The Buffalo City Directory for 1892 shows about 6,000 more names than
were contained in last year’s directory. In order to compute the
population of a city, it is usual to multiply the number of names in the
directory by 3½, as, for the most part, only the names of heads of
families appear there. Some cities multiply by 4. It is certainly very
modest to make the multiplier 3¼, which is usually done in Buffalo. Upon
this basis it will be seen that the increase in our population during
the past year was 19,500, enough people gained in twelve months to make
a city as large as Lockport, N. Y., and nearly as large as Oswego, N. Y.
Counting 3¼ people to one name in the directory, we have a population,
in June, 1892, of 297,375.
The increase during the year has been no more than the usual steady
increase in the population of the city. With the addition of cheap
electric power as a cause for growth, there can be no question but that
the increase in future years will be much more rapid than in the past.