After 72 years have passed, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is responsible for making census records publicly available. Records from the 1790 to 1950 censuses are currently available for genealogical research. Records from the 1950 Census were released by NARA on April 1, 2022. The 1960 records will become available in April 2032.

Visit NARA's Census Records Web site to learn more about the availability of microfilmed and digital census records for genealogical research.

Several online subscription services provide access to digital copies of these publicly available records. In addition to offering individual subscriptions, many libraries purchase institutional subscriptions to one or more of these services which allows their patrons to access digitized census records at libraries and—in some instances—at their own homes using their library card and home computer. Contact your local library to learn if it offers this service.

Individuals may request their own records (before they are publicly available) via the U.S. Census Bureau's Age Search service. This service provides individual information from censuses that are still protected by the 72-year rule, but only to the named person, his or her heirs, or legal representatives. There is a Congressionally-mandated fee for this service. Individuals interested in requesting a search of their personal census records must complete a form BC-600 [PDF 142k], Application for Search of Census Records (form BC-600sp [PDF 156k], Solicitud Para Busqueda De Registros Censales).

Census takers received detailed instructions for conducting the censuses. These instructions can be found at the Census Instructions Web page and in Measuring America: The Decennial Census From 1790 to 2000.

To learn more about the data collected during each census, you can view the questionnaires. Measuring America: The Decennial Census From 1790 to 2000 also contains questionnaire images, instructions to enumerators, and a brief history of each of the censuses.

According to the "72-Year Rule," the National Archives releases census records to the general public 72 years after Census Day. As a result, the 1930 census records were released April 1, 2002, and the 1940 records were released April 2, 2012. The 1950 census records will be released in April 2022.

Although there are frequently inaccuracies in census records, the records can not be corrected because they are historic documents. Our advice to genealogists who find inaccuracies is to make a note in their family history that the census record may contain errors. Future generations may benefit from this note. They may also find an interesting story for why the census record is wrong. Sometimes, families deliberately provided inaccurate information to "Americanize" their names, deny the existence of a child born out of wedlock, or not identify their true racial background. These inaccurate responses reflect the era's feelings about race, ethnicity, and a host of other social conditions that can enlighten future generations.

Most of the 1890 census' population schedules were badly damaged by a fire in the Commerce Department Building in January 1921. Visit the Availability of 1890 Census Records page for more information.

The Census Bureau has several publications that may be of interest to genealogists. Many can be downloaded from the publications page.

The questionnaires used from 1790 to 2010 are available on the page below.

The National Archives and Records Administration is responsible for making census records publicly available. Records are available at National Archives facilities and many large public and university libraries. Visit the National Archives Website to access 1940 and 1950 Census records. Many public libraries also allow their patrons free access to genealogy Websites that have databases of the digitized 1790 to 1950 censuses records. Ask you library if it subscribes to one of these services and how you can access it.