The second half of the nineteenth century was a period of extraordinarily rapid urbanization in the United States. The growth of cities was fueled both by the migration of the native born into urban areas and by the arrival of unprecedented numbers of European immigrants. Yet, few studies have attempted to investigate the effects of urbanization on the economic welfare of the population. The purpose of this study is to close this gap by analyzing economic experiences of the populations of two major cities, Boston and Chicago. The principal source evidence will be the manuscript returns of the federal censuses of population of 1850-1870. By observing the wealth of sizeable samples of individual households in the two cities, questions in three basic categories can be addressed. First, were the cities a place of unusual economic opportunity? Second, how did immigrants fare in comparison with the native born? And third, how did the urban experience differ between the frontier and the longer-settled East? This research will lead to a much fuller understanding of the effects of urbanization on economic welfare, and to new insights into the progress of immigrants in the American economy.
