Census Records

Guide to locating government census records, population records, or church census records, for ancestry, family history, and genealogy research.

What Are Census Records?

 * A census is a count and description of the population of a country, state, county, or city for a given date.
 * A census took a "snapshot" of a family on a certain day.
 * In the United States a nationwide census has been taken every ten years since 1790. British censuses were taken every 10 years since 1841.
 * A well-indexed census is one of the easiest ways to locate where an ancestor lived and when they lived there. You can also use censuses to:
 * Follow the family over time
 * Birth years and marriage years can be calculated from listed ages
 * Determine family relationships
 * Find clues to other locations where the family lived
 * Show clues for finding other records

What can you find in census records?
The content of census records varies by time and locality. The more recent a record is the more detailed it can be.
 * For example, depending on the year, U.S. census records can list, in addition to other minor details, this information vital to research:
 * Name, age, and gender of each family member
 * Birthplace (state)
 * Father's and mother's birthplaces
 * Month and year of birth
 * Length of marriage
 * Mother of how many children and number of children living
 * Naturalization status: alien, papers submitted, or naturalized
 * Year of naturalization
 * Year of immigration to U.S. or how many years lived in U.S.


 * And for example, British census records will list even more specific details, such as
 * Birthplace by parish and county
 * Father's and mother's birthplaces, also by parish and county


 * In another interesting example, Canadian census records list religion, making it easier to find church records.
 * And for another example, Scandinavian church censuses can even include information on where a family moved from and/or where they moved to.

Wiki Articles
Each U.S. state and country page has full articles written about finding and using census records. These articles provide details on the dates censuses were kept, links to online records, and where records are kept in archives and other records repositories.

If a specific country is not listed below, try searching this page: Census records by country. See United States Census Online Genealogy Records for links to major collections of online U.S. census records.

Online Genealogical Records Pages
On the main page for each U.S. State page and country page, a blue button leads to a listing of online record collections.


 * Also, all the available Online Genealogy Records pages are linked at Online Genealogy Records by Location.

FamilySearch Catalog

 * Census records collected by FamilySearch, usually digitized and online, are listed in the FamilySearch catalog. Enter the name of the country in the "Place Field" and click "Search". A list of record categories will be provided. Select "Census" or "Census - Indexes."