Census records can provide the building blocks of your research. The first Federal Population Census was taken in 1790, and has been taken every ten years since. Because of a 72-year restriction on access to the Census, the most recent year available is 1950. The 1950 Census was released on April 1, 2022.
The National Archives has the census schedules available from 1790 to 1950, and most have now been digitized by our digitization partners. Family researchers generally find it most helpful to begin with the most current census and work backwards as a strategy for locatingpeople in earlier generations.
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What are people asking on History Hub about Census Records?
- Why was there no 'Indian schedule' in the 1920 census?
- Is it possible to be issued a negative search record for a person in the 1910 Federal Census? I need to proof my ancestor, Mauro Rubino, born 15Apr1883 in Italy is the same Mauro Rubino, born 31Mar1884, who shows up in Brooklyn on the 1910 census. In...
- Locating Wonders Court in Washington City (Washington, D.C.) in the year 1900 & 1910
- Pennsylvania 1940, Herbert Englehart
- 1860 census
