This chart depicts the New England population in each decade of the 20th century according to the U.S. decennial census. While the region’s population has more than doubled, the total U.S. population has nearly quadrupled. Consequently, New Englanders now represent a smaller share of the total U.S. population than they did in 1900, dropping from 7.3 percent to less than 5 percent.

The chart also illustrates each state’s contribution to the total New England population. Throughout the last century, Massachusetts and Connecticut represented the greatest proportion of the region’s population, and in the year 2000 were home to 70 percent of all New England residents.