 

Profile America — Tuesday, April 26th. Many automobile license plates proclaim glories of the issuing states. Others spell out something dear to the drivers but indecipherable 

to anyone else. Those plates, and the more basic ones are requirements to drive on public roads. New York was the first state to require license plates on motor vehicles late this month in 1901. At the time, there were fewer than 15,000 sputtering automobiles in the entire country, traveling over muddy, rudimentary roads without a license for the driver or the automobile. Now, there are around 276-million cars, trucks, buses, and motorcycles in the nation, all sporting license plates. The nation’s 46,500 car dealers issue temporary tags with sales, which even in the pandemic year totaled 14.5 million new light vehicles. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Joseph Nathan Kane, Kane’s Famous First Facts, Fifth Edition, H.W. Wilson Co., New York, NY 1997, #4220.

Vehicles in early 20th century: Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, p. 716 [3 MB]

Motor vehicles today, accessed 8/31/2021 [3MB]

Motor vehicles today, accessed 8/31/2021 [3 MB]

Automobile dealers, County Business Patterns, NAICS 4411

New car sales, accessed 10/30/2020

APRIL 25: Let The Games Begin 

Profile America — Monday, April 25th. What might be considered the birth certificate of the home video game industry was issued on this date 50 years ago. That 1972 event was the award of a patent to German-born engineer and inventor Ralph Baer for the first television gaming and training apparatus, as the patent office put it. Video games had already been developed, but for dedicated set up in amusement arcades. Baer’s Odyssey System for Magnavox sold only 200,000 units, as many potential customers mistakenly believed it would work only on Magnavox televisions. Odyssey was eclipsed by Atari’s home system in 1975. Nationwide, there are some 14,500 computer software publishers, employing 690,000 people, many in application design. This industry earns over $275-billion annually. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

Patent, accessed 9/2/2021

Inventor, accessed 9/2/2021

Video game development, accessed 9/3/2021

Software publishers, including application developers, Country Business Patterns, NAICS 511210

Software publishing revenue, Economic Census, NAICS 511210

APRIL 24: A Higher Power 

Profile America — Sunday, April 24th. On tomorrow’s date 68 years ago, Bell Laboratories in New York announced the prototype manufacture of a new solar battery, or what we now call a solar cell. The new cell was capable of a 6 percent energy conversion efficiency with direct sunlight, as opposed to about a 1 percent rate with earlier creations. In the 1954 demonstration for the press, the Bell inventors placed the array of several small silicon strips in sunlight. The cell captured the free electrons and turned them into electrical current, powering the rotation of a 21-inch Ferris wheel. In America today, solar energy heats some 249,000 homes. Solar panels are manufactured by 9 domestic businesses, with annual industry revenue of over $200 million and rising. You can find more facts about America’s people, places and economy, from the American Community Survey, at www.census.gov.

Joseph Nathan Kane, Kane’s Famous First Facts, Fifth Edition, H.W. Wilson Co., New York, NY 1997, #3558

Contemporary story, accessed 8/27/2021

Ferris wheel, accessed 8/27/2021:

Household solar power, American Community Survey

Solar panel manufacturing in the U.S., accessed 11/20/2020

Revenues, access 11/20/2020

APRIL 23: Slowing Immigration 

Profile America — Saturday, April 23rd. One-hundred one years ago today, the Census Bureau announced that the total foreign-born population of the United States had increased by only 2.6 percent since the 1910 census. This was down sharply from the first decade of the 20th century, when the increase was over 30 percent. The dramatic plunge was primarily due to reduced immigration because of the Great War of 1914 to 1918. Additionally, during the years of that conflict, over 2 million Germans, Austro-

Hungarians, Irish and Russian people repatriated to Europe. In 1920, the foreign-born population totaled 13.9-million in a nation of 106-million, or just over 13.1 percent. In America today, some 45-million residents are foreign born, about 13.6 percent of our population. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov. 

Census Bureau announcement, accessed 11/26/2021

1920 U.S. population

Foreign-born population in 1920, p. 117 [2 MB]

Current foreign-born population, American Community Survey

APRIL 22: A Taste Negation 

Profile America — Friday, April 22nd. On this date 37 years ago, executives at one of America’s and the world’s most famous consumer brands were expecting good news on the morrow about a new and improved product. After research, experimentation and extensive taste testing, a reformulated Coca-Cola was launched in 1985. The company was surprised by the negative, noisy consumer reaction, and New Coke became something of a synonym for product failure. The original Coca-Cola was rushed back to retailers by the summer. New Coke staggered on for a time alongside “the Real Thing,” but is no longer available in America. Five-hundred 88 American establishments engage in soft drink manufacturing, employing some 65,000 people in the $37.6 billion a year business. You can find more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at www.census.gov.

New Coke story, accessed 8/27/2021

Recent market share, accessed 8/27/2021

Soft drink manufacturers and employment, County Business Patterns, NAICS 312111

Receipts, Annual Survey of Manufacturers, NAICS 312111