Prior to the civil war how common was owning a slave?

by youhaveaheartofgold

Did this change north vs south? What about rural vs urban?

iwinagin

About 1/3 of all southern households owned slaves. About 1% of all Northern Households owned slaves with most of these in Maryland and Delaware.

There is an often quoted 6% of southerners owned slaves. This statistic is misleading because it reflects ownership by the head of the household only. Something along the lines of "my father owned slaves buy my family didn't."

check the facts out for yourself at UVA's census site