| Sections. | Percentage of illiterate to Natives. | Percentage of illiterate to Natives over 20 Years of age. | Percentage of illiterate to Foreigners. | Percentage of illiterate to Foreigners over 20 Years of age. | Percentage of illiterate to free Colored. |
| New England States | ·26 | ·42 | 14·63 | 24·39 | 8·45 |
| Middle States | 1·84 | 3·00 | 9·55 | 15·92 | 22·42 |
| Southern States | 9·30 | 20·30 | 5·28 | 8·80 | 21·20 |
| Southwestern States | 8·41 | 16·63 | 9·12 | 15·20 | 18·54 |
| Northwestern States | 4·97 | 9·92 | 4·63 | 7·72 | 21·44 |
| California and Territories | 17·50 | 21·63 | 14·13 | 23·51 | 12·47 |
OCCUPATIONS.
In the tables of occupations the only class noticed is the white and free colored male population over fifteen years of age, no returns of female employment being given. As interesting to the general reader, although not in immediate connection with the subject, the following is given:[416]
| Occupations. | Ratio per cent. to the total employed. | |
| Commerce, trade, manufactures, mechanic arts, and mining | 29·72 | |
| Agriculture | 44·69 | |
| Labor (not agricultural) | 18·50 | |
| Army | ·10 | |
| Sea and river navigation | 2·17 | |
| Law, Medicine, and Divinity | 1·76 | |
| Other pursuits requiring education | 1·78 | |
| Government civil service | ·46 | |
| Domestic service | ·41 | |
| Other occupations | ·41 | |
| 100·00 |
A similar but more elaborate statement of the occupations of the people of Great Britain was published in the British census for 1841, and is reprinted by Professor De Bow in his compendium.[417]
| Occupations. | Percentage to total Males. | Percentage to total Females. | Percentage to total Population. |
| Commerce, trade, and manufactures | 26·24 | 7·12 | 16·52 |
| Agriculture | 15·33 | ·84 | 7·96 |
| Labor (not agricultural) | 6·99 | 1·21 | 4·05 |
| Army | 1·42 | .... | ·70 |
| Navy and merchant seamen, boatmen, &c. | 2·35 | .... | 1·17 |
| Clerical, legal, and medical professions | ·66 | ·02 | ·34 |
| Other pursuits requiring education | 1·17 | ·36 | ·76 |
| Government and municipal civil service | ·43 | ·02 | ·22 |
| Domestic servants | 2·78 | 9·48 | 6·18 |
| Persons of independent means | 1·47 | 3·88 | 2·69 |
| Pensioners, paupers, lunatics, and prisoners | 1·11 | 1·01 | 1·06 |
| Unoccupied (including women and children) | 40·05 | 76·06 | 58·35 |
| 100· | 100· | 100· |
WAGES.
In introducing this subject, Professor De Bow remarks, “The money price of wages, unless the price of other articles be known, gives but an unsatisfactory idea of the condition of the laboring classes at different periods and in different countries.” In the following tables of the rates of remuneration in 1850 this difficulty will scarcely exist, so far as New York is concerned at least. The large number of domestic servants who have been added to our population since that year precludes the possibility of any considerable advance in the rate of wages, and, as every reader has an idea of what a woman’s necessary expenses must be, each will be enabled to decide for himself whether the compensation is sufficient, or whether society at large would not be benefited were some of the surplus domestic servants removed to other localities, and thus, by increasing the demand, augment the wages. The following was the average weekly wages (with board) of a domestic servant in the year 1850:[418]
| States. | Wages. | |
| Alabama | $1 41 | |
| Arkansas | 1 67 | |
| California | 13 00 | |
| Columbia (District of) | 1 31 | |
| Connecticut | 1 36 | |
| Delaware | 0 84 | |
| Florida | 1 83 | |
| Georgia | 1 52 | |
| Illinois | 1 14 | |
| Indiana | 0 90 | |
| Iowa | 1 07 | |
| Kentucky | 1 09 | |
| Louisiana | 2 57 | |
| Maine | 1 09 | |
| Maryland | 0 89 | |
| Massachusetts | 1 48 | |
| Michigan | 1 10 | |
| Mississippi | 1 52 | |
| Missouri | 1 17 | |
| New Hampshire | 1 27 | |
| New Jersey | 0 97 | |
| New York | 1 05 | |
| North Carolina | 0 87 | |
| Ohio | 0 96 | |
| Pennsylvania | 0 80 | |
| Rhode Island | 1 42 | |
| South Carolina | 1 42 | |
| Tennessee | 1 00 | |
| Texas | 2 00 | |
| Vermont | 1 19 | |
| Virginia | 0 96 | |
| Wisconsin | 1 27 | |
| Territories. | ||
| Minnesota | 2 25 | |
| New Mexico | 0 78 | |
| Oregon | 10 00 | |
| Utah | 1 46 |