Family Budget Study: Massachusetts, 1874

This historical data collection was derived from interviews conducted in 1874 by the Massachusetts Department of Labor Statistics with workers in Massachusetts. The purpose was to analyze the budgets which various working families were using at the time. In addition to the occupation of the head of household, the data include the ethnicity of the household, the income(s) of the wage-earner(s), details about the family structure and household furnishings, budgeted items for various expenditures, health of the family, and foods eaten. Each record represents a household.