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Government & Civic Tech · Recorded milestone

Census by computer

Recorded year1951

UNIVAC I, the first US commercial computer, goes to the Census Bureau.

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Built on

National record numbersRecorded · 1936enables
Stored-program computerRecorded · 1948enables

Led to

Computer model of votersRecorded · 1960enables
Geographic information systemsRecorded · 1968enables
Biometric national IDRecorded · 2010enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.