Federal Census Decision Chart

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This page provides a decision chart to help you get started with U.S. Federal Census records as part of researching your genealogy online.

Was your ancestor alive before 1950? No - move right Search the Social Security Death Index. Go to Social Security Death Index Tips.
Yes - move down
Have you found your ancestor in a census? Search the Federal Census. No - move right Review a guide on searching the Federal Census to make sure you have not overlooked something. Click here for the guide.
Yes - move down
Can you find your ancestor in a later census? Repeat this search until you cannot find your ancestor or you reach 1940. More... Next - move right Did you find your ancestor in the household of one of the children? No - move right Is likely your ancestor died before 1962? No - move right Search the Social Security Death Index. Go to Social Security Death Index Tips.
Yes - move down Yes - move down
Can you find your ancestor in a later census? Repeat this search until you cannot find your ancestor or you reach 1940. Next - move right Use the last known location as the place of death and estimate the year of death to order a death record. Go to Birth and Death Record Tips.
 
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Searching the Federal Census

If your ancestors were living in the United States between 1790 and 1950, you should be able to find them in the Federal Census. No other genealogy resource has coverage comparable to the Federal Census. Having censuses online has become a wonderful opportunity for people researching their ancestry.

You can now search all of the censuses by name. This significantly improves the chances of finding your ancestor if you are unsure of where the person was living at the time. 

You do not need to know the state and county to search. Before the census was online, you needed to guess the the state and county where your ancestor lived to use microfilm.

Be sure to search multiple census years. Once you find your ancestor, you can search every ten years until you cannot find your ancestor either in the same household or in the household of one of your ancestor's children. This will provide you with the likely approximate date and location of death for the purpose of ordering a death record.

There are several sources of census records online. Most you need to pay for, but it is the best bargain around since searching the census online literally saves you hours and hours of searching the Internet or viewing microfilm of census records.

FAST TRACK Search Federal Census at Ancestry.com. Ancestry.com has indexed all the census years. A membership is required to view most reoords. Click here to search census records at Ancestry.com.
FAST TRACK Search Federal Census at MyHeritage. MyHeritage has indexed all the U.S. census years. A membership is required to view most reoords. Click here to search census and other records at MyHeritage.
FAST TRACK Search Federal Census at FindMyPast. FindMyPast has indexed all the U.S. census years. A membership is required to view most reoords. Click here to search census and other records at FindMyPast.
FAST TRACK Search Federal Census at CensusRecords.com. CensusRecords.com has indexed all the census years. A membership is required to view most reoords. Click here to search census records at CensusRecords.com.
FAST TRACK Search the census transcriptions and other records at FamilySearch.org. FamilySearch.org has an extensive collection of census and other records online. Images are available for all years, but not all are indexed which makes searching more difficult. This website is free. A free registration is required. Click here for free, online census transcriptions and other records at FamilySearch.org.
REFERENCE Free guide on using the Federal Census.
REFERENCE Free Census extraction forms. Click here for free census extraction forms at Ancestry.com to record your census information.

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Advanced Research For Your Ancestry

This site is designed to provide the basics in researching your genealogy. It emphasizes the use of the Federal Census, Social Security Death Index, online family trees, and birth/death records. There are, of course, more sources of information. If you are looking for advice on additional sources, go to the Free Online Genealogy Search Advisor. That site will provide you with customized research advice based on what you already know about your ancestry.