Deciphering Occupation Codes Appended to the 1930 Census in One Step
Stephen P. Morse, PhD   Joel D. Weintraub, PhD   David R. Kehs, PhD


The following codes have been summarized from the 200+ page 1930 Census Bureau publication "Classified Index of Occupations". These codes were put on the census pages well after the enumeration was done, and therefore provide no additional information. However, sometimes knowing the code can help you determine the occupation in cases where the quality of the microfilm is poor or the handwriting of the enumerator is difficult to read.

These codes were transcribed by C. Marie Taylor of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Group 1: First character is a digit between 0 and 7 or is the letter V


occupation level
industry


Group 2: First character is 8 or 9


occupation


© Stephen P. Morse, Joel D. Weintraub, David R. Kehs, 2002