| Age Group. | Male. | Female. | Total. | |||
| No. | Per cent | No. | Per cent | No. | Per cent | |
| Less than 15 years | 949 | 19.6 | 910 | 18.4 | 1859 | 19.0 |
| 15-24 | 988 | 20.4 | 1155 | 23.4 | 2143 | 21.9 |
| 25-34 | 1543 | 31.8 | 1546 | 31.2 | 3089 | 31.6 |
| 35-44 | 889 | 18.4 | 809 | 16.4 | 1698 | 17.3 |
| 45-54 | 333 | 6.9 | 311 | 6.3 | 644 | 6.6 |
| 55 and over | 128 | 2.6 | 188 | 3.8 | 316 | 3.2 |
| Doubtful and unknown | 14 | 0.3 | 25 | 0.5 | 39 | 0.4 |
| Totals | 4844 | 100. | 4944 | 100. | 9788 | 100. |
Figures obtained from the personal canvass made in 1909 bear comparison with those of the State Census of 1905. Substantial agreement is to be noted between the two enumerations, except for the larger percentage of those under 15 years of age in 1905 (19.6 per cent male, 18.4 per cent female), and the smaller percentages in the grouping thirty-five to forty-four years (18.4 per cent male, 16.4 per cent female). Doubtless this effect is produced because so many of the cases in 1909 were individuals attending evening school, who were required to be above 14 years of age, and because few over forty-five years of age are attracted to such a place. The other small difference in percentages is due probably to the small number of individuals, 365, in the figures for 1909. The sex distribution and age grouping in 1909 is shown in Table XII, which follows:
Table XII. Sex Distribution and Age Grouping of 365 Negro Wage-earners in Manhattan, 1909.
| Age Group. | Male. | Female. | Total. | |||
| No. | Per cent | No. | Per cent | No. | Per cent | |
| Less than 15 years | 18 | 10.2 | 21 | 11.2 | 39 | 10.7 |
| 15-24 | 35 | 19.8 | 37 | 19.7 | 72 | 19.7 |
| 25-34 | 54 | 30.5 | 50 | 26.6 | 104 | 28.5 |
| 35-44 | 40 | 22.6 | 41 | 21.8 | 81 | 22.2 |
| 45-54 | 11 | 6.2 | 21 | 11.2 | 32 | 8.8 |
| 55 and over | 10 | 5.6 | 4 | 2.1 | 14 | 3.8 |
| Doubtful and unknown | 9 | 5.1 | 14 | 7.4 | 23 | 6.3 |
| Totals | 177 | 100. | 188 | 100. | 365 | 100. |
The results above correspond also with those of the United States Census of 1900 for the entire City of New York. Making allowance for some families of professional and business classes, probably not excluded from the Census figures for 1900, and for changes which five years interval may have caused, the agreement with the two preceding tables above confirms the representative character of the data for 1905 and 1909. For the total per cent under fifteen years in 1900 was 19.8; in 1905, 19.0; from fifteen to twenty-four years, 24 per cent in 1900, 21.9 per cent in 1905; from twenty-five to thirty-four years, 25.9 per cent in 1900, 31.6 per cent in 1905; from thirty-five to forty-four years, 16.2 per cent in 1900, 17.3 per cent in 1905; from forty-five to fifty-four years, 8.3 per cent in 1900, 6.6 per cent in 1905, and fifty-five years and over, 5.6 per cent in 1900, 3.2 per cent in 1905.[45]
Here, then, is a wage-earning group made up of persons in the younger and more vigorous working period. The small number of children under 15 years of age calls attention to the fact that the growth of this population takes place largely through recruits from other sections of the Country. They must find industrial and social adjustment to a new environment largely made up of the white population. They are either killed off by the conditions under which they work and live, or drift away from the city at a premature old age.
2. NATIVITY OF NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS
If New York has a Negro population largely composed of immigrants from other regions, the question naturally arises, From what sections or regions do they come? The State Census of 1905 gives nativity by countries only. Consequently, those born within the United States are not specified by State or territory of birth. That large numbers of the Negro population of New York City come from other sections of the United States, mainly from the South, is beyond doubt.
We get the first impression of this fact from the Federal Census of 1900. For the whole State of New York in 1900, out of a population of 100,000,[46] 44.6 per cent were natives, 24.1 per cent were from Virginia, 19 per cent were from other Southern States, with a remaining 12.3 per cent to be drawn from other parts of the United States and from other countries.
These proportions are different from those for New York City, because immigrants make up a larger part of the City's Negro population. The figures of the State Census of 1905, as well as those from a personal canvass, point in the same direction, and the evidence indicates clearly the probable condition.